"Granny bought the Bloody Bucket at 17th and Holly. It had been a whorehouse. She moved out the girls. She started the first art gallery in Kansas City. She started it for women at the Art Institute. I've heard she gave Benton the first show. Billy Kemper had an art studio there. The tea room was there and a restaurant for a sophisticated bunch. It was a very hip place to go. She cooked there, which was beneath her standing. She should have had a servant do it. Gertrude was fabulously wealthy." (Linda Lighton interview, Kansas City, October 2, 2010)
(1933 City Directory for 17th and Holly Street
courtesy of Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library,
14 West 10th St, Kansas City, MO,accessed October 12th, 2010)
Among the five artists residing at the Lighton Studios was Emma Siboni (1877 - 1940)
Emma Benedikta Siboni, daughter of Josephine Crull and Erik Siboni, was a portrait painter in America. Born in Soro, Denmark. She schooled at the Art Institute of Chicago, St. Louis School of Fine Arts, Skarbina in Berlin, and Menard in Paris (lineage courtesy of http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/o/o/Carlisle-C-Cook-jr/GENE2-0016.html (SCROLL DOWN TO # 81 FOR EMMA LISTING, accessed November 12, 2010) (courtesy Ask Art, http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/search/ArtistKeywords.aspx?artist=88176, accessed Feb 18, 2013)
1895-96
“A Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Washington University, St. Louis,
MO
“The
Awards in the School of Fine Arts for the year 1896-97 were as follows:--June
10, 1897, Prof. Halsey C. Ives, Director St. Louis School of Fine Arts…..Dear
Sir:--The Jury of Awards appointed to judge the work submitted in competition for honors for the
year 1986-97 takes pleasure in congratulating you and your fellow workers and
the students upon the very high order of excellence which marks the exhibition.
The judges found themselves seriously embarrassed in selecting the best because
of this general superiority and wished many times that the number of honors had
been greater. The following are recommented…..LIFE CLASS IN BLACK AND WHITE #99
Miss Emma B. Siboni 1st, Bronze Medal #16 Mr.J. Oliver Spurr 2nd,
Honorable mention"
(courtesy of Google Books, http://books.google.com/books?id=j7U4AAAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA91&dq=emma+siboni&hl=en&sa=X&ei=osAgUeXkBY_xqQH5r4CwCw&ved=0CEgQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=emma%20siboni&f=false, accessed Feb 17, 2013)
Nov 23, 1902 New York Times Queen Alexandra
Orders Miniatures “Special
Cable to the New York Times. Berlin , Nov. 22— Emma Siboni, the well-known American miniature painter, has received an
order from Queen Alexandra of England to paint the portraits of the Queen’s
grandchildren, the children of the Duke of Fife.”
(courtesy of New York Times, http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FB0911F835591B728DDDAA0A94D9415B828CF1D3
accessed Nov 13, 2010)
Portrait of a Young Woman by Emma Siboni (courtesy of Ask Art, http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/search/Search_Repeat.aspx?searchtype=IMAGES&artist=88176, accessed Feb 19, 2013)
1904 New York at the Louisiana Purchase
Exposition, St. Louis 1904, E.
Siboni, five miniature paintings http://www.fullbooks.com/New-York-at-the-Louisiana-Purchase-Exposition4.html
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE HER LISTING, accessed Dec 15, 2010.
