Posted by Communications Liaison Ellie Simpson, thanks to Archivist Jon Coss.
Margaret Mina Brisbine was born in Yankton, South Dakota in 1901, the daughter of dry-goods merchant Hiram Ellsworth Brisbine and Mina Van Tassel Brisbine. She moved with her family to Houston, Texas in 1915 and studied art at Rice University. She spent three years at the Pennsyl-vania Academy of Fine Arts and won a scholarship to Paris to study portraiture and mural art.
Self-portrait, ca. 1940. Whitefield Historical Society. Enzo Baccante in costume and visiting card.
In 1928 she moved to New York City, where she met an artist named Enzo Baccante. He was an operatic baritone, her elder by 12 years. He served in the Italian Army during World War I and immigrated to the U.S. in the early 1920s. In New York he changed his career from singing opera to painting and sculpting. He and Margaret Brisbine married in 1929.
“An Evening Entertainment,” ca. 1930. “Portrait of Rita and Thomas P. Benton,” 1934.
Among her artworks, Margaret Brisbine Baccante painted a portrait of the wife and son of the muralist Thomas Hart Benton. In 1938 she traveled to Washington, D.C., for a commission. (She painted several portraits of Congressmen.) While she was away, her husband died from a heart attack in their Manhattan apartment. He was buried in the Artists’ Cemetery in Woodstock, NY.
During the 1920s and ‘30s, Margaret Brisbine Baccante lived in New York and Texas. According to Nemat Galleries, “Her murals were installed in Christ the King, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Francis Xavier Churches in New York and the Gulf Oil Company Building in Pittsburgh.
“An Evening Entertainment,” ca. 1930. “Portrait of Rita and Thomas P. Benton,” 1934.
Among her artworks, Margaret Brisbine Baccante painted a portrait of the wife and son of the muralist Thomas Hart Benton. In 1938 she traveled to Washington, D.C., for a commission. (She painted several portraits of Congressmen.) While she was away, her husband died from a heart attack in their Manhattan apartment. He was buried in the Artists’ Cemetery in Woodstock, NY.
During the 1920s and ‘30s, Margaret Brisbine Baccante lived in New York and Texas. According to Nemat Galleries, “Her murals were installed in Christ the King, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Francis Xavier Churches in New York and the Gulf Oil Company Building in Pittsburgh.
“American Football,” 1938. (The Rose Bowl: California Golden Bears vs. Alabama Crimson Tide). “A Family of Four with Scythe,” signed “Baccante,” credited to Margaret Brisbine, undated.
When Elizabeth Greene Preble of Pelham Manor became seriously ill, Margaret helped care for her. Elizabeth was the first wife of Theodore Preble. She died in her mid-40s in Pelham in 1938 and was buried in Genesee County, New York. Theodore was left with two young sons, Richard and Roger. Margaret’s father died a year later. The widowed Margaret and widower Theodore were married in Whitefield, Maine, where his ancestors had settled generations earlier.
Undated photograph (left). Margaret and Ted Preble. Whitefield Historical Society.
Theodore Lunt Preble was born in 1893 and graduated from the University of California and Harvard Business School. He served as an officer in both World Wars. He was an executive engineer for several auto companies and director of transportation for an oil company in New York City. Both of his sons served in the military, the older one becoming an architect. Theodore Preble joined the Huguenot Memorial Church in 1954 and died there in Pelham Manor in 1968. He was buried in the Preble family cemetery in Whitefield, Maine. Margaret Brisbine Preble died two years later in Pelham and was buried next to him in Maine.
In 1955 Margaret Preble designed five murals for the Assembly Room of the Huguenot Church’s Education Wing, depicting events in the life of Jesus. They were dedicated in 1956.
Watercolor sketch for the Nativity, 1955 (above). Monochrome reproduction (below).
A watercolor sketch for the nativity has survived. A photograph of the mural was reproduced on the 1955 Christmas Day bulletin. Another reproduction appeared in The Huguenot Herald in 1968. The actual mural measured 3-1/2 feet by 11 feet. It would have been located on the south wall of the church house Assembly Room. The four other murals were painted on the smaller spaces in between the windows on the west wall.
Nativity reproduced in Huguenot Herald, 1968 (left). Jesus washing the feet of the disciples.
A reproduction of one of the small murals appeared in a 1956 bulletin, showing Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. Today there are no signs of the murals. X-ray radiography might reveal images under the Assembly Room walls. The cost to restore the murals would be prohibitive.
No explanation has been found for painting over the murals. The Huguenot Church must have tried to contact Margaret, though she may have been difficult to reach in Maine. Maybe she thought of the murals as practice work for the grand murals she allegedly created for churches in New York City. Maybe some parents of nursery school children who had different faiths (or no faith) objected to the Assembly Room murals. We may never know.
Below is an image of a mural copied from the website of the Church of St. Francis Xavier. It may have been created by Ms. Preble, but its records would need to be searched. Unfortunately, her legacy in art – though small and scattered – was not passed down to anyone.
“Crucifixion.” Possibly by Margaret Brisbine Preble. Church of St. Francis Xavier, Manhattan.
Sources:
Arakelyan, Ashot. http://forgottenoperasingers.blogspot.com/2017/03/enzo-baccante-baritone-sulmona-1887-new.html. “Forgotten Opera Singers” blog.
Architect of the Capitol. Women Artists. https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/women-artists. List of portraits painted for House Committee Chairs.
risbine, Margaret. Portrait of Rita and T. P. Benton. AskART. https://www.askart.com/artist/Margaret_Brisbine/102295/Margaret_Brisbine.aspx
Find-A-Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/121764382/elizabeth-preble and https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/88422069/margaret_preble
HMC Archives. Sunday church bulletins: 24 Dec 1955, 25 Dec 1955, 10 June 1956.
Nemat Galleries. Margaret Brisbane 1901- 1991 | Nemat Galleries (candelariaruggalleries.com). (“Brisbine” is misspelled as “Brisbane.”)
Preble, Margaret B. Self-portrait. Whitefield Historical Society Archives, via Marie Sacks.
Preble, Margaret Brisbine. Watercolor sketch of Nativity, 1955. Black-and-white Nativity image. Huguenot Herald, December 1968. Huguenot Memorial Church Archives.
St. Francis Xavier Church website. https://www.google.com/search?q=st+francis+xazier+church+new+york&oq=st+francis+xazier+church+new+york&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTISCAEQLhgNGK8BGMcBGIAEGI4FMggIAhAAGBYYHjIICAMQABgWGB4yCggEEAAYgAQYogQyCggFEAAYgAQYogQyCggGEAAYgAQYogTSAQg0MjMxajBqN6gCCLACAQ&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8.
Whitefield Historical Society Archives. Photos of Theodore Preble and Margaret Brisbine Preble. Archivist Marie Sacks.