Eliza Cecilia Beaux

Born in Philadelphia, 1855. Before 1872, studied drawing with Dutch artist Adolf van der Whelen. 1875, fossil drawings on commission from U.S. Geological Survey. 1877–79, studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

She began her career as a commercial artist and designed the official emblem/pin of the Geographical Society of Philadelphia in the late 1890’s. The pin has been conferred on renowned world explorers whose expeditions the Society supported and/or who presented reports of their travels and discoveries to the Society. Notable honorees from 20th -21st centuries include polar explorers Ernest Shackleton, Robert E. Peary, Roald Amundsen, and Todd Carmichael; Amazon explorers Theodore Roosevelt and Paul Rosolie; and world explorers Peter Rowe, Ryan Pyle, and Steve McCurry.

Beaux first exhibited her work in 1879. 1888, studied at Académie Julian, Paris. Worked in Concarneau, Brittany; traveled in Italy. 1889, returned to Philadelphia. 1893, elected to Society of American Artists. 1895-1915, taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. 1896, France and England; exhibited at Champs-de-Mars, Paris. 1898, Gold Medal of Honor from Pennsylvania Academy. From 1899, a prominent portrait artist with many distinguished commissions and exhibitions. Virtually ceased painting after 1930.

1935, largest lifetime exhibition, American Academy of Arts and Letters. Died 7 September 1942, Gloucester, Mass