Huntley, Victoria Hutson, 1900-1971

Painter, muralist, printmaker; New York, N.Y., Chatham, N.J.; b. 1900; d. 1971

After her first marriage to William K. Hutson, Huntley married Ralph Huntley and assumed his name as hers, professionally. In 1930, Huntley produced a series of lithographs depicting industrial and factory sites entitled, "Steam and Steel", which gained national attention. During the 1940s she produced a series of lithographs based on the birds and plants in and around the Florida Everglades.

From the description of Victoria Hutson Huntley, circa 1931-1999. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 368024820

Painter, muralist, printmaker; New York, N.Y., Chatham, N.J.; b. 1900; d. 1971

After her first marriage to William K. Hutson, Huntley married Ralph Huntley and assumed his name as hers, professionally. In 1930, Huntley produced a series of lithographs depicting industrial and factory sites entitled, "Steam and Steel", which gained national attention. During the 1940s she produced a series of lithographs based on the birds and plants in and around the Florida Everglades.

From the description of Victoria Hutson Huntley papers, circa 1931-1999. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 430381126

Victoria Hutson Huntley (1900-1971) was a painter, printmaker, muralist, and educator who worked in New York City, Florida, and New Jersey.

Beginning in 1919, Victoria Ebbels studied at the Art Students League with John Sloan, George Bridgman, Max Weber, Kenneth Hayes Miller, George Luks, and William C. Palmer. After her father's death, circa 1920, she briefly attended teacher's college and moved to Denton, Texas.

At the time of her first solo exhibition at Weyhe Gallery, New York City, in 1930, she was encouraged by Mr. Weyhe and his gallery director, Carl Zigrosser, to explore lithography. Hutson followed their suggestion. George Miller was her lithography instructor from 1930-1948. For the first five years, she devoted herself to lithography exclusively; during the first year, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, and Newark Public Library purchased prints. After developing chronic health problems and undergoing surgery in 1954, the physical demands of lithography greatly limited her ability to work, and when she did, assistance was required.

Huntley considered herself to be a modern artist but felt it was going nowhere. Around 1935, she explored Cubism and other modern movements. After experimenting with other techniques she adopted the Mixed Technique, using egg emulsion underpainting with resin-oil overpainting. Subjects included lyrical landscapes of the Florida Everglades, industrial themes, people, flora, and fauna. She also painted murals commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department Section of Fine Arts for post offices in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Springfield, New York.

From 1921-1930 she was an Associate Professor of Art at the College of Industrial Arts, which later became the State College for Women. Huntley taught painting and drawing at Birch-Wathen School in New York City. In Connecticut she was resident artist at Redding Ridge School, 1939-1942 and at Pomfret School for Boys, 1942-1946. She served on the faculty of Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida, from 1946-1953. Although Huntley stopped teaching when health problems curtailed her activities and they had to move to a cooler climate, she continued to paint and, when able, produced prints.

Victoria Hutson Huntley exhibited widely. She had solo exhibitions in New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., and participated in group shows throughout the United States, and in Algeria, England, France, Italy, Scotland, South America, and Sweden.

When Kopper's Coke won The Philadelphia Print Club's Mary Collins prize for Lithography in 1932, the donor found it difficult to accept that a woman would find a factory suitable subject matter, and made it clear she had no part in selecting the winner. (When Huntley's industrial scenes were exhibited in London, it was assumed the artist was a man and she received checks written to Victor Huntley.) Huntley also won awards from the Library of Congress (1945), Association of American Artists (1946), and Society of American Graphic Artists (1950 and 1951). In 1947, the National Academy of Arts and Letters funded an Everglades expedition. The following year, a Guggenheim fellowship enabled her to create 25 lithographs in Florida.

The work of Victoria Hutson Huntley is represented in the permanent collections of many institutions, including: Metropolitan Museum of Art; Boston Museum of Fine Arts; Art Institute of Chicago; IBM Corporation; University of Florida; Art Students League Memorial Collection; Bureau of Education, Italy; Collection of the Government of Italy; and University of Glasgow, Scotland.

She married William K. Hutson in 1925 and they had one daughter. The marriage ended in divorce in 1933 and Ralph Huntley, a scientist and mathematician, became her second husband. By the following year, she was using the name Victoria Hutson Huntley professionally. His academic career took them to Connecticut, New York City, back to Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, and New Jersey. After her husband retired, the Huntleys remained in Chatham, New Jersey, where she had two studios, one for painting and another for lithographic work.

Victoria Hutson Huntley died in 1971.

From the guide to the Victoria Hutson Huntley papers, 1929-1999, (Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution)