Edith Varian Cockcroft
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Edith Varian Cockcroft (February 6, 1881 – October 19, 1962) was a Brooklyn-born painter, designer, inventor and ceramist, who exhibited at venues including the Paris Salon, National Academy of Design and Art Institute of Chicago. She was known for portraits of nudes posed against vibrant fabric backdrops as well as landscape paintings, often depicting European seacoasts. She patented and exhibited silks and velvets, produced ceramic dinnerware and designed clothing and theater sets.[1] Her artworks were lauded for "boldness of decorative pattern and fearless use of color"[2] and for their "character and vigor."[3] Among the customers for her garments were the performers Irene Castle[4] and Jeanette MacDonald[5] Edith typically signed her paintings and ceramics "E. Varian Cockcroft" or "Cockcroft," and it was reported in 1920 that her works "have such a strong masculine quality that she is generally thought to be a man."[6] She was a member of the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts[7] and the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors,[8] and she was a founding member of the New York Society of Women Artists.[9]