Eulabee Dix

A watercolor of a young, lightskinned woman with brown hair piled on top of her head. She is depicted from the neck up, and is wearing a purple shirt with a high collar. The brushstrokes are visible and short.

Eulabee Dix, Me, ca. 1899; Watercolor on ivory, Gift of Mrs. Philip Dix Becker and family

1878 to 1961

Settling in New York in 1899, Dix studied at The Art Students League, took lessons with the noted miniature painters Isaac A. Josephi and William J. Whittemore, and exhibited with the newly established American Society of Miniature Painters.

The miniature revival, of which Dix was a key participant, began in the 1890s. It coincided with American interest in colonial history and the Arts and Crafts movement, which valued handcraft. Dix and others adapted the traditional methods and materials of miniature painting to modern style and subjects.

Dix portrayed numerous prominent sitters, including the actresses Ellen Terry and Ethel Barrymore, author Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), and photographer Gertrude Käsebier, as well as family and friends.

She enjoyed success in Europe, including a 1906 solo exhibition in London and a medal at the 1927 Paris Salon. In 1910, Dix married lawyer Alfred Becker, with whom she had two children. Late in life, she moved to Lisbon, Portugal, where the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga presented a retrospective of her art in 1958.

Artist Details

  • Name

    Eulabee Dix

  • Birth

    Greenfield, Illinois, 1878

  • Death

    Waterbury, Connecticut, 1961

  • Phonetic Spelling

    YOO-lah-bee dihks

Works by Eulabee Dix

  • Me

    View Artwork Details
    A softly painted, miniature self-portrait in an oval frame portrays the light-skinned, brunette artist against a dark background. Clad in a white, off-the-shoulder gauzy garment, she appears from the waist up, her body facing right. She turns her gaze toward the viewer.

    Eulabee Dix, Me, ca. 1905; Watercolor on ivory, 4 1/2 x 3 x 1/4 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Mrs. Philip Dix Becker and family; Photo by Lee Stalsworth

  • Me

    Me illustrates Eulabee Dix’s talent with the demanding watercolor-on-ivory medium. Rosalba Carriera had developed the technique in 18th-century Venice. In early 19th-century America, artists such as Anna Claypoole Peale helped make watercolor-on-ivory miniatures the favored means of capturing the likeness of a loved one. By the end of the Civil War, however, inexpensive and equally portable photographic portraits had supplanted miniatures in popularity.

    ...

    View Artwork Details
    Miniature half-portrait of a light-skinned woman, set in an oval-shaped brass frame, gazing confidently at the viewer. The woman is wearing a Victorian-style white blouse with a purple scarf tied in bow around her neck, her brown hair loosely piled atop her head.

    Eulabee Dix, Me, ca. 1899; Watercolor on ivory, 3 x 2 1/2 x 1/2 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Mrs. Philip Dix Becker and family

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