Antoinette Farnsworth Drew, 1865 - 1941

Recognized in her day as the matriarch of the Atlanta art colony and a prominent member of the Atlanta Art Association, Antoinette Farnsworth Drew played an important role in shaping the city’s artistic landscape. Though she and other women artists are often left out of the historical record, her legacy is closely tied to the broader development of artistic initiatives in Atlanta and across Georgia. Despite the constraints of regional conservatism and racial segregation, the period between 1900 and the Second World War witnessed significant cultural expansion in the city. Institutions such as the Carnegie Library of Atlanta (opened in 1902), the Atlanta Art Association (founded in 1905), and the Atlanta Woman’s Club were instrumental in promoting arts education, organizing exhibitions, and sponsoring public lectures. Local businesses also played a significant role in establishing gallery spaces for local exhibitions.

Art instruction also flourished in private studios and schools, while annual exhibitions—often supported by the Art Association and the Woman’s Club—featured both local and nationally recognized artists. These efforts as well as those of private collectors and patrons paved the way for the establishment of the High Museum of Art and the Atlanta School of Art, ultimately laying the groundwork for Atlanta’s emergence as a major artistic center in the American South. The 1930s brought further momentum through the federal WPA and New Deal art programs, which supported public works projects and led to the creation of murals in civic buildings and educational institutions.

The following profile is based primarily on articles published in Georgia newspapers and reflects the information available at the time. There are, however, periods during which her activities were not covered by the press, resulting in gaps in the narrative.

Antoinette Farnsworth Drew was born on August 28, 1865, in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, into a family of painters, sculptors, writers, and musicians. (Her grave records her birth year as 1864, while newspaper accounts variously cite 1866.) Her parents, William Farnsworth and Mary Edgerton (originally from Canada) eventually settled in Atlanta, where William worked as a contractor. Drew was a cousin of the noted sculptor Helen Farnsworth Mears, best known for designing the marble statue of Frances E. Willard, the first statue of a woman placed in the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol (The Macon News, December 30, 1910, p. 8).

In May 1887, Antoinette Farnsworth married Talma Drew, the official stenographer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture under Secretary Jeremiah Rusk. The couple established their home in Washington, D.C. 

Before her European sojourn, Drew was a member of the Washington Art Students League, established in 1885 by a group of aspiring artists who sought to create a local alternative to the New York Art Students League. The organization aimed to provide rigorous art instruction in Washington, D.C., allowing students to pursue serious artistic training without having to relocate to New York. In 1897, the League was incorporated into the Corcoran School of Art.

Drew was also associated with the Corcoran Art School, which originated as an informal teaching initiative linked to the Corcoran Gallery of Art. The program was led by artist Eliphalet F. Andrews, then director of the Gallery, who initially volunteered his time before being formally appointed head of the painting and drawing department in 1887. Between that year and 1897—when the school was more formally organized—the modest program nurtured nearly 400 aspiring artists. Among them was Drew, who, according to a Washington Post article, was regarded as a motivating force in the classroom, admired for her ability to inspire fellow students through both her work and her presence.

The serious, gray eyed young woman, with a classic brow and fedora hat, the masculine vigor in her work and personal personality, who occasionally dropped in, her arms full of canvas and brushes, was one of the “great incentives” of the Art school. Whenever she tacked her paper on the easel, and with bold, strong sweeps of the charcoal rounded in one stroke the muscles of an arm or the contour of a head, the other girls felt “in for work.” She was Mrs. Antoinette Drew, an artist of magnificent promise, who for the last five years has been working abroad in Paris and Venice exhibiting each year in the salon (November 6, 1898, p. 20). 

In addition to her studies, painting, and active participation in Washington’s artistic circles, Drew spent summers on sketching excursions in Maine and made regular visits to New York City. She also exhibited her work in Washington, D.C., where she gained local recognition:

• May 1891: Participated in the first annual exhibition of the Water-Color and Sketch Club at the Cosmos Club, showing Margaret, A Summer Sketch, A Country Road, Hollyhock Garden, and Octoroon Girl.
• November 1891: Exhibited a series of Maine sketches—including depictions of men cleaning fish on Monhegan Island—at the Veerhoff Galleries on F Street.
• December 1891: Presented Twilight in a major exhibition of 210 works organized by the Society of Washington Artists at the Woodward & Lothrop gallery at 11th and F Streets.
• March 1892: Contributed to the Society of Washington Artists’ second exhibition, which featured 156 oil paintings and was again held at the Woodward & Lothrop Gallery.

