Although born in South Carolina, Martha Simkins is most strongly affiliated with Texas, and is best known for her paintings of interiors with figures, still life, and portraits.

She was the daughter of Eliza (Trescott) and Judge Eldred J. Simkins. Following the Civil War, carpetbaggers displaced the family from their land, when Martha was still a child. They moved for a short time to Monticello, Florida, before finally settling in Corsicana, Texas, around 1871.

Around 1893, Simkins attended the Art Students League in New York City, where she studied with the American Impressionist painters Kenyon Cox, Emil Carlsen, and William Merritt Chase. In 1901 she became an art teacher at North Texas Normal School in Denton, Texas.

She returned to New York in 1906 to continue her studies with Chase. Sometime between 1906 and 1915, Simkins spent time studying with Cecilia Beaux and John Singer Sargent in Europe, and was also a friend of Mary Cassatt.

From 1915 to 1924, Simkins lived in Dallas during the winter months and in Woodstock, New York, during the summer, maintaining studios in both locales. By 1925, her portrait commissions had increased, and she remained in New York City during the winter and at the Woodstock art colony in the summer.

She exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C.; the National Academy of Design; the Charleston (South Carolina) Museum; as well as several New York galleries. In the fall of 1927, she was an exhibitor at the Paris Salon.

In 1934, Simkins returned to Dallas, where she accepted portrait commissions, taught, and continued to exhibit her work.

She was a member of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, and while in New York was also a member of the Pen and Brush Club. Taking place in 2002-2003, a traveling exhibition of her painting was organized by Robert Horn, in association with the Irving Arts Center in Irving, Texas.

Martha Simkins died in Los Angeles, California, on April 15, 1969, at the age of 103.

Ms. Simkins was born in Florida, grew up in Corsicana, Texas, and studied under William Merritt Chase. She also studied in Europe under Cecilia Beaux and John Singer Sargent and became friends with Mary Cassatt.

From 1915-1924 Miss Simkins maintained two studios, one in Dallas and the other in New York. Her landscapes, still-lifes, and particularly her portraits were exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the National Academy of Design in New York, the Charleston Museum in South Carolina, several New York galleries and in Paris.

In the 1920's Miss Simkins moved to Dallas to tend to her mother who was ill, and never returned to New York. She lived in the University Park section of Dallas (near Southern Methodist
University) where she had her studio. She was a very active portrait painter with many commissions, and she also taught students. Miss Simkins died in 1969 at the age of 103.

Marcie J. Inman
Gallery Director/Curator