Blanche Dillaye

Blanche (Annie) Dillaye was born on September 4, 1851 in Syracuse, New York into a well-to-do French-American family, the only child of lawyer and businessman Stephen Devalson Dillaye and Charlotte B. Malcom. In early childhood, she showed an aptitude for drawing and was sent to the Chestnut Street Female Seminary (a boarding school), which later became the elite Ogontz School for Young Ladies near Philadelphia. This rigorous private school had been founded in 1850 by her Quaker aunt, Harriette A. Dillaye (along with classmate Mary L. Bonney) as an alternative to the traditional finishing school. At Chestnut Street, girls ages 13 – 18 received a liberal arts education that included humanities, science, physical education classes, and an art department of Pencilling, Crayon and Painting in Oil and Watercolors.
Around 1882, Dillaye studied under etcher Stephen Parrish, whose other pupils included Florence Esté, Eleanor Greatorex, Sarah Dodson, and Gabrielle de Veaux Clements, all of whom eventually studied in Paris and were involved with the American Woman’s Art Association (AWAA). In her address at the 1893 the Columbian Exposition, Dillaye was said to have acknowledged that “the first coterie of women etchers, [...] received their first impulse and gained command of the subtle resources of their art from the generously proffered instruction of Stephen Parrish” (Emily Sartain, “Women in Business,” Biennial of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, 1896, p. 327). Dillaye attended the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts from 1883-1884, taking a class in etching taught by Stephen Ferrier, along with Gabrielle De Veaux Clements and Edith Loring Peirce Getchell. She also trained with Charles Woodbury in Annisquam and Shinnecock, Massachusetts in the summer months of 1898.
In the 1890s, Dillaye adopted the snail as her “sign and seal.” According to Gladys Engel Lang, “She signed many of her drawings with a tiny sketch of a small snail as a play on her French name, pronounced ‘delay,’ and took as her motto Shakespeare’s tribute to the snail: ‘He goes but slowly, but he carries his house on his head’” (202). A reporter who visited her studio asked why she had an ivory snail among her decorations; when Dillaye responded that it was her symbol, the reporter replied, “The only thing slow about you is your name” (Philadelphia Inquirer, January 15, 1896, p.11).



Indeed, there was nothing slow about Dillaye’s ascension in the art world. Contemporary accounts recall an energetic, persevering, and passionate artist who mobilized the community by organizing exhibitions, sitting on juries, and participating in hanging committees. Her dedication, as well as that of her fellow etchers, did much to elevate etching, which had previously been perceived as a lesser art – an idea that reporter Edwina Spencer qualified as “a relic of artistic barbarism, as much so as the crude judgment which measures the importance of a painter’s achievement by the magnitude of his canvas” (cited in the Buffalo Courier, September 29, 1901, p. 1). By 1896, Dillaye was being described in newspapers as “Probably the foremost etcher among women artists of this country [...] indeed there are very few men whose work is entitled to superior rank” (The Gazette, February 11, 1896, p. 3).
Blanche Dillaye’s life was split between the U.S. and Europe. She never married, devoting herself entirely to her chosen career. Her paintings and drawings depicting different parts of France, Germany, Holland, Italy, and England were exhibited all over the East Coast, Midwest, and South.
UNITED STATES

In the U.S., Dillaye was mainly active in Philadelphia, where she had several studios, sometimes sharing with fellow artists Edith L. Pierce, then Florence Esté (1885). One of her ateliers was completely destroyed in a 1910 fire that devastated a studio building in Philadelphia. From 1889 to the early 1920s, she worked as an art instructor, and later department head, at the reputed Ogontz School for Young Ladies, where she herself had been educated. Distaged numerous exhibits of her own work at the school, as well as that of her students and fellow artists. Teaching did not prevent Dillaye from producing art, especially since the school only operated from October to May, enabling her to travel extensively in summers. It also did not keep her from exhibiting her paintings and etches. In addition to participating in the many exhibitions of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), the Plastic Club, the Boston Art Club, and various watercolor and etching clubs, Dillaye also presented in numerous other group and solo shows, notably:
- 1887, The Women Etchers of America Exhibition in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, which included 37 of her etchings from Holland.
- 1893, Boston Art Club Fine Arts Exhibition: “Gloucester Downs: September.”
- 1893, World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Dillaye was the chair of the committee appointed to decorate the ladies’ parlor in the Pennsylvania Building and she was responsible for the etching exhibit, which included 72 pieces, of which 50 represented women artists from Philadelphia. By special request, she also delivered a speech on “The Art of Etching and Women Etchers.”
- 1895, Art Student’s Club in Worcester, Massachusetts
- 1895, Atlanta Exposition: “Mist on the Cornish Coast,” silver medal.
- 1896, Student Art League Exhibition in Buffalo, where her etching was appraised as “the best work in dry point” and she was identified by the Buffalo Courier as a “Philadelphia girl with a French name (and a French genius for technique)” (November 8, 1896, p.11).
- 1897, Fifth Annual Exhibit of the Baltimore Association: pencil drawings and watercolors.
- May 1901, Pan American Exposition, Buffalo: “Mist on the Cornish Coast.”
- April 1904, Worcester Art Museum: A collection of 23 paintings.
- May 1904, Mechanics Institute in Rochester, New York: Solo exhibition of 23 watercolors.
- November 1904, Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts: 57 paintings and watercolors exhibited as an homage to Dillaye, who was born in Syracuse.
From 1904 on Dillaye’s art appears in countless exhibits, at least two or three times a year, all over the U.S., with many devoted to watercolors and etchings. Three exhibits are worth mentioning:
- 1921, Art Alliance in Philadelphia: Vast solo show featuring her works in all media – oil, watercolor, drawing, etching.
- 1927, Plastic Club: Comprehensive exhibition honoring Dillaye.
- 1931, Conservation Exposition, Knoxville, Tennessee: She received a gold medal for watercolor.

