Pauline PALMER (1867-1938) ✿

Pauline Lennards Palmer (1867-1938) was an American artist based in Chicago. Pauline Lennards was born in McHenry, Illinois, the daughter of Nicholas Lennards, a merchant, and Frances Spanganacher Lennards.

Her parents were both immigrants from Prussia; she grew up speaking German as her first language. She studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago, under William Merritt Chase, Frank Duveneck, and Kenneth Hayes Miller.

She pursued further training in Paris at Académie Colarossi, the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, and with Paris-based American painter Richard E. Miller. Palmer kept a studio at the Tree Building in Chicago, and exhibited paintings in many cities in the United States.

Abroad, she showed works at the Paris Salon in 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906 and 1911, and also at an art exposition in Naples in 1911.

In 1919, Palmer became the first woman to be elected president of the Chicago Society of Artists. The following year, she was awarded a silver medal by the Society. She was also active with the Chicago Watercolor Club, the Chicago Art Guild, the Chicago Arts Club, and the Municipal Art League, among other affiliations. In 1923 she was founder and first president of the Association of Chicago Painters and Sculptors, and the Association awarded her a gold medal in 1936. She also served a term as president of the Art Institute Alumni Association.