In the collection of Wolverhampton Art Gallery there are three rather interesting artworks by a practically forgotten locally-born artist – Sara Wells Page. In 1926, she herself presented her large-scale oil painting ‘Andromeda’ to the Gallery. In 1943, her sister Miss Elizabeth Page of Parkstone, Dorset donated a small portrait ‘The Princess’, marking Sara’s death. Finally, a painting ‘Whisper of Spring’ was donated by members of the Page family in 1977.

Sara’s life and artistic career have not been researched. The period of her artistic activity is usually dated 'fl.1892-1899', and the dates of her life were not established so far.[1] A comparison of the data provided by the censuses of 1861-1901 allows us to recognise her as the fourth of the nine children of Samuel Page and Sara, neé Wells, born in 1855 at Moxley, Staffordshire.

The Page family was well-known in Wolverhampton. Sara’s father was a successful timber merchant. Her elder brother Samuel Wells Page (1849-1933), was also well respected in Wolverhampton as a solicitor and the official receiver for Wolverhampton and Walsall. He was a member of the executive council and a guarantor of the Wolverhampton Art and Industrial Exhibition of 1902. Later he became a manager of the Royal Wolverhampton School, and was the chair of its governors from 1910 to his death in 1933.[2] In memory of him, his children presented a small sculpture of Venus after Canova to the Gallery. His Wolverhampton home was  Penn House on the Penn Road, demolished soon after the First World War. Samuel Wells Page has been commemorated on a brass memorial in the north aisle of St Bartholomew’s church.[3]

Illustration 1.
Sara Page’s autograph, 1926. ©Wolverhampton Art Gallery.

A short correspondence from 1926 which accompanied the donation of the ‘Andromeda’ and has been preserved at Wolverhampton Art Gallery, reveals her warm feelings towards the school and long-lasting grateful memory of it: ‘The special interest I feel in giving ‘Andromeda’ /…/ to the Art Gallery, comes from the recognition it brings of the help I received in the School of Art, when first I studied drawing. This was long ago and not under the happy circumstances in which students work today in the spacious studios with their present gifted professor to guide and encourage them.’[5]

This period of her life can be dated between 1884-1891, as in 1892 she was back in Wolverhampton. At that time she was associated with the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, exhibiting there a painting ‘A Golden Venetian’ obviously influenced by her Italian impressions. It was probably at RBSA that she was encouraged by Sir Frederick Leighton to continue studying art. ‘One day, Sir Frederick Leighton passing by, asked if I really desired to attain and when I said yes he advised me to go to school. This I followed, coming to Paris.’[7]

Illustration 2.  Academie Julian rue de Berri.

Illustration 3.
Academie Julian Journal. 1907. ©Biblioteque Nationale de France.

Male and female students were trained separately. Five ateliers were established for men, and four for women. An American guide book especially addressed to young women and published in USA in 1907, listed them as ‘Julien's Ateliers, for women: 27, Galerie Montmartre, Passage des Panoramas; 5, rue de Berri, Champs-Elysees; 28, rue de la Fontaine, en haut de la rue Notre Dame de Lorette; 55, rue du Cherche Midi, pres du Bon Marche. Prices: 50 francs a month for those working half a day; 100 francs a month for those working morning and afternoon.’[9]

Unfortunately, among surviving papers of the archives of the Académie Julian there are no lists of female students[10]. A monthly journal of the Académie which has been kept at the National Library of France provides a rich and interesting background. However, it does not cover the 1890s, when Sara studied at the Julian, but the later period of 1901-1914.

Sara Page’s first known Parisian addresses - 16, Avenue Niel and 6, rue de Belloy - were very near to it, and so she probably attended this particular workshop.

It was noticed that Bouguereau ‘was especially sought after by young women who valued his teaching experience and his ability to work with them in establishing professional artistic careers.’[13] ‘In the rue de Berri workshop he was given a godlike status and was the object of veritable cult… The ladies fought over the cigarette that he had politely discarded, before entering into their midst, while handling his hat and his jacket to Leontine, the maid.’[14]

Illustration 4.
Academie Julian. 5, rue Berri, Paris.