Dillaye was also a vocal advocate for artists. She gave speeches on the history of etching and actively participated in a several art clubs on the East Coast, sometimes serving as head of their boards and frequently serving on hanging committees or as an exhibition juror:
- The “Plastic Club,” whose name was coined by Dillaye in reference to unfinished works of art in a "plastic state." She was elected President in 1897 and later served as Vice President (Herzog 16).
- New York Etching Club
- New York Watercolor Club
- Philadelphia Watercolor Club (Vice President ca. 1905 and later)
- Black and White Club of New York
- Civic Club’s Committee on Art Education and Classrooms
- Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts: Founded in 1897 and still active in 2024. Dillaye was one its Vice Presidents.
- Women’s Art Club of New York
- Founding member of the Philadelphia Society of Etchers (1927)



In addition, Dillaye illustrated several publications, including an 1884 portrait of Charlotte Bronte for a new edition of Jane Eyre. She also wrote illustrated articles and a play: for example, “Bird-House Town” was published in the Monthly Illustrator (1895, vol. 3, no. 11, pp. 321-324); her one-act play “Masks” was staged several times at the Insurgent Theatre and at the Fellowship of the Academy of Fine Arts (1918, to meet expenses of the Fellowship Ambulance Fund). Newspapers articles reported that she was “as versatile with her pen as with her brush.”
Around 1908, Dillaye bought a small grapefruit farm in Coconut Grove, Florida. She transformed a small house on the property into a studio and arts and crafts store where she sold old jewels, hand-painted jewelry, and art objects collected in Europe. She began to work in gold and silver smithing, and also painted furniture.
EUROPE
Like many American women artists of her day, Dillaye left the shores of the U.S. to explore the art world overseas, especially to paint or draw from life, mainly village scenes, landscapes, and waterscapes. Her love affair with Europe, especially Paris, began in the spring of 1884, when she embarked on her first trip to Holland accompanied by her friend and fellow artist Edith Loring Peirce (married name Getchell). Dillaye first visited Dordrecht before traveling to England and then to Paris. Three of her etchings were shown at the exhibition of the London Society of Painters-Etchers in Liverpool, England. In 1885, she exhibited an etching, “Au Marais,” at the Salon de la Société des Artistes français. At the time, she was living on a small street near the Champs Elysée (5 rue Lord Byron) and studying with impressionist painter Eduardo León Garrido. Born in Spain, Garrido lived in Paris, where his paintings of gallantry and elegant women enjoyed great success.

![Blanche Dillaye, "On the Grande Moran [sic], Crécy-en-Brie," c. 1894, etching. The Philadelphia Inquirer, October, 1894, p. Blanche Dillaye, "On the Grande Moran [sic], Crécy-en-Brie," c. 1894, etching. The Philadelphia Inquirer, October, 1894, p.](/sites/default/files/styles/cu_crop/public/content/Dillaye/Etching%20The_Philadelphia_Inquirer_Sun__Oct_7__1894_.jpg?h=f7a665a6&itok=YgzpWmMu)

Dillaye’s regular back and forth between Europe and America really began in 1894, when she spent an extended summer in Crécy-en-Brie. This picturesque, once fortified town known as the Venice of the Brie was favored by many artists because of its old-world charm and proximity to Paris (just 25 miles to the east). In a letter to the Philadelphia Times, Dillaye provided a sardonic description of the swarms of young women who had invaded its walls:
It is amusing to come upon the streets of this famous old town on a morning and find their still, staid, almost deserted air disturbed by a new and awful creature known as the American art student. I did not know that this particular tailor-made object ever escaped far beyond the reticent walls of the life class (I say she advisedly, for she predominates) but here she is in her pinafore aprons, bedaubed with paint from top to toe – no, not to toe – for she generally wears a short skirt which escapes the ground with a miss that is as good as a mile. In low shoes and lank ankles, with a palette as big as a barn door on her thumb, her sketching traps slung over her shoulders or lugged under her arm, she strides with long, masterly steps, through the market place, a conquering army-air about her that would hardly seem to be justified by the canvas she boldly exposed to view with perhaps her maiden effort in landscape on it. But probably the most striking feature of this home product is her hat. [...] Her shoes too should not be passed by – indeed they could not if you met her in one of those narrow streets. [...] This is the American beauty one sees at home in these old streets. [...] I only wonder in my silent chamber if she would dare so to carry herself at home, or if it is only for the foreigner she poses thus. [...] It is hardly to be expected that they escape the French wit. [...] (cited in The New York Times, August 23, 1894, p. 4).

