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Alice Barber Stephens worked her way through a successful, enduring career not by positioning herself as a spokeswoman for her gender, but as the first successful female artist of her time. Ann Barton Brown wrote in the catalog for a retrospective exhibition held at the Brandywine River Museum in 1984, "As a 'pioneer,' Stephens did not aggressively lead the way for women to advance as artists, but perceiving the new opportunities available, she readily took advantage of them. Her success set standards and paved the way for other women.
In many ways, Stephens found herself in the right place at the right time. Through hard work, determination, and skill, she became the model of a woman illustrator, something America had not seen before. Beyond her education, there were technological and social advances which allowed her to pursue avenues that a few years earlier would not have existed.
ELY YEARS
Biographical Dictionary as being "seldom without a pencil in her hand."
Various accounts of the artist's life lead one to the conclusion that the perception of new opportunities was deeply ingrained in her character. In i87o at age 12, the young Stephens, according to Notable American Women, "took advantage of the opportunity, while completing her public school education, to attend the Philadelphia School of Design for Women (more recently known as The Moore College of Art). There she learned the art of wood engraving and at the age of i5 began supporting herself. According to a 1904 profile in The Outlook, Stephens had "become proficient enough to work for the most critical publishers. Her earliest engravings appeared in national magazines including Harper's Weekly, Scribner's, Harper's Young People, and the local periodical Woman's Words, as well as several others.
Able to support her continuing art education through her engraving earnings, Stephens enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1876 -the first year women were admitted to the school. From the start she had several courses with Thomas Eakins, the Academy's director, who would have a huge influence on her career. Eakins classes were considered progressive, almost to the point of being revolutionary As Brown writes in the Brandywine catalog, Advanced classes in drawing from live models were offered to male and female students separately....