K.C.S.O.A.

Art matron Gertrude Woolf Lighton refurbished a property on the West Bluffs to provide a permanent headquarters for the Kansas City Society of Artists. Her involvement with the arts went all the way back to the 1896 Paint Club, under George Van Millet.  Among others, two collegues, Alfred Houghton Clark

and author Floy Campbell, were given exhibits. Through her connections with John H. Bender of the Alden Galleries, she was able to add wood block artist Richardson Rome, to the art colony's roster. Double click on image to enlarge.

  Through her patronage of the Art Institute she made it possible for women artists to work out of inexpensive studios and exhibit at 1718 Holly Street as well.

Fred Geary found himself drawn into this community. "It was fourteen years before much thought could be given to advancement in other directions. Yet being thirty-five years old would in no way deter him from finer accomplishment. Definite impulses of the early 1930s beckoned to a new horizon in artistic goals and associations. He (Geary) was treasurer of The Kansas City Society of Artists, about 1933, and showed genuine interest in the organizations's activities."  Ernest H. Deines, 1946

(G.W. Lighton history courtesy of J D Mooney of Kansas City, MO, interviewed September 11, 2010. Photo of G.W. Lighton and history courtesy Linda Lighton of Kansas City, MO, interviewed October 3, 2010. Kansas City, Missouri: its history and its people 1808-1908 by Carrie Westlake Whitney, page 601, Google Books, accessed October 17, 2010. Fred Geary, Missouri Wood Engraver by E.H. Deines, 1946, unpublished, page three, courtesy of Ms. Jane Metz and the Carrollton Public Library, Carrollton, MO, accessed January 10, 2010. Kansas City's Historic Hyde Park, 4012 Holmes Street, accessed December 16, 2010. Private Library Holding, http://privatelibraryholdings.com/id84.html, accessed November 19, 2010. Minnesota Prints And Printmakers, 1900-1945 by Robert Crump, Minnesota Historical Society, accessed November 18, 2010. The Literary World: A Monthly Review Of Current Literature, Volume 30 by Samuel R. Crocker, Edward Abbott, Madeline Vaughan Abbott Bushnell ("Mrs. C.E. Bushnell,") Nicholas Paine Gilman, Bliss Carman, Herbert Copeland, page 410, accessed December 15, 2010)