Drew sailed for Europe in early February 1893, presumably without her husband. In Paris, she resided at the Girls’ Art Club; however, she does not appear to have exhibited with the American Woman’s Art Association—a notable departure from the Club’s usual practice of encouraging members to participate in group exhibitions.

In a 1901 interview with Mary Alice Phillips for The Atlanta Journal, Drew reflected on her artistic training in Paris. By day, she studied at the Académie Julian under Benjamin Constant and Jean-Paul Laurens, who alternated in critiquing students' work: “One week we would suffer under the fire of Constant’s criticisms taking on some of his dash and colors and the next week we would be quailing under the grave, austere judgment of Lawrence” (16).

Ever industrious, Drew also attended evening classes at the Académie Colarossi after full days of artistic work. She recalled the challenges of being a woman in that environment:

At Colarossi, I found life very hard. The men resented the invasion of women and resorted to all sorts of devices to keep them away; the most telling of these was relating ugly jokes to one another. The sweet girl artist usually fled—the type that never gets beyond the “sweet-picture” stage. There were just a few women who stayed, and in all justice I must say that there [sic!] rough, heartless students were always courteous, and the best of comrades when they really believed in the sincerity of purpose of the girl students (16).

Eventually, Drew took a studio of her own, though its location remains unknown. She described the experience candidly:

When I first went to Paris, I boarded at a swell boarding-house and went to Juliens (sic) at fashionable hours, but I soon learned that if I wished to accomplish anything, I must have a studio. For beauty and general comfort these studios are not altogether successes. With a top and two sides glass, when the weather is cold and rainy one might as well be out of doors. A blazing grate fire makes the atmosphere drier and adds to the cheerfulness of things generally (16).

In Paris, Drew also studied at the Académie Carmen, which operated from 1898 to 1901 and is most often associated with the American painter James McNeill Whistler, who served as its figurehead. However, according to The Atlanta Journal, the school was in fact founded by a group of women artists who had formed an independent league of their own. They subsequently invited Whistler, along with American sculptor Frederick MacMonnies and French painter Edmond Aman-Jean, to serve as instructors. Drew joined their efforts and later shared her impressions of Whistler in an interview, which the newspaper summarized as follows:

In the case of Whistler, at least, the choice was most unfortunate for the eccentric artist was wont to “prance in, in the morning, prance around the studio, and prance out again” leaving no hint or helpful suggestion to his students to aid them in their upward struggles along the precipitous paths of art. He had neither the patience nor the tact to secure the needful results from his pupils; and they stood in such awe of his sharp tongue and pointed ridicule that they were afraid to ask him for the advice which they so much needed. One of the master’s insistences at this time was for a clean and orderly palette for his pupils, and he was accustomed to inspect these quite as closely as he did the pictures which were painted. “Your picture must be on your palette before it can be placed on your canvas,” was one of his maxims, by which he meant that before the student essayed to paint, it was necessary to lay out the colors in orderly and harmonious sequence on the palette, thereby visualizing in a measure the final results which were to be sought for in the finished picture. On one of his tours of inspection, he found one timid and shrinking student without any pallette whatever. Surprised, he inquired sharply after the missing color board, and was vastly amused when the young lady timidly admitted that she had hid it to forestall the criticisms which she knew it merited!

After recounting the sting of Whistler’s often acerbic and dismissive comments, the article closes on a more generous note. Despite his eccentricity and aloof manner, Whistler was not without moments of encouragement. He took an interest in Drew’s work and, on one occasion, offered the following remark: “The thing that has to be born in you to be an artist you have; but you need a whole lot of work.” According to The Atlanta Journal, these words were deeply meaningful to Drew and continued to inspire her throughout her artistic career (February 29, 1920, p. 64).

Although Drew primarily resided in Paris, she also spent two years living in Florence and Venice, where she devoted herself to the study of color—drawing inspiration both from nature and from the Byzantine mosaics that surrounded her. This period would later have a lasting influence on her decorative work in New York City.

