Phoebe Thorn Merritt Clements Taber (1834 – March 22, 1916) was a painter believed to have been the "first professional female artist in Detroit."[1]
Background
In 1834, Phoebe Taber was in Millbrook, New York to Daniel and Mary Merritt.[1] She was the third of six children.[1] In 1857, at the age of twenty-three, she married Clark P. Clements of Ionia, Michigan.[1] Following his death 1861, after just four years of marriage, Taber sought to become an artist to independently support herself and her son Clark.[1]
She was admitted to the "Female School of Art" at Cooper Union in 1865, and continued her studies at the Académie Julian in Paris.[1][2] At the Académie Julian she specifically studied with William-Adolfe Bouguereau.[1] After her studies, she returned to Michigan, remarried at the age of 39, and changed her name from Phoebe T. Clements to Phoebe T. Clements Taber.[2] She continued to work as an artist even after marriage.[1]
Between 1880 and 1886, Taber lived in Ionia, where her husband had an agricultural store.[1] In 1886, her family moved to Grand Rapids.[1] Despite not living in the city, Taber continued to have an artistic presence in Detroit until 1898.[1] All told she spent 40 years in Michigan.[2] In the 1890s, Taber and her husband moved to Pasadena, California.[1] Taber died in Pasadena on March 22, 1916, at the age of 82.[1][3]
Artwork
Taber specialized in fruit and flower still-life paintings. She has also more recently been recognized additionally as "versatile in figures and portraits."[2]
Her portrait of Peter Cooper, the founder of the Cooper Union, was accepted into the Art Loan Exhibition of 1883, Detroit's first international art show.[1]
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstBilek, Suzanne (2012). Great Female Artists of Detroit. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press. pp. 133–140. ISBN9781609496715.
