Died 1956 | ||
Emma Cheves Wilkins (1870–1956) was an American painter whose works are found in the permanent collections of Armstrong State University in Savannah, the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah, and in private collections.
Background
Emma Cheves Wilkins was born on December 10, 1870, the first child of Emma Cheves and Gilbert A. Wilkins. She was a lifelong resident of Savannah, Georgia and inherited the artistic talents of her mother and grandmother. Alongside her mother in the 1890s, Wilkins taught art lessons at a studio in Savannah as the market for her artwork extended. As a self-sustaining artist, Wilkins painted portraits of judges, politicians, bankers, doctors, and to a lesser extent of women and children. Wilkins traveled to Paris in 1896 with fellow Savannah artist Lucile Desbouillons. The pair lived at the American Girl's Club for a few months and were enrolled in Gustave-Claude-Etienne Courtois's class for foreigners. In the 1900s, she began restorative artwork on several paintings.