Lucille Douglass, 1878 – 1935

Lucille Sinclair Douglass was a versatile and accomplished figure – a painter, etcher, photographer, writer, and an expert on China and Cambodia. Her life was marked by serendipitous encounters and pivotal moments that shaped her remarkable journey. A small article in The Tuskegee News succinctly captures her career, as well as her social and artistic influence:

A more romantic career, a more versatile talent or a more glamorous personality would be difficult to find in combination than in Lucile Douglas [sic] [...] From the plantation in Tuskegee to the dream city Angkor, in the Cambodian jungle, from painting yards of pink rosebuds on china plates in this little southern town to the exquisite etchings pastels and paintings which have won commendation in Europe and America and from the ateliers in New York and Paris to the lecture platform and newspaper work of a most thrilling kind in war-torn China, are a few of the contrasting episodes in the life of Lucile Douglas [sic] (November 12, 1931, 1).

Like many women artists of the early 20th century, Lucille Douglass's contributions to the art world were largely overlooked until the publication of Vicky Leigh Ingham's 2020 biography, Lucille Sinclair Douglass: A Life of Art and Adventure. This comprehensive and engaging book provides a thorough account of Douglass’s trailblazing life, a project that required extensive research through contradictory or erroneous sources:

Assembling the events and chronology of her life into a coherent story, however, is like trying to assemble a puzzle whose pieces are in different boxes. Many reporters interviewed her, friends reminisced about her, and she left some wonderful letters; but the stories often compress time or contradict each other, there are gaps in the records, and some of her own letters are undated. Even the spelling of her name varied, appearing as both Lucile Douglas and Lucille Douglass (Ingham, Art of the New South 93).

The following profile focuses on aspects of Lucille Sinclair Douglass's life that were not extensively covered in Ingham’s biography, including her early artistic endeavors and her experiences in Europe, while also offering insights into her later career.

The Early Years in Alabama

Most sources indicate that Douglass was born in Tuskegee, Alabama but in an interview with Ethel Armes of the Birmingham Post-Herald, she claimed that she was actually born in Talladega, a town nestled in the foothills of the southern Appalachian Mountains. In the same interview, she reflected on her natural talent and early education:

Well, I first studied in Talladega when I went to school there. I was born in Talladega and lived with my grandmother. She had an old-fashioned colonial home – you know the kind – with a beautiful garden surrounding it. Here’s a little watercolor sketch of a corner of that garden, with some hollyhocks and sunflowers, you see. I loved every inch of it, and the old house too. I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember, and I always wanted to become an artist. [...] I went to school in Tuskegee [...] My school was the old Alabama Conference Female College – quite a name, isn’t it? But despite its name, it had an excellent art teacher, a woman who had studied for years in Paris under Carolus-Duran. So, I first worked with her, and then when I moved to Birmingham, I studied under Parrish and began to find my own way – I initially focused on little watercolor portraits [...] (July 29, 1906, 18).

By the age of 15, Douglass was already being recognized for her artistic talent (Birmingham Post-Herald,  July 3 1892, 6). At 17, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Alabama Conference Female College (ACF), where her mother taught. At ACF she studied under Miss Birdselle, the art teacher whom Douglass praised in a later interview for her excellence and extensive studies under portraitist Carolus-Duran in Paris. Three of Douglass’s watercolors were featured at the 1902 Commencement art exhibit at ACF (The Weekly Advertiser, June 6, 1902, 8). By the age of 19, she was already teaching art in Georgia and Texas (Birmingham Post-Herald, June 14, 1896, 5; The Birmingham News, September 18, 1903, 5).

In 1899, Douglass and her mother moved to Birmingham, where her father had worked in the post office since 1891. In her new community, Douglass quickly gained recognition for her artistic talents, painting, teaching, and actively participating in social and artistic circles. By 1901, she was a member of the Sketch Club, the precursor to the Birmingham Art Club, which was organized that year (The Birmingham News, June 28, 1925, 16).