More follows: She was cited as a resident ofBuffalo NY (1903); Fort Wayne IN (1905-10); Hubbard Woods IL (1915-1919), Pasadena CA (1920's and 1930's), and Washington DC
More follows: She was cited as a resident of
1912 Art Institute of Chicago, Feb.1-18, Catalogue of the 16th Annual Exhibition of Works by Chicago Artists http://www.artic.edu/aic/libraries/pubs/1912/AIC1912ArtofChi16thAn_comb.pdf SCROLL DOWN TO PAGE 50 FOR FOLLOWING LISTING accessed Nov 13, 2010 #255 Portrait of Miss Caroe
Miniature (Lent by Miss Caroe, Copenhagen) #256 Portrait of Miss Emma Rusode
Miniature (Lent by Miss Rusode) #257
Portrait of children of Grand Duchess Xenia Miniature (Lent by Grand Duchess
Xenia, Russia) #258 Portrait of Baroness Wedell-Jarlsberg Miniature (Lent by
Baroness Wedell-Jarlsberg, Paris) Siboni, Emma—840 Linden Ave,Hubbard Wood,
Illinois
1913 Eleventh Annual Philadelphia Water Color club
and Twelvth Annual Exhibition of Miniatures, Nov.9 to Dec. 14, 1913---Emma
Siboni #58. Mrs. Donald MacQueen (pg.14), # 127 Miss Beatrice Starr
(pg.20),
Partial List of Miniature Painters in this exhibit:
Heloise Guillou Redfield, Emily Drayton Taylor,
William J. Whittmore, Clare Shephard, A. Margaretta Archambault, Edna Huestis
Simpson, Mabel R. Welch, Harry L.
Johnson, Carolyn D. Tyler, Mary Rogers, Ludwig E. Faber, Elsie Dodge Pattie,
Bernice P. Andrews Fernow, Maud H. Purdy…. http://books.google.com/books?id=HewqAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Philadelphia+Water+Color+Club+(Print+Section),&source=bl&ots=BzyxPGvSty&sig=4osfmoq-CV--8_R3RTGLiiNrTOc&hl=en&ei=ci4WTd3LM4_XngfqxcXPDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
, SCROLL DOWN TO PAGE 14, accessed Dec 15, 2010.
October 1914 Vol. 8 No.2 Bulletin of
the Art Institute of Chicago, Volumes 1-12 By Art Institute of Chicago (American Society
of Miniature Painters, emma siboni) http://books.google.com/books?id=bcEEAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA7-PA6&lpg=RA7-PA6&dq=American+Society+of+Miniature+Painters,+emma+siboni&source=bl&ots=UyxsIExfjH&sig=OAE_e6LQ2OT-_r6TqScKqrhXRXg&hl=en&ei=5UbfTL6BHs-NnQe0j6HdDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBoQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=American%20Society%20of%20Miniature%20Painters%2C%20emma%20siboni&f=false
accessed
Nov 13, 2010.
December 1916 American Federation exhibit circulated 1916-1917 page
34, item # 14. Miniatures
by members of the American Society of Miniature Painters, 54
works---Springfield, Illinois, Dec.5 to Dec. 22, 1916; Los Angeles, California,
Jan 1 to Jan. 29, 1917; Louisville, Kentucky, Feb. 7 to Feb.28, 1917. http://books.google.com/books?id=1yYMAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA515&lpg=PA515&dq=ethel+greenough,+kansas+city,+flowers&source=bl&ots=UDFyTBceKB&sig=WERZUpybwZ_BmbDBPJmA7vUJS-g&hl=en&ei=SgMITdLIFcL78Abq6MynCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=ethel%20greenough%2C%20kansas%20city%2C%20flowers&f=false, SCROLL DOWN TO PAGE 607 FOR SIBONI LISTING, accessed Dec 15, 2010.
It is no surprise that GW Lighton commissioned Siboni to do a portrait of her daughter. She had three children: Phoebe, Gertrude, and Alfred. It was either Phoebe or Gertrude.
Portrait painting of Gertrude, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Lighton, by Emma Siboni. (BELOW, Artist signature, E.S; painting, closeup of portrait head, family photos of daughter Phoebe and Gertrude Lighton (photos courtesy of Linda Lighton, Terri Mooney, Kansas City, MO, Feb 19, 2013)
Portrait painting of Gertrude by Emma Siboni
closeup detail, above, below
Phoebe
Gertrude
Gertrude
Gertrude
