A painter, Macena Barton was born in Union City, Michigan. She graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago* in 1924 and held one-woman shows there as well as at Knoedler Galleries and Findley Galleries in Chicago. At the Institute, she was much influenced by the teaching of Leon Kroll, who in turn was influenced by Social Realism*. He encouraged her to develop her own style and to use her imagination, advice that she took to heart. Inspired by Kroll and also challenged by critic C.J. Bulliet in a book before they had met personally, she was responding to his remark that no woman had ever painted a first-rate nude. Barton was a committed feminist, sure that women could perform equally as well as men in art and other a...