In her 1901 interview with Mary Alice Phillips, Drew reflected on the challenges she faced in gaining recognition in the Paris art world, lamenting the delay in being accepted into the Salons: “It was two years before I had an exhibit in the salon. Twice afterwards, I sent pictures from Italy” (Atlanta Journal, 1901, p. 16).

According to the Musée d’Orsay’s Salon database, Drew exhibited a pastel titled Portrait de Mlle H... (no. 2408) at the 1896 Salon des artistes français, and a painting entitled Affection partagée (no. 700) at the 1898 Salon des artistes français. In both Salon catalogues, her address is listed as 4 rue de Chevreuse, indicating her residence at the American Girls’ Art Club.

Having returned to the United States sometime in 1899, Antoinette Drew settled in New York City, where she lived for nine years. During this period, she maintained her own studio, designed glass mosaics for J.R. Lamb Studios, and also worked for Tiffany & Co. Notably, there is no mention of her husband in newspaper accounts from this time; he passed away in 1909.

Drew continued to exhibit her work during these years:

• February 1899: Participated in the first exhibition of the Black and White Club, held at the Fine Arts Building on 57th Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan, where she showed Study and Head.
• November 1899: Exhibited a pastel titled Fairy Tale in the Fourth Annual Exhibition of the Washington Water-Color Club. The piece, previously shown at the Salon des artistes français and still bearing its original entry number (no. 2408), depicted a female figure and was praised for its composition, tonal values, and use of color.

In the summer of 1901, Drew spent time in Atlanta, establishing a studio in the home of a certain Mrs. Bennett. Immersed in commissioned work, she had little time for socializing, though she granted an interview to The Atlanta Journal. In it, she spoke of her unexpected burst of productivity:

I had not intended to work in Georgia. This was to be a holiday, but the Atlanta climate is so delightful. I feel inspired with fresh vigor, and as if I could not afford to lose a minute. [...] Decorative art is my hobby and my specialty-it is what I can do best, but I have a pot boiler for days when tired nature seeks a respite (16).

Her “respite,” as she described it, involved illustration work—what she called “light work,” offering a “very pleasant change from the big decorative work” (Atlanta Journal, 1901, p. 16). Some of her illustrations appeared in Harper’s Magazine, while others were featured in The Billy Stories by Eva Lovett (J.F. Taylor & Co., New York, January 1901). That same year, she contributed several illustrations to Maud Ballington Booth’s Lights of Childland, published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons in the fall of 1901. In that volume, however, she was mistakenly credited as Alice Farnsworth Drew:

The book is profusely illustrated [...]. These illustrations are themselves worthy of note, for they show a keen, clear, group of the writer’s thought and are very attractive. [...] She is specifically a portrait painter, but undertook the illustration of this book and several others [...] as a rest from the burden of her chosen life (The Atlanta Journal, November 2, 1901, p. 18).

Before she returned to New York in November 1901, Mrs. George B. Hinman, her sister, hosted a small gathering in her honor, offering friends a rare opportunity to view Drew’s work and bid her farewell. As The Atlanta Journal noted::

On this occasion, several of Mrs. Drew‘s paintings will be shown. She has been in Atlanta for several months, but was so busy engrossed in these paintings that were ordered by New York and Philadelphia firms, that she had denied herself to old friends, but on the eve of her departure, she will give those friends this opportunity of giving a greeting and goodbye (The Atlanta Journal 2, Nov 1901, 8). 

Back in New York, Drew resumed her illustration work and began writing and illustrating her own stories for boys, which appeared in various American newspapers, including the New York Herald.

Her exhibition record during this period continued steadily:

• February 1902: Exhibited a painting of a young mother seated on a piazza with two children at the Art Students League exhibition at the Cosmos Club.
• February 1903: Showed a watercolor design for a religious window at the 18th Annual Exhibition of the Architectural League in New York.
• February 1905: Exhibited Christ in the Temple, a watercolor, at the 20th Annual Exhibition of the Architectural League.
• October 1907: One of her watercolors was loaned by her sister to the exhibition in the Woman’s Building at the Atlanta State Fair.

In the summer of 1907, she spent time with her mother in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Her mother passed away in February 1911.

