VON'NOH, ROBERT WILLIAM (1S58—). An American portrait, figure, and landscape painter, horn in Hartford, Comm. He studied at the Massachusetts Normal Art School in Boston, and in Paris under Boulanger and Lefebvre from 1881 to 1883 and again in 1886-91. Between these dates he taught at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. While in Paris he was influenced by the prevailing realism, to whieh in his own figure compositions he added dramatic feeling. Many of his landscapes include figures and are treated impressionistically with daring color and light effects. After his return to 'America he devoted himself to portraiture, and was very successful. He was principal instructor in por trait and figure painting at. the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1891 until 1896. Ilis works include, "A Poppy Field," "Sad News," "Miss; Mildred Blair" (1900). and "Little Louise" ( 1900 ).-11is wife, BESSIE ( PorrER) (1872
—), a sculptor, was horn in Saint Louis. She stud ied at the Art Institute of Chicago under Taft, whom she also assisted in his work on the Agri• cultural Building at the World's Fair of 1893. Afterwards she studied in Paris, where she was influenced by Rodin, and in Italy. Iler work began to he known about 1896, and attracted con siderable attention because of its unusual form and technique. Her subjects are groups-of chil dren, or young women, sometimes in polychrome, and she is said to have chosen this form for her art after seeing the Tanagra figurines. They are portrait statuettes in modern dress, modeled with a sympathetic and sensitive appreciation, in a naturalistie style with very little detail. There arc several examples of her work in the Chicago Art Museum.