True to her Gallic forebears, Blanche Dillaye began to stay in France for extended periods:
- 1895 – 1897: she sailed for Marseille in August 1895 to sketch in Provence, Crécy-en-Brie, Saint-Lo, Mont St. Michel, and other favorite American sites in Brittany and Normandy.
- 1899-1902: in the summer of 1899, she sailed to Holland with her students and a few artists, including Margaret Lippincott, a certain Miss Galler, and Elizabeth Bonsall. Dillaye then went to France, where she sketched in the area of Fontainebleau and later settled in a studio near Paris (3 rue de Bagneux in Chatillon) with a young woman identified only as Miss Seaborn, who would be studying at the Sorbonne. In December 1899, Dillaye showed a watercolor, “Boston Commons in Winter,” at the Sixth Annual Exhibition of the American Woman’s Art Association, which took place at the Girls’ Club. The exhibition included 89 paintings, several miniatures and watercolors, nine sculptures, and some porcelain designs, was hailed by critics: “The sixth annual exhibition of the| American Women's Art Association of Paris, at No. 4 Rue Chevreuse, has been a great success. Never before have American artists as a body given such evidence of talent, effort and progress. That there are and have been- in the French capital a number of them who have won a name for themselves on both sides of the Atlantic Is perfectly well known, but that the Association was capable of turning out so much good work must have come as a surprise to many” (Richmond Sunday Times, March 4, 1900, p. 10, quoting the New York Herald).

- After spending the summer of 1901 with Charles Lazar and his class in Salisbury, England, Dillaye and Miss Seaborn moved to 53 rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs – just three blocks away from the Girls’ Art Club, where several of her fellow artists also stayed or exhibited. She was also a member of the American Woman’s Art Association, which was housed at the Club. Dillaye remained in Paris through 1902, returning again from May – September in 1903, when she traveled with Emily Sartain, principal of the School of Design for Women.
During this period, Dillaye participated in several important Parisian exhibitions:
- March 1901: American Woman’s Art Association at the Girls’ Art Club. She exhibited a painting of a sunset with a sea of purple mist, identified as a chef-d’oeuvre, and two etchings: “Mist on a Cornish Coast” and “The River.” Other artists from Philadelphia also exhibited, notably Louise Wood and Florence Este.
- May 1901: Salon de la Société des Artistes français. She exhibited five etchings, including “Brume sur la côte de Cornwall.” Louise Wood exhibited her painting, “Femme sérieuse.” Both listed their address as 3 rue de Bagneux.
- 1902: The American Woman’s Art Association at the Girls’ Art Club. Dillaye was a member of the hanging committee and exhibited a watercolor, “Nuit d’été,” and a painting of old houses in the moonlight. Louise Wood, May Post, Mary Perkins, and Meta Vaux-Warrick, all from Philadelphia, also participated in the exhibit.
- 1902: Salon de la Société nationale des Beaux-Arts. She showed 2 watercolors, “La Maisonette sur le Coteau” and “Nuit d’été,” and two etchings, “Maison à Dordrecht” and “Vieille Rue à Québec,” and listed her address in the catalogue as 53 rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs. Other American women artists at the exhibition of pastels, watercolors, drawings, and miniatures included: Henrietta (Letta) Crapo-Smith, Eustace Lee Florance, Florence Este, Elizabeth Nourse, Anna Watson, Louise Wood, May Post, Harriet Hallowell (Fort Scott Daily Tribune, August 4, 1902, p. 2). The majority of these artists had also exhibited at the AWAA show in 1902.
- 1903: Salon de la Société nationale des Beaux-Arts. She exhibited three etchings: “La Dernière cargaison,” “Les Vieux quais,” and “Les Chemins de campagne,” receiving a silver medal for her watercolors. Dillaye was also asked to be part of a special exhibit at the Exposition universelle in Lorient, France.

After 1903, there are few traces of Dillaye’s travels abroad, but she did return to Europe in 1911, sailing to Antwerp and possibly staying in Paris through 1912, when she exhibited one last time at the Salon de la Société des Artistes français. The watercolor, titled “Le Carrefour,” appears to have won a medal. In the catalog, Dillaye’s address is listed with Monsieur Lucien Lefebvre-Foinet at 19 rue Vavin, site of the renowned oil paint and art supply store. Dillaye herself may not have been in Paris at the time, as the store was known to submit works of art to exhibitions on behalf of absent artists (The Spokesman-Review, August 16, 1916, p. 8). The outbreak of WWI likely halted her travels to Europe, and there is no further indication that she traveled outside the U.S. in her later decades.
Blanche Dillaye died on December 20, 1931 at the age of 80, after undergoing an operation for appendicitis. Her brief obituary was reprinted in hundreds of newspapers. She bequeathed 9 unsigned etchings and plates to the Arts Division of the Library of Congress (along with 1 etching and plate by Florence Esté), but there is no further information on the remainder of her estate. A memorial exhibition of Dillaye’s work was held in Syracuse, New York in 1932.