Sometime between 1911 and 1918, Drew retreated for three years to the remote Seal Island, located 25 miles off the southern coast of Nova Scotia, which had a rich history as a fishing base and was known for its dangerous shoals and shipwrecks. There, she lived in relative isolation, painting the storm-swept coastline and the vast, open sea. Years later, in a 1924 interview with the Atlanta Constitution, she explained her motivation: “Every now and then I like to immerse myself in sea and sky and mountains—human beings are more interesting when I come back to them after these rest periods.” The reporter added: “Mrs. Drew’s idea of rest is [to] tramp the unpeopled spaces clad in khaki and carrying a painting kit. She calls these unpeopled spaces a ‘wordless world of happiness’” (Atlanta Constitution, December 26, 1924, p. 10).

Upon her return to New York, it appears that Drew held a solo exhibition in the city, though specific details about the venue or works shown have not been located. The event was briefly mentioned in The Atlanta Constitution (November 6, 1921, p. 2), but no further documentation has surfaced to date.

In 1918, Antoinette Drew returned to Atlanta, apparently to complete a portrait commission. When her aunt—the wife of contractor William Bensel—fell ill, Drew moved into her home to care for her. At the same time, she resumed her artistic practice and quickly reestablished herself as an active presence in the city’s cultural life. In addition to accepting portrait commissions and producing landscapes, she taught art classes in her studio at 66 Ellis Street and regularly exhibited her work.

• March 1918: The Atlanta Art Association mounted a small exhibition of her work at their new studio in the Calhoun Building. The show included portraits of Atlanta children—among them Little Miss Elsie Mullin and Miss Gladys Houghton—painted during Drew’s winter stay with her aunt. Also featured were seascapes from near her summer home on the coast of Newfoundland, including After the Gale, The Wall by the Sea, and Night. Drew also gave a public talk on art in conjunction with the exhibition.

• October 1918: She participated in the Atlanta Art Association’s exhibition at the Southeastern Fair, held in the Arcade Building. The show featured artists from Atlanta, New York, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and New Orleans. In an article for The Atlanta Constitution, Drew reflected on the public’s reception of the works:

  Standing on the outskirts of the crowd gathered in front of the art exhibit at the southeastern fair, I heard many remarks that would have been amusing if they had not been a bit pathetic, showing how poorly equipped the onlookers were to enjoy real art and it’s finest presentation. So many seemed shut out from a whole world of high enjoyment. They failed to see the glimmer and glistening sunlight in HH Wessel’s landscape, failed to appreciate the magnificent vigor of brushwork in Robert Henry’s nude- the quivering light of Kate Reno Miller’s oils. They saw only paint (October 20, 1918, 11).

  She later published a short article evaluating the exhibition in the November 10, 1918 issue of The Atlanta Constitution (p. 8).

• June 1919: Drew took part in a special exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, featuring work by artists formerly affiliated with the Washington Society of Artists. She exhibited a Portrait of a Child and After the Gale.

In the fall of 1919, Drew was commissioned to paint several portraits, including that of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Wiley, who outfitted a studio in their home in Troy, Alabama, specifically for her use. During her stay, former Alabama Governor Charles Henderson observed her at work and commissioned a portrait of himself, which she completed in the same studio.