Women artists were most likely to earn their living as portraitists, thus much attention was given to drawing models and each other. Sara Page received a medal for portrait painting.[16] Her artworks were exhibited from 1892, and her first portraits depicted members of her extended family who probably visited her in Paris: ‘Elsie’ which was exhibited in 1892 at the Royal Academy can be identified as ‘Elsie Page’ shown there again in 1894. The ‘Portrait of Mlle E.P.’ exhibited in 1893 and 1895 at the Société des Artistes Français, might also be the same portrait. ‘Portrait of Miss Ellen Wells’ exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1893 also relates to a family member (possibly an aunt on the maternal side).  In the following years she continued to paint female portraits – ‘Beatrice’ (1899), ‘Theodora’ (1903), ‘Blondina’ (1914), ‘Isobel’ (1915, 1916), ‘Henriette’ (1935). The Wolverhampton small painting on ivory ‘The Princess’ corresponds with the drawing ‘La Bella’ exhibited at both the Royal Academy and Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool in 1902.

Illustration 6.
Sara Page. The Princess.1901. ©Wolverhampton Art Gallery.

Illustration 7.
Sara Page. La Bella.1902.
Present location unknown.

‘A Capri Maiden’ exhibited in Birmingham in 1894, possibly relates to her earlier Italian travels, or it might reflect another journey to Italy. ‘The Breton Peasant’ shown in 1893-1894 corresponds with the great interest in Brittany, its nature, landscape, folk costumes and traditional ways, which was expressed at that time in works by many international and French artists, including Bouguereau.

In 1897, Sara still was named a pupil of Bouguereau, Robert-Fleury and Ferrier, but at that time she was finishing her study at the Académie Julian, as in the same year she settled down at Neuilly-sur-Seine, a wealthy residential suburb of Paris. It was quickly developing at that time, and it had a strong artistic atmosphere.

The well-established artists Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret (1852 – 1929) and Gustave-Claude-Etienne Courtois (1853-1923) lived in Neuilly-sur-Seine and maintained their studio at 73, Boulevard Bineau[17].

The garden connected with the studio is a delightful place for winter work as well as summer. There are not too many students, and those who go there are well advanced. Monsieur Courtois visits the studio every day, and criticises. Of course, this is more expensive than to have his criticism twice a week at a large studio in Paris, but it really pays in the end. This studio is eminently proper in its atmosphere, and a safe place for any girl.’[18] Unfortunately, the building itself has been completely rebuilt, but the spacious old garden still exists today.

Illustration 8. 73, Boulevard Bineau. Modern view.

Illustration 9.
45, rue de Marche (today rue Madeleine Michelis). Modern view.

Illustration 10.
83, rue Perronet.
Modern view.

Illustration 11. 50, rue Perronet. Modern view.

It clearly demonstrates a familiarity with drawing from a live model and attempts to reach technical perfection.

Both ‘Le rocher qui pleure’(The Weeping Rock) exhibited in 1910, and ‘Le Baigneuse’ (The Bather) exhibited in 1911 and 1935 are very similar to ‘Andromeda’ in style, composition, and technique.

As such, they can be seen as very good examples of the French academic style of Bouguereau, Dagnan-Bouveret, and Courtois.

In 1913 she moved to 37, rue Charles Laffitte – slightly further away, but still in the same area –and lived there for the next thirteen years.    

At that time she seems started to become interested in miniature portraiture. As late as 1925, she was named as a pupil of the miniature painter Gabrielle Debillemont-Chardon (1860-1957).

The daughter of the composer J-J Debillemont, Gabrielle successfully exhibited her artwork from the age of 16, and later became the President of the Société des Femmes Peintres et Sculpteurs and of the Société des Miniaturistes et des Arts Precieux.  For years, she taught at many Parisian art schools for women.

Living permanently in France, Sara however, kept up relations with her native country and its artistic circles, exhibiting her works at British galleries.

From 1896, her London agent was Percy Young, a publisher, and importer and manufacturer of artists' materials, based at 131 and 137, Gower Street and was well known to such artists as Gwen John, Gwen Raverat and Dora Carrington.[20]

In 1906, she showed at the Society of Women Artists, London the painting ‘Spring’ - for the price of £30.[21] Around the beginning of the First World War, in 1913-1915, she exhibited at the Royal Academy, London ‘The Rose Scarf’ (1913), ‘Blondina’ (1914), and ‘Isobel’ (1915-1916).[22]

Illustration 12.
Sara Page. Andromeda.
Oil on canvas, 1926. ©Wolverhampton Art Gallery.

