The Filson Historical Society Digital Projects

Browse Items (4 total)

  • https://filsonhistorical.org/wp-content/uploads/ThumRoses1973_8-1.jpg

    Early in her career, Thum began painting roses, which she exhibited at the Southern Exposition in Louisville and at the National Academy of Design in New York. She painted plein air in the gardens and parks of Louisville and studied many varieties of roses. Her paintings were recognized for their realistic accuracy and quickly led to a variety of commerical opportunities.

    "Among the ten of dozen specimens of Miss Patty Thum's works are to be found some exquisite touches in the reproduction of flowers--roses, which do all but perfume the air."
    -Courier-Journal, November 12, 1897
  • https://filsonhistorical.org/wp-content/uploads/20200313_151001101_iOS-e1585336333311.jpg

    Though Thum was known for painting flowers, she also painted figures and landscapes throughout her life. She traveled to New York several times and studied under well-known artists, including William Merritt Chase at the Art Students League of New York and Thomas Eakins at the Brooklyn Art Association.

    Thum publicly declared support of women's suffrage in 1914. In March 1915, she donated paintings to an art exhibit, the proceeds of which supported the Louisville Suffrage Association located on South 4th Street.

    Thum remained active in the Louisville art scene throughout her lifetime. She supported the Louisville School of Art founded in 1920. She held annual exhibits of her work at local galleries and in her studio. Her last solo exhibit was in February 1926. She announced her retirement from art in August of 1926 and died in September.
  • https://filsonhistorical.org/wp-content/uploads/Patty_Thum_3_CabinetCardFInal.jpg

    Patty Thum was known for her paintings of flowers, especially roses but she was also a talented landscape and portrait artist. She is one of the city's earliest professional woman artists. She also was an author, inventor, and major advocate for the arts in the City of Louisville. She dedicated her life to art from the age of 16 right up until her death at the age of 73.

    Born in Louisville in 1853, Patty was the eldest child of Louisa Miller and Mandeville Thum, a doctor with a practice on Jefferson Street. Patty attended the Louisville Girl's School (the city's first public school). Patty was 9 years old when her father died in 1862, serving as a surgeon for the Confederate 7th Arkansas Infantry. Louisa never remarried and ensured her sons and daughters all attended college.

    In 1869, at the age of 16, Thum left home and traveled north to study art at Vassar College, established in 1861 to "accomplish for young women what our colleges are accomplishing for young men."
  • Thum_CartedeViste_final.jpg

    Patty Thum was known for her paintings of flowers, especially roses but she was also a talented landscape and portrait artist. She is one of the city’s earliest professional woman artists. She also was an author, inventor and a major advocate for the arts in the City of Louisville. Thum dedicated her life to art starting at the age of 16, when she left home and traveled north to study art at Vassar College. Established in 1861, Vassar College set out to “accomplish for young women what our colleges are accomplishing for young men”.
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