• February 1920: Drew participated in an exhibition of 38 paintings by 18 artists, organized by Mrs. Clarence Blosser of the Atlanta Art Association and held in the club rooms at the Cable Piano Co. building. The Atlanta Journal praised her work:
  Mrs. A. Farnsworth-Drew is exhibiting several charming oil landscapes and marines, and one very clever small sketch made on a misty winter day; but of greatest interest, perhaps, is her interpretation of the portraits of the three attractive children of Mr. and Mrs. K. This piece of work is quite a step in advance of the usual style of portrait, and invites close inspection, and a study of technique. Mrs. Drew has had broad opportunities for travel and study, and has exhibited in important salons; she has also devoted some time to teaching (February 11, 1920, p. 17). For this portrait, she was awarded the Inman Prize—$50 in gold.
• March 1920: A life-size portrait of Governor Charles Henderson was unveiled for public viewing before being placed in the Gallery of Governors in Montgomery.
• October 1920: Drew exhibited The Third Generation—a portrait of Mrs. Murphree and her grandchild—at the Southeastern Fair in Lakewood. The Troy Messenger remarked: “The painting has a very decided heart appeal, showing the tenderness and profundity of old age in striking contrast to the innocence and helplessness of the tiny baby” (November 10, 1920, p. 4).
• November 1920: She participated in an exhibition of local artists organized by the Women’s Club, where The Atlanta Journal noted: “While the two portraits by Mrs. Drew are the only examples of this highest type of artistic expression on view, they atone for the paucity of portrait subject by the excellence of their paintings… The artist seems exceptionally gifted in being able to seize freshness and charming seriousness in early childhood and to add to them a high degree of technical craftsmanship” (November 7, 1920, p. 46).
• March 1921: A private exhibition of about 25 works was held in her honor by Mrs. Clarence Blosser. The show included An Alabama Windstorm, autumn sketches from around Atlanta, and seascapes from Nova Scotia, as well as the recently completed portrait of Mrs. Armond Carroll and her son.
• March 1921: She exhibited Dahlonega Hills and Pines at the Georgia Art Supply Company galleries alongside other local artists, including Kate Edwards.
• April 1921: She contributed the oil sketch Edge of Town to a benefit bridge event organized by the art department of the Atlanta Women’s Club.
• May 1921: At a breakfast hosted by her sister, Mrs. George B. Hinman, Drew presented The Morning Call, painted in the Dahlonega Hills, and gave a talk on her artistic life in Europe, New York, Nova Scotia, and the American South.
• May 1921: The Atlanta Art Association hosted a solo exhibition of eight of Drew’s portraits at the Goodheart-Thompkins Company galleries on Peachtree Street. She also gave a talk on modern painting techniques. The portraits featured:
  • Mrs. Hinman and her children (exhibited with the Society of American Artists),
  • William Hinman (hung in an academy exhibition)
  • The daughter of Mrs. B.A. Houser (a nude shown at the Corcoran Gallery of Art),
  • Mrs. Armond Carroll and her son
  • Miss Marion McCamy
  • Mrs. Starbeck
  • Miss Elsie Mullen
  • The Kurtz children (Inman Prize winners, 1920).
• May 1921: She also participated in the Atlanta Art Association’s Sixth Annual Exhibition, where Kate Edwards won that year’s Inman Prize.
• October 1921: She exhibited once again at the Southeastern Fair in Lakewood, in a show organized by Mrs. Edwin W. More, featuring artists from across the United States.
• November 1921: Drew held a solo exhibition of landscapes and figure paintings at the Goodheart-Thompkins Company. The show included Nova Scotia seascapes—After the Storm, The Sea Gypsy, Sea Urchins, On the Sea Wall, The Winter Storm, The Hidden Moon, Boats in the Fog, Salt Water Marsh, Incoming Fog, After the Gale, and A Rift in the Fog—as well as Georgia landscapes such as The Pines, An Autumn Landscape, An Alabama Windstorm, The Stream at Mentone, and The Sweet Gum Tree. Two recent portraits were also shown: one of her student Lena Knox (daughter of Fitzhugh Knox), and another of Mrs. Rufus Baker of Dahlonega, painted outdoors.

In 1922, her aunt, Mrs. William Bensel passed away at the age of 87 and bequeathed to her two properties, including the three-story red brick “castle house” where Drew had spent much of her childhood. Due to a contested will, ownership was not legally granted to her until 1924.

There are no known records of exhibitions in 1922, and only one documented showing in May 1923, when Drew held a solo exhibition of seascapes, landscapes, and portraits in the art galleries of John L. Moore & Sons on Peachtree Street. The Atlanta Journal offered a thoughtful reflection on the exhibition, emphasizing the distinct emotional tone conveyed by each group of paintings. As the show included works previously exhibited in other contexts, the article is worth quoting at length:

