Adele Williams

Artist Details

• First Name Adele
• Maiden Name Fay
• Alternate Name(s) possibly Virginia Adele Fay
• Surname Williams
• Spouse’s Full Name Reginald Hamilton Williams (?-1916); married circa 1901
• Previous Spouse(s) n/a
• Names and Birth Years of Children n/a
• Birth Date September 23, 1859
• Birth Place Joliet or Rock Island, Illinois
• Death Date August 17, 1937
• Death Place Joliet, Illinois
• Residence(s) 1870 census: Joliet, Illinois; parents WD Fay and CR Fay; listed as “Della”
  
  1880 census: 44 Richard St., Joliet, Illinois
  
  1887 Joliet Directory: “A,.& W. Fay” at 107 Richards, Joliet, Illinois
  
  circa 1891: Emporia, Kansas
  
  1891, 1893: 107 Richard St, Joliet, Illinois
  
  1893 Directory: artist, r. 107 Richards, Joliet, Illinois
  
  1893-?: Paris
  
  1901: New York, New York
  
  1903: 105 W. 40^th St., New York, New York
  
  1916: returned to Joliet, Illinois
  
  1920 census; Ottawa St., Joliet
• Active In Joliet, Illinois
  
  New York, New York
  
  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Studio Location(s) 1887: 107 Richards St., Joliet, Illinois  
• Categories Drawing, Illustrator, Painter-Oil, Pastelist, Printmaker
• Training Chicago Academy of Design, Chicago, Illinois
  Art Students League, New York, New York; student of William Chase
  Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  1893: Colarossi Academie, Paris, France
  Student of Lasar
  Eragny par Gisors, France; Student of Camille Pissaro
  
• Relevant Travel Paris, France
• Subject(s) of Art Array
• Exhibitions History 1891: Annual Exhibition, Palette Club, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
  
  1892: 10^th Annual Exhibition, Palette Club, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; Beehives, oil; A Western Plain, oil; sketch, oil; sketch, oil
  
  1893: World's Columbian Exposition, Woman's Department, Chicago, Illinois
  
  All-Illinois Society of Fine Arts, Chicago, Illinois; Beehives; Supper-Time; An Alley-Way; O’er True Tale [all in Illinois Building]; Wall Frieze [Reception Room of Illinois Building]
  
  October 25-November 25, 1912: Third Annual Exhibition of Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  
  1913: Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; The Queen of Cats; Orange and Black
  
  1913: Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  
  Annual Exhibition of the Art Students League of Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
  
  April 2-May 22, 1989: Seeing the Land, Lewis University, Romeoville, Illinois; Highland Park with Red Mill in the Distance, pen and ink; Downtown Joliet, 1929, pen and ink; Fire Brick Kilns at General Refractory Plant, 1928, pen and ink; Steel and Wire Co. Plant, pen and ink
  
  ? 1995-January 13, 1996: Adele Fay Williams and Dorothy Dow: Women of Strength, Illinois Art Gallery, Lockport, Illinois
• Collections Illinois State Museum, Springfield, Illinois
  
  Joliet Area Historical Society, Joliet, Illinois
  
  Joliet Public Schools, Joliet, Illinois
  
  Adele Fay Williams Collection of Drawings and Prints, Lewis University, Chicago, Illinois
  
   
• Publications Chalmer, F. Graeme. Women in the Nineteenth Century Art World. Westport, 1988. Galvin, Paul V. “World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893,” Library Digital History Collection, Illinois Institute of Technology. Seeing the Land, Lewis University, 1989 [exhibition catalog]; online Sparks, Esther. “A Biographical Dictionary of Painters and Sculptors in Illinois 1808-1945.” dissertation, Northwestern University, 1972. Weimann, Jeanne Madeline. The Fair Women, Chicago, 1981. 2 drawings included in Lamb, John. Lockport, Illinois: The Old Canal Town. Arcadia Publishing, 1999.
• Memberships Association of Pittsburgh Artists, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  
  Experimentalists, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; charter member
• Awards October 25-November 25, 1912: watercolor-pastel prize: Third Annual Exhibition of Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  
  1913: Associated Artists of Pittsburgh Prize, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  
  Art Student League Prize, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
• Other Occupation(s) Chairman, Art Extension, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois
  
  Staff artist, Washington DC Times, Washington DC
  
  Staff artist/art critic, Pittsburgh Spectator, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  
  Staff artist/art critic, Pittsburgh Gazette-Times, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  
  Staff artist/art critic, New York World, New York, New York
  
  Staff artist/art critic, Joliet Herald-News, Joliet, Illinois
  
  Staff writer, New York Journal, New York, New York
  
  1920: appointed member of Art Extension Committee, University of Illinois
• Website(s) biography and images of drawings done 1926-1932 on Adele Fay Williams Collection of Drawings and Prints, Lewis University website
  
   
• Biography Parents:  William David (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania May 23, 1827-?) and Catharine Rosalia Waldron (Hartford, Pennsylvania-?) Fay
  
  Sibling:  Winnifred W. (Joliet February 5, 1862-April 5, 1940 Davenport, Iowa); artist