17 Facts About Enella Benedict

Enella Benedict was an American realism and landscape painter.

Enella Benedict taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and was a founder and director for nearly 50 years for the Art School at the Hull House.

Enella Benedict was born in Lake Forest, Illinois, the daughter of cloth merchant Amzi and Catherine Walmath Benedict.

Enella Benedict attended Lake Forest University, where she studied painting and drawing and was a junior in 1876.

Enella Benedict studied art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League of New York.

Enella Benedict then traveled to Paris, France, to study at the Academie Julian.

Enella Benedict made oil and watercolor portrait, figure, landscapes and urban scene paintings.

Enella Benedict's drawing and painting style was influenced by Realism and Impressionism in which she painted and drew individuals she encountered around her, such as residents of Hull House and local peasants, along with seascapes and rural landscapes.

Enella Benedict lived at Hull House, as did Jane Addams, and supported the Art School program for almost 50 years, teaching clay modeling, drawing, painting and lithography.

The art program, led by social reformer Enella Benedict, was intended to offer education and cultural opportunities to disadvantaged neighborhood residents, having promoting some labor professions as art forms, such as textile fields.

Enella Benedict created opportunities for artists to exhibit their works, including the Art Institute of Chicago.

Enella Benedict was committed to the principle that art should not be a luxury for the wealthy, that it could be used as an instrument for social change.

Enella Benedict believed that art could improved the lives of Nineteenth Ward residents burdened by long work days and difficult conditions by providing beauty and offering opportunities for creative expression.

Enella Benedict exhibited her work at the Palace of Fine Arts, the Illinois Building, and The Woman's Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois.

Enella Benedict's work was exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago given by the Art Students League of Chicago and other exhibitions.

Enella Benedict was a member of the Palette Club in Chicago.

Enella Benedict's works are in the collections at Hull House, Rockford Art Museum in Illinois, National Museum of Women in the Arts and the Smithsonian Institution.