Eva Scott Fényes

Eva Scott Fényes (1849-1930) was an American painter known for watercolor landscape of the American west.[1] She was also known for her philanthropic activities.

Eva Scott Fényes
BornNovember 9th, 1849
New York City
DiedFebruary 3rd, 1930
Pasadena
NationalityAmerican
Known forWatercolor

Biography

Fényes was born on November 9th, 1849 in New York City as the only child of Leonard and Rebecca Briggs Scott. She attended Pelham Priory School, the first girls’ preparatory school in the New York area, where she receives her first art training. In 1868/69 she travels through Southern Europe and Northern Africa with her parents, spending six weeks in Egypt, where she receives art training from Sanford R. Gifford.

On November 19th, 1878 she married Lieutenant William Sullivane Muse, US Marine Corps, Fort Monroe, Virginia, with whom she had one child, Leonora Scott Muse Curtin (1879-1972). In 1889 Eva and her daughter come to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to seek divorce.

In 1895 she travels to Egypt again, where she meets her second husband, Hungarian nobleman Adalbert Fényes de Csokaly. They marry in Budapest in 1896 and return to the United States and settle in Pasadena.[2]

Though never a professional artist, Fényes was an accomplished watercolorist. With the urging of Charles Fletcher Lummis she created over 300 landscapes which often included Southwest architecture features such as missions and adobe structures.[3][2][4]

Soon after her second marriage, Fényes and her husband settled in Pasadena, California.[1] She commissioned Robert D. Farquhar to design a house, known as the Fenyes Mansion, and now the home of the Pasadena Museum of History.[5] Fényes was a member of the Landmarks Club of California, the Pasadena Music and Art Association, and the Southwest Society. She also served on the board of trustees of the Southwest Museum.[3]

In 1926 Eva Scott Fényes, her daughter and granddaughter Leonora Paloheimo (1903-1999) built a home in Santa Fe, Acequia Madre House, that is now run by the Paloheimo Foundation and also home to the Women's International Study Center.

Fényes died in 1930.[6] Her watercolors and sketchbooks are in the collections of the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles, the Pasadena Museum of History and the Acequia Madre House in Santa Fe.[3]

  • The Mission of San Gabriel Arcangel, circa 1900
    The Mission of San Gabriel Arcangel, circa 1900
  • The Belfry and Bells of Mission San Gabriel Arcangel, 1902
    The Belfry and Bells of Mission San Gabriel Arcangel, 1902

References
  1. "Eva Scott Fenyes". AskArt. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  2. Gibbons, Cuyler (3 May 2016). "The Evolution of Eva Fenyes". Pasadena Magazine. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  3. "Eva Scott Fenyes". Autry’s Collections Online. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  4. "Three Wise Women". New Mexico Historic Women Marker Initiative. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  5. "Fenyes Mansion". National Trust for Historic Preservation. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  6. "Fényes, Eva Scott, -1930". LC Linked Data Service. The Library of Congress. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
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