In these scenes, Mrs. Drew has succeeded in conveying to her audiences a wonderful sense of elemental forces in nature. Very few signs of life are visible. Only two of the canvases have human figures, and one or two of the remainder have animal life in evidence. For the rest, the artist is concerned with wind and waves, the action of angry water on bleak rocks, the loneliness of fog-drenched marshes, or the gray sands and dunes as they stretch in monotonous vistas into the grey skies beyond.  In one canvas the artist gives the reaction of these natural forces upon the few people who inhabit the island. A mother and two children stand on the little point projecting into the ocean, gazing off over the waves for the sight of a sail that has not yet appeared. It is a pathetic group, and a sense of loneliness and bleakness pervades the conception. Other pictures, done more recently, in the mountains of North Georgia and adjacent states, are much warmer in color and reveal the delight of Mrs. Drew in the brilliance of southern suns and autumn hillsides. One particularly happy picture is a group of tall pines, rising above still waters, bathed in sunlight. This is a long panel and is highly decorative in effect.The portrait section again shows the appeal of color to the artist. Warmth and vitality are uppermost in the portraits exhibited, especially in the head of a charming, small boy, and the well-known group of Kurtz children, which won the Inman prize three years ago (June 03, 1923, 63).

In March 1924, Drew gave a talk at the College Park Women’s Club, where she presented a selection of her paintings and spoke about her student years in Paris and her approach to plein air painting. Later that year, in the fall of 1924, she embarked on an extended sketching tour in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Upon her return, a journalist from The Atlanta Constitution visited her in her studio to learn more about her recent work:

To find Mrs. Drew’s studio one must follow a garden path along an old-time garden tucked away behind a great brick house in the heart of the city. Opening a door in a brick wall at the end of the path, one steps into a genuine artist workshop, even to the skylight through which comes clear north light. Mrs. Drew, in painting blouse, her thumb thrust into a huge palette, reveling in paint and pattern with a simple hearted joyousness of the true worker, gives a welcome that is as breezy as her sketches.

Right now, the North Carolina sketches cover one wall and are scattered about on easels and against the baseboard. They were made in the hills and mountains about Franklin. In the deep gorge near Andrews and on the bridge above the Cherokee river, and the Indian reservation. Rich, with hot color and late autumn, alive with the brilliance of turning foliage, or as in some sketches, where the blues and browns of winter are strongly, emphasized, the canvases speak of the joy of vast mountains and open spaces, the bitter wind almost whistles through a canyon like valley between brightly wooded Hills on one canvas (December 26, 1924, 10).

On her way back from the Blue Ridge, Drew stopped in Tallulah Falls, where she stayed at the local high school and painted a mural in one of the main buildings. An article in The Atlanta Journal praised the project:

This mural is a fanciful  tree, of the form of which suggests hiding gnomes and Erie wood folk in the fore foreground, and a view of the wonderful Tallulah falls Gorge with birds circling in the azure sky above. This is offset on each side with a scrap mosaic designed by Mrs. Drew, and executed by the students under her direction. A wealth of color to be found, but rarely, is available for this in silk, and chiffons sent the school by friends in Atlanta and elsewhere and so this unique, and in effect, Rich tapestry, which is made on the principle of the hook rug,silently at tests, the love of the students for their school and the reflection in them of the work of a group of women whose vision and heart have combined to create and develop a finer type of man and woman in our mountains (December 12, 1926, 14).

It appears that Drew spent part of the winter of 1924–1925 in New York City, where she undertook a series of designs for stained glass and mural decorations commissioned by a “well-known firm devoted to art products” (Atlanta Constitution, April 17, 1925, p. 17).

• January 1925: She was invited to participate in the fiftieth anniversary celebration of the Art Students League of New York, held in the galleries of the Fine Arts Society on 57th Street.
• April 1925: Her painting Mists was exhibited in the Southern Art League exhibition at the Biltmore Hotel Arcade, which featured over 200 works. Following the show, she wrote a review for The Atlanta Journal in which she praised many of the participating artists. She concluded the article with a personal reflection:

There are so many we would like to tell you about. We love them all, not because they are perfect. We do not want them to be any more than we want our friends to be, but in each one there is something that takes us out of this humdrum world along the highways toward that utopia we each build for ourselves out of our dreams. They help us to build new dreams, and, as an old French artist once said to me, sadly, where would any of us be without our dreams? (April 26, 1925, 62).

That same month, she completed an ornamental panel for the living room of Mr. and Mrs. William Kingdom of Springdale Road, and continued her teaching at the Y.M.C.A. In the summer, she returned once again to Nova Scotia to paint.

