Fern Coppedge Scrapbook, Volume 1 , Front cover

Covering the artist’s career from 1916 until her death in 1951, the Fern Coppedge Scrapbooks contain important information about the artist’s exhibition history, evolving style, and critical reception. They were likely compiled by the artist herself, with additional newspaper clippings and obituaries added after her death. Two of the scrapbooks were donated to the James A. Michener Art Museum by the children of architect and artist Henry T. MacNeill (1890-1970) and his wife, Chester County historian Aimée Junker MacNeill (1891-1976), friends of Coppedge who also inherited many examples of her artwork.

Nationally celebrated for her landscape paintings, Fern Coppedge challenged pictorial conventions with her bold, colorful compositions and overcame challenges women artists faced in her lifetime. In order to expand their artistic networks and gain greater exposure for their work, Coppedge and other artists joined women’s organizations like The Plastic Club and The Philadelphia Ten. These Philadelphia-based collectives of painters and sculptors exhibited together locally and nationally at a time when women were excluded from exhibitions and membership to art organizations because of their gender. The scrapbooks document Coppedge’s involvement with these important groups that sought greater opportunities and recognition for women artists.