Biography

Ethel Ashton grew up in Philadelphia and attended the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, along with Rhoda Myers Medary and Alice Neel, who became long-term friends and interacting artists. The three shared a studio in the 1920s and created portraits of each other, albeit in widely divergent styles. She served as librarian for the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for 20 years, from the 1950s into the 1970s. Throughout her life she was a modest but forceful presence in the Philadelphia art world.

Critical Analysis

From her student days, Ashton was alert to the diversity of the Philadelphia urban environment. Her paintings capture this diversity while showing the spontaneity of her observations and interpretations. Her work of the 1920s was characteristic of the Ash Can school. Later in her career, in the 1950s, she moved more toward abstraction.

Murals

• Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania - Post office: Defenders of the Wyoming Country -- 1778

References

1. Alice Neel: Ethel Ashton (Tate).
2. Ethel V. Ashton (Woodmere Art Museum).
3. Ethel V. Ashton (Wikipedia).
4. Ethel V. Ashton: Alice Neel (Woodmere Art Museum).
5. Ethel V. Ashton: Self-Portrait (Woodmere Art Museum).
6. Ethel V. Ashton: Young Girl (Woodmere Art Museum).