Artist's Biography
See the artist’s biography in volume 4.
Provenance
Elsie Gertrude Kehoe (1888–1967), Saltdean, Sussex, by June 15, 1950 [1];
Purchased from her sale, Objects of Vertu, Fine Watches, Etc., Sotheby’s, London, June 15, 1950, lot 173, as A Lady, by Leggatt Brothers, London, probably on behalf of Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, 1950–August 7, 1958 [2];
Their gift, through the Starr Foundation, Inc., Kansas City, MO, to the Philbrook Art Center, now Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK, 1958.
Notes
[1] From Martha Jane Starr’s correspondence to her friend, Betty Hogg, from March 22, 1949: “A Mrs. Kehoe is a collector over there [London] and I was referred to her last year and just recently she mailed me a catalogue from Agnew with the sale prices of miniatures paid and some fine ones went very reasonably in comparison with American prices. If the distance isn’t too great, perhaps you could phone or contact her for her opinion on the numbers and portraits I’m listing.” From an undated letter from Mrs. Hogg, following an auction: “your lots 25 and 48 had me worried they seemed so popular! I did not call Mrs. Kehoe for I thought she might be a competitor and bid against me!!” The Starrs mentioned the Kehoe’s in Antiques magazine in 1961 (p. 440): “A Mr. and Mrs. Kehoe of Brighton gave us gracious hospitality while showing us theirs [collection of miniatures].”
[2] “A fine miniature of a lady, by John Smart, signed and dated 1776, head and gaze three-quarters dexter, her dark hair falling to her left shoulder, dressed with pearls, wearing a low-cut pale blue dress, oval, 2 1/8 in. [See Frontispiece].” According to an attached price list, Leggatt bought lot 173 for £115. Archival research has shown that Leggatt Brothers served as purchasing agents for the Starrs. See correspondence between Betty Hogg and Martha Jane Starr, May 15 and June 3, 1950, Nelson-Atkins curatorial files.
References
Objects of Vertu, Fine Watches, Etc. (London: Sotheby’s, June 15, 1950), 23, as A Lady.
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