ROCKFORD ART MUSEUM | COLLECTION | AMERICAN MASTERS

Belle Emerson Keith

Belle Emerson Keith was the youngest of four daughters born to Adelaide (nee Talcott) and Ralph Emerson, whose families were considered social and cultural leaders of Rockford. She displayed a genuine gift for painting and studied at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, and later under American expatriate Impressionist Charles von Marr in Munich, and under Charles Lazar in Paris. She later became an accomplished gardener, forged progress in modern education, and painted. She exhibited regularly with the Rockford Sketch Club, which became the Rockford Art Association (now Rockford Art Museum); her work was displayed during the first RAA exhibition in 1913. Three years later, Keith created a private school at her residence on North Main Street for a small group of children, including only child Mary, which became known as Keith Country Day School. Keith also collected work by many local and national artists, and donated land for the Rockford Woman's Club, which named its art gallery for her.