Illustration 13.
Sara Page. Le Rocher qui pleure (‘Weeping Rock’).
Oil on canvas. 1910.
Location unknown.

Illustration 14.
Sara Page. La Baigneuse’ (‘The Bather’).
Oil on canvas. 1911. Location unknown.

Illustration 15. 37, rue Charles Laffitte. Modern view.

Lieutenant Raymond Charles Page died of wounds in September 1918, aged 41, and was buried at the Tettenhall Regis (St. Michael) Churchyard, Wolverhampton.[24] Both are commemorated at St. Bartholomew's Church.[25]

It was then and there that Sara decided to give to Wolverhampton Art Gallery her 1902 painting ‘Andromeda’.

Thanking the Committee of Art Gallery for accepting it, she wrote: ‘Mr Cooper gave me the kind message of the Committee accepting for the Gallery my picture ‘Andromeda’ which I have great pleasure in presenting and shall feel honoured for it will find a home on the walls where I have so often admired many works of art. The subject has always appealed to me, symbolical as it is, of those days of chivalry when strong men protected the weak, and when many episodes of the Great War made them proudly [give?] lives on ever the same…’[26]

She possibly supervised and encouraged the art training of his son, as in 1935-1938, Charles W[ells] T[homas] Page exhibited several landscapes at the Royal Birmingham Society of artists: in 1935 - also from 122, Argyll Avenue, Luton, and then from Bewdley, Carisbrook Road, Harpenden. [27]

Illustration 16.  37, rue Charles Laffitte. Detail.

Sara died in 1943 at Parkstone. Her death was registered in January-March 1943 in Bournemouth district. While donating ‘The [Russian?] Princess’ to the Gallery in May 1943, Miss Elizabeth Page wrote to the curator of the Art Gallery: ‘Will you convey to your Committee my warm thanks and appreciation of the honour they have paid me by their gracious act of accepting the miniature painted by my dear sister. Could she have known, nothing would have given her greater happiness, for she always remembered with gratitude the valuable instruction she received at the Wolverhampton School of Art where she made her first art studies.’[28]

Two accomplished pastels by Sara depicting a strikingly elegant young woman have been preserved at Poole Museum. Considering the location of the artworks and dress-style of the sitter which can be dated late 19th century, they may be portraits of her sister Elsie (Elizabeth) Page which were exhibited from 1892-1896. Moreover, the second portrait bears a printed label on the backboard, 'Papeterie F. Dupre/ 141 Faub[ourg] St. Honore 141 Paris/ ...rure et Encadrements/ Peinture et Dessin'. Dupre's shop which opened in 1870, was (and still is) situated just at the corner of Rue de Berri, only a short walking distance from the Academie Julian atelier.

However, most of Sara's artworks are known today only by their titles in the catalogues of French and British exhibitions. Their present location is unknown, thus it is difficult to judge the quality of her artistic creativity not seeing actual works. The series of her female portraits might have been inspired by Lord Frederic Leighton's studies of various types of female beauty, but also by works of her French tutors. The little material available presents Sara Page as an eager and attentive pupil who obediently followed the advice of her mentors and established academic tradition. She never was associated with rebellious artists of the era. Her known paintings testify her passionate love of art, enthusiasm and diligence, but they hardly indicate an independent mind, or an outstanding talent.

However, her painting ‘Whisper of Spring’ which is dated c.1910 differs in feeling and style from her earlier paintings and relates to the aesthetic ideas of the turn of the century - Art Nouveau with its symbolic interpretation of classical mythology, dreamlike subjects, and the exploration of nature with its irregular flowing lines and forms. Its title and    subject closely corresponds to the known works from the same period by Anna Klumpke, Sara’s fellow student at Académie Julian - ‘The Soul of the Forest’, 1912 (location unknown), ‘Among the Lilies’, 1909 and ‘The Breeze’1910, both at San Francisco Fine Art Museum.[29]

The present location of most of them is unknown. But another reason for this may be her natural inclination to artistic observation and quiet study, rather to striving for fame, glory and financial success:

‘I love the solitude of work and study above all else. /…/ All mediums seem to me to have their special use and charm and I work in oils, water colour, miniature and pastel with delight, as well as ever interesting black and white. /…/ For a time I exhibited in the Salon des Beaux Arts, but for some years now at the Salon des Artistes Francais, besides at times in our Royal Academy and others, but work and study I love most of all.’[30]
       

 ©Olga Baird, 2009