Sketchbook of Original Art

Sketchbook, signed by the artist "Geer" with her monogram on the front pastedown; oblong 8vo; 6 x 8"; 38 leaves with drawings on 23 leaves them (balance blank); mostly pencil, some crayon, one watercolor of a sunset and its reflection in the sea; original canvas binding which is worn, lacking portions of spine, first signature loose. The drawings and watercolor are fresh and bright.
Grace Woodbridge Geer (1854-1938) was a successful portrait painter and teacher. Her paintings are in a number of museums and collections specializing in art by women. A Bostonian, she studied at the Massachusetts Normal Art School and the Lowell Institute, and with Tarbell, Triscott, Tompkins, and Vonnoh. Primarily a portrait painter, she also produced landscapes and taught art. She was a member of the Copley Society, the National League of American Pen Women and the Artists Guild.
The first and earliest drawing in this sketchbook is captioned „A warm day" and dated July 25, 1894; it depicts a woman in a chair with a fan. The latest dated drawing, July 31, 1900, is the seventh from last in the sketchbook is double-page, and is captioned „Up Essex River." There are four other dated sketches, five captioned drawings, and two further double-page views. Among these sketches are studies of woods and trees, several women, coastal and sea-shore views, a portrait of a black man, chimneys, a tower, and Wild Cat Mountain in Jackson, New Hampshire. On the back endpaper is written „Woodbury, Dixon...Prang...Pencil, Eagle drafting pencil - is harder than", and some pencil shadings evidently to test. On the front paste-down endpaper is Geer's name written large, the initials GW being a monogram. The drawings are charming and show a mature, accomplished artist at work. Fielding, p. 318.