City: Nashville
NEWMAN, Willie Betty, artist, portrait painter; born Murfreesboro, Tenn.; French, Scotch and German descent; daughter of Col. W.F.M. and Sophie (Rucker) BETTY; father, lawyer; paternal grandparents William Randolph and Mary (Holland) BETTY; maternal grandparents Benjamin R. and Elizabeth (Wharton) RUCKER; educated Lebanon, Murfreesboro, Cincinnati and Paris, France; graduated in Literary Course Greenwood Seminary, Lebanon, January, 1882; married I. W. NEWMAN in 1882; studied art in Cincinnati; later studied in France under Jean Paul LAURENS and Benjamin CONSTANT; lived in Paris twelve years, where she had a studio; in 1892 received honorable mention from Cincinnati Art School; in 1900 received honorable mention in Paris Salon, given by French government; won the Foreign Scholarship in the Cincinnati Art School and was sent abroad for three years in 1891; among her most notable art productions are “Repose in Brittany,” owned by C. M. Schwab; “Fisherman’s Daughter,” owned by Cincinnati Art Museum; “Passing Holy Bread” and “En Penitence,” loaned to museum in Philadelphia; “Reverie,” owned by Art Club, Philadelphia; “Dreams,” “Foolish Virgin,” “Nineday Prayers” and “Empty Cradle,” portrait of Bishop Galloway for Vanderbilt University and Millsaps College, Jackson, Miss.; portrait of Vice-President James Sherman; portraits of Mrs. James C. Bradford, Mrs. E. W. Cole, Mrs. Whitford Cole, Mrs. A. R. Cole, Mrs. Shelby D. Williams and daughter of M. J. C. Wrenne; received medal given by Art Association of Nashville in 1910.
Source: Who’s Who in Tennessee: A Biographical Reference Book of Notable Tennesseans of To-Day. Memphis: Paul & Douglas Co, 1911.
