Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, Lee Kaula became an impressionist painter known for luminous landscapes and scenes of villages. She had a wealthy family, so she did not have financial worries.

She first studied with Charles Melville Dewey in New York and then she and a friend, Claire Shuttleworth, went to Paris in 1894, and Kaula studied with Edmond Aman-Jean at the Academie Colarossi. Charles Gruppe also gave her encouragement.

In 1902, she married artist William Jurian Kaula (1871-1953), whom she had met in Crecy, France, and they were the first artists to have studio space in the Fenway Studios in Boston at 30 Ipswich Street. Painting together, they lived in one space and used the other for a studio. They spent summers painting in Bank Village, near New Ipswich, New Hampshire, and became known there for their spectacular flower gardens.

She was a member of several Boston art associations including the Copley Society, the Guild of Boston Artists and the Boston Society of Watercolorists. She exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1897 and 1898; the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York; and the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. From 1897 to 1913, she exhibited 14 times at the Art Institute of Chicago, and in 1928 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. From 1901 to 1922, she was in five annual exhibitions at the National Academy of Design.


Source:
Paul Sternberg Sr., "Art by American Women"
Jules and Nancy Heller, "North American Women Artists of the 20th Century"
internet: http://www.turak.com/Online/ll_kaula_intro.htm
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ARTIST: LEE LUFKIN KAULA (American 1865 - 1957)

Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, Lee Lufkin is best known for her portraits and figures and is considered a member of the "Boston School of Impressionism". She studied in New York City with Charles Melville Dewey and with Edmond Aman-Jean in Paris at Colarossi's.

Lee married the artist William Jurian Kaula (1871-1953) in 1902 when they moved to Boston as he was a native of the city. It was in Boston they were associated with Fenway Studios and Lee became a member of the Guild of Boston Artists, the Copley Society and the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors. She exhibited at the Maine Art Gallery from 1914 to 1915 and at the Connecticut Gallery of Fine Arts in 1925.

Lufkin holds an extensive record at the Pennsylvania Academy for the Fine Arts from 1903 to 1928 and at the Natinal Academy of Design from 1913 to 1922. Prior to her American recognition, Lufkin exhibited at the Salon de la National des Beaux Arts, Paris, 1897.

TITLE: "A Cup of Tea"
MEDIUM: Oil on Canvas
DIMENSIONS: 29 1/4 x 24 1/4 inches
MARKINGS: Signed Lower Left
DATE: 1914

Source: Turak Gallery

Kaula, Lee Lufkin (American, 1865-1957)

Lee Lufkin was born in Erie, Pennsylvania. She went to New York City to study painting with Charles Melville Dewey before traveling to Paris with her friend Claire Shuttleworth in 1894, where she studied at the Academie Colarossi with Edmond Aman-Jean and received encouragement from Charles Gruppe. She painted throughout Europe and especially liked painting in and around London, England.

In Crecy, she met Boston painter William J. Kaula, whom she married in 1902. The Kaulas were among the first occupants at the Fenway Studio Building on Ipswich Street in Boston. There studio was a large corner apartment #311, where the couple worked side-by-side until William's death (1953). The couple painted and summered in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, and both painters were extremely influenced by the work of Edmund C. Tarbell, leader of the Boston school of painting, who strongly urged his devotees to paint academically correct figures within Vermeer-like interiors.

Lee Lufkin Kaula was an active member of the circle of female painters in Boston who were inspired by and worked alongside of Edmund C. Tarbell, Joseph DeCamp and Frank W. Benson (all who taught at the Museum School). She joined the Copley Society, the Guild of Boston Artists, the Boston Society of Watercolor Painters, the National Association of Woman Painters & Sculptors (NY) and the New York Women's Art Club, and by 1905 she was well known for her interiors in which women and children perform genteel daily tasks within rooms of filtered light.

P.J. Pierce