• December 1925: Drew contributed a review for The Atlanta Constitution of the Atlanta Women’s Club’s student exhibition, praising it as “fine student work, far removed from all that is stupid and amateurish” (December 18, 1925, p. 15).
• February 1926: She reviewed a studio exhibition of works by Marion Otis, also for The Atlanta Journal, commending the artistic quality of the show (February 17, 1926, p. 19).

That fall, she returned to the Blue Ridge Mountains for another painting tour, and in December 1926, she departed for an extended trip to New Orleans, Nova Scotia, and New York, where she continued her work into the following year.

• June 1927: Drew participated in the twelfth annual exhibition of the Atlanta Art Association, exhibiting a painting titled The Challenge.
• January 1928: She showed work in the Georgia Art Exposition, which featured approximately 350 artworks and was endorsed by the Atlanta Art Association and other civic institutions. The event was hosted at the David-Paxon Company store.
• March 1928: At the home of Mr. and Mrs. Archibald Davis, Drew unveiled a decorative panel above the mantelpiece depicting swans she had seen in the Louisiana marshes. Guests also viewed her crayon portrait of the couple, which was displayed on the premises.
• January 1929: Her oil The Great Sea Wall is represented in the exhibition of Georgia art at the Davison-Paxon Company.

During this same period, Drew also completed charcoal, white paint, and oil portrait heads of several Atlantans, including Louis Rucker, Knowles Davis, and her former students Katherine Stanford and Martha Maddox-Garringer.

She returned to Atlanta sometime in 1929. Between 1929 and 1931, Drew oversaw the design and construction of the Farnsworth-Drew Studios at 88 Ellis Street, a purpose-built space that combined living quarters with working studios. The building reflected her commitment to integrating artistic practice into daily life, and she ensured it was tailored to meet the needs of both resident and working artists. During this period, she also began lending the second floor of her home to the Studio Club of the Atlanta Art Group, fostering a collaborative environment for local artists (Atlanta Constitution, September 21, 1941, p. 49). 

Her work continued to be exhibited in prominent venues throughout the early 1930s:

• April 1931: Exhibited Over the Bar and The Great Sea Wall at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. These paintings had previously been shown in Savannah and Macon.
• October 1932: Represented in an exhibition organized by the Atlanta Woman’s Club, which featured works by 48 artists residing in the city.
• January 1933: Participated in two separate exhibitions:
  • A group show at the Art Fair held in the Rhodes-Haverty Building.
  • The Fourth Annual Exhibition organized by the Georgia Art Association (an outgrowth of the Savannah Sketch Club), hosted at the High Museum, featuring oils, watercolors, pastels, pencil works, etchings, and block prints.
• April 1933: Represented a solo exhibition of paintings and drawings organized by the Beaux Arts Group of the Studio Club, underscoring her continuing influence on Atlanta’s art community.
• October 1933: Held a major solo exhibition at the High Museum of Art, featuring approximately 46 works—including portraits, sketches, and marine scenes executed in oil and pastel. Most of these works were created during her time on Seal Island, located 25 miles off the southern coast of Nova Scotia. Notable pieces included Undermined and a portrait of Judge Jesse M. Wood.
• November 1933: A second solo exhibition of thirty paintings was mounted at the University of Atlanta Library, sponsored by the university’s art department. The show included works previously displayed at the High Museum, and Drew gave a talk at the opening reception.

Between 1933 and 1935, Drew participated in the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) under the Civil Works Administration (CWA), contributing to public art initiatives in Atlanta, including five public schools. She was commissioned to create decorations for several local institutions. In 1933, with the assistance of Rose Cohn, she completed a set of three mural panels titled Springtime for a corridor in the children’s ward of Grady Hospital. These works were exhibited at the High Museum of Art in July 1933 before being installed. In 1935, she completed another mural for Grady Hospital, titled Living Waters. Measuring 15 feet long by 9 feet wide, it was first exhibited at the High Museum in January 1936, before being permanently installed at the hospital. That same year, she also undertook a major commission under the PWPA: Dawn of Learning, a 38-foot-long mural for the reference room of the Carnegie Library. This ambitious work stands as one of her most significant contributions to public art in Atlanta.

In addition to these public commissions, Drew continued to exhibit her work in various venues.