In March 1902, Douglass and fellow Birmingham artist Della Dryer traveled to New York to study art for several months (The Commercial Appeal, March 23, 1902, 18). Douglass studied porcelain painting and watercolors with Franz Bischoff (Birmingham Post-Herald, July 29, 1906, 18). The following summer, she continued her training in Chicago, working with Franz Bertram Aulich, a German artist known for his floral and fruit paintings and his articles on ceramic decoration. She also studied genre and still-life painting with Gertrude Estabrooks (The Birmingham News, September 18, 1903, 5). This early training, supplemented by future studies, laid the foundation for her career as an artist in a community where social gatherings often featured artfully decorated tableware, games, and prizes.

In October 1903, Douglass opened a studio in Birmingham’s Watts Building, where fellow artists Della Dryer, Alice Rumph, Edna Smith, and Willie McLaughlin also worked (The Birmingham News, September 18, 1903, 5). She devoted herself to hand-painting and selling fine china and place cards for social events (Fischer 9). In the summer of 1904, Douglass returned to Chicago to study ceramic painting and watercolors with Aulich and Estabrooks (The Birmingham News, July 2, 1904, 17). She showcased the fruits of her labor in a show at her studio that October, featuring landscapes and several distinctive "Douglas Heads" – watercolor portraits that had become her signature works, rendered either life-size or as miniatures:

Miss Douglass shows a remarkable progress in her special line of work. Her Douglas [sic] heads, which have become so famous, are even more beautiful now than previously. [...] Miss Douglas [sic] has also made a specialty of landscapes, and has a number of little gems on exhibition. The smaller heads, suitable for place-cards and souvenirs, are very attractive. Miss Douglas [sic] has a large vase of roses painted under Aulich which she values very highly. [...] In her china work there are quantities of sets of plates and odd dishes, vases, and jars (The Birmingham News, October 27, 1904, 5).

This exhibition marked the beginning of a series of receptions that Douglass hosted throughout the fall in her studio, which was described as "a marvel of beauty" and "a blending of harmonious coloring." The studio was adorned with scorecards featuring her miniature “Douglas Heads,” her own china, and a beautiful plaque she had acquired from Aulich (The Birmingham News, November 25, 1904, 3). Guests at these receptions dressed in formal attire and engaged in card games like euchre, with winners receiving prizes such as hand-painted fans, “Douglas Heads,” or china vases and plates.

In 1905, Douglass planned to paint in Italy but was unable to undertake the journey due to a "nervous breakdown," likely caused by the immense workload she had taken on (The Birmingham News, June 10, 1905, 17). Instead, she spent three weeks in Detroit attending ceramic painting classes with Franz Bischoff, the “king of the rose painters,” whose summer school was held on the restful shores of Lake Michigan. She continued her training in Chicago with Aulich and Estabrooks until late September (The Birmingham News, August 2, 1905, 5).

Upon returning to Birmingham, Douglass resumed teaching art lessons in her studio. In December 1905, she exhibited several china paintings and watercolors, including her popular portraits, in a group show organized by the Newspaper Artists Association and the Magazine Illustrators Society at the Hillman Hotel ballroom. The exhibition also featured works by other Birmingham artists such as Alice Rumph, Mamie Fogarty, Mrs. Raulston, and Edna Smith (The Birmingham News, December 16, 1905, 24). The success of this show sparked community interest in forming a local artist association that would regularly exhibit the works of Birmingham artists (The Birmingham News, January 13, 1906, 16).

After much discussion and deliberation over the following years, the Birmingham Art Association was finally established in 1908, co-founded by Della Dryer, Alice Rumph, Willie McLaughlin, and Mamie Holifield Montgomery (The Birmingham News, April 16, 1916, 45). Douglass became a charter member.