• March 1934: Exhibited with Marion Otis at the Women’s Club in Montgomery Alabama, showing her marines.
• May 1934: Exhibited Stone Mountain at the Public Works Arts Project exhibition in Washington D.C., representing some 31 canvases from which President and Mrs. Roosevelt selected two paintings to hang in the White House.
• November 1938: portrait sketch in the exhibit at the Atlanta Woman’s Club.

The red brick castle-house remained her home until her untimely death in 1941. She carefully designed and cultivated the garden – a creative act she likened to painting – and frequently gathered artists and art dealers at her home. In later years, when arthritis prevented her from painting, she rented rooms in her house to struggling artists, and provided meals for down and out wanderers in exchange for the upkeep of her garden. 

It was Mrs. Drew, the lady who had made the garden live. She would appear quick as a flash and welcome her guests on the patio. She had built herself. She would tell them various stories of the garden, how each part of it came into being. Then the garden would become her stage. She was the chief actress; She fascinated her visitors. She she could well have been an actress. Instead of an artist she could have played the part of a queen or an empress. Her frame was large and built sturdy. Her eyes were blue, quick and expressive; her hair was white, and her complexion was browned by the outdoor life. The door of the very patio on which she entertained was made from the tile of an old floor of Grady hospital, where she had a mural. The cement railing was constructed by her directions. […] she liked to do things with her hands, and the garden grew more or less as a fulfillment of this urge to create. She would remark with a flipping gesture: “it doesn’t make much difference whether it is a picture or a garden (The Atlanta Constitution, September 21, 1941, 49).

Drew’s life ended most tragically. Right before she had planned a trip to her favorite island in Nova Scotia, she was murdered in her beloved Atlanta home. It appears she was killed on a Saturday evening, but her body was not discovered until the following Monday. The shocking nature of the crime, which was never fully solved, gripped the city. Contemporary reports identified robbery as the likely motive—possibly committed by a carpenter who had worked for her as a handyman, or by a homeless man with whom she had reportedly argued over money. The Atlanta Journal described the scene of desolation:

The quaint old red brick mansion at 88 Ellis Street, N.E., where sunken gardens grow green in the shadows of Peachtree’s skyscrapers, was a mystery house today, holding in its gloomy basement studio behind a sunny patio the secret of the murder of its mistress. It was here that Mrs. Antoinette Farnsworth Drew, aging with the canvases that made her famous, lived among the people she loved—ambitious young artists and dealers in art—living and breathing the work that her gnarled old hands could no longer do. It was here, too, that the grand old lady died. Saturday or Sunday, at the hands of the one who stole into her studio apartment and bludgeoned her with a pickax as she lay in bed. Police who investigated the cold trail found the death weapon still bloodstained, and a basement window where the screen had been ripped away (September 17, 1941, p. 23).

She was survived by her sister and two nieces. In her will, she had requested that her body “be disposed of with the least possible expense compatible with decency.” She bequeathed the entirety of her artwork to fellow artist Carolyn Cobb and directed that, after certain specific bequests were fulfilled, the remainder of her estate be given to Winnifred Hamilton, the wife of the lighthouse keeper on Seal Island. Her jewelry was left to her second cousin, J. Mary Hostetter, while the furnishings from her home were willed to the White Nurses’ Home at Grady Hospital (The Atlanta Journal, September 19, 1941, 23).

According to The Atlanta Constitution, Drew had always dreamed that her house would become a center for artists:

Her fondest hope was to interest some philanthropic Atlanta, a lover of the arts, into taking over the studio she had created out of her old home and preserving it as a permanent art museum, and Studio club for Atlanta. She believed that Art would flourish in Atlanta, if young artists had a gathering place that could serve as a source of inspiration for their study. She discussed this idea with friends who visited her in her home (September 21, 1941, 49).

Her dream came true around 1947, when Ernest Felber and Mrs. William Elsas opened The Gallery at 88 Ellis, which exhibited fine art from around the world until about 1953. The house then became a private home and was destroyed sometime in the 1960s.

A 2022 podcast from Archive Atlanta sums up the unfortunate fate of Antoinette Farnworth Drew: "[...[ the little we know about her life, her artwork and the story of her unsolved murder. History is often unkind to women, and at best has simply forgotten their names and achievements. This is especially true for women that don’t reach national fame and/or those that don’t have descendants to carry on their memory. Both of these are true for Antoinette."

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