For several months, Douglass attended the Art Students League in New York City, where she studied under Rhoda Holmes Nichols and Maude Mason. She also took life classes and studied china painting under Sarah Wood Safford and Elizabeth Mason at the New York School of Art (now called the Parsons School of Design). Reflecting on her experience, Douglass believed that Edna Smith from Birmingham, who had also studied in Paris, was a superior drawing instructor and that she had mainly enhanced her expertise by visiting exhibitions in New York and Washington (The Birmingham News, July 8, 1908, 5).

Douglass continued working with Smith once she returned to Birmingham, but the lure of dedicating herself entirely to studying art called her back to New York. She leased her Watts Building studio to a musician and returned to New York in September to study with William Merritt Chase (The Birmingham News, September 14, 1908, 6). In a letter to friends in Birmingham, she wrote about her life in New York and her plans to travel to Venice and Holland:

I am sailing the middle of April for Venice, where I join Alexander Robinson’s class for two months and later go to Holland for the summer. I shall not decide until then where I will spend the winter.  I have met some charming people here, artists, musicians, etc. and tried to grow as much as I could and even now I notice the change – a broader outlook and a clearer judgment of people and things, but I do miss my Birmingham friends (The Birmingham News, January 9, 1909, 5).

Studying, Sketching, and Traveling in Europe

In New York, Douglass discovered Alexander Robinson's watercolors in an exhibition. Although she had never met him, she deeply admired his work. This encounter would prove to be life-changing. Upon inquiring about the artist's name, she learned it was Alexander Robinson, “who goes abroad for long periods and takes six students with him:”

Next morning before the milk bottles had disappeared from doorsteps, Miss Douglass had presented herself at Mr. Robinson’s studio. She told him simply but positively, that she was going abroad with him and his class! She won her place. Six weeks later they sailed. […] so capable did she become as an assistant that Mr. Robinson relied on her to arrange and supervise his class work, coming in himself but once or twice a week to give criticisms (Fisher 11).

In mid-April 1909, Douglass sailed with Robinson and a group of ten other students for Genoa, Italy. She spent the spring of 1909 in Venice, traveling through different regions of Italy and possibly also in North Africa. She then spent the summer in Volendam, Holland with artist Isabelle Percy, also a student of Robinson, as well as the fall and winter in Paris:

At the end of her first year, Douglass asked Robinson for an honest assessment of her work. “You have less talent than many,” he told her, “but you will go farther than the rest because once you undertake a thing, you see it through” (Fisher 11).

Thereafter, tracing her exact itinerary becomes difficult, though it is evident that Douglass visited Paris, Spain, Holland, and Pont-Aven, Brittany, with possible visits to Normandy.

Between 1909 and 1911, Douglass clearly spent extended periods in Paris, though her exact residence during this time is unclear. She may have stayed with Isabelle Percy or at the Girls’ Art Club. She studied painting and drawing with Lucien Simon, who taught at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and at Académie Colarossi, located just behind the Girls’ Art Club. Simon might have influenced Douglass's interest in Brittany, a region he favored for his genre paintings. At la Grande Chaumière, she worked with landscapist Emile-René Ménard (Goldfarb n.p.). The exact duration of her studies at these academies remains unclear.

In February 1910, Douglass exhibited two pastel sketches at the annual exhibition of the American Woman’s Art Association at the Girls’ Art Club (New York Herald European edition, February 13, 1910, 7). Reflecting on that show, which also featured other Birmingham artists, Douglass wrote: “I had two pastel sketches in the spring exhibition of the American Woman’s Association. It was the first time I ever exhibited anything, and of course, I was very pleased when they passed a French jury” (The Birmingham News, April 4, 1910, 11).

In April 1910, Douglass and Percy traveled through Spain, visiting Córdoba, Madrid, and other regions. Douglass described the trip, “I am enjoying Spain very much [...] because it is wonderful and old-fashioned. We have a very pleasant party, seven in all, and since we are all painting, it is interesting” (The Birmingham News, April 4, 1910, 11). After their travels, they returned to Paris. It is unclear whether Douglass stayed with Percy, who lived at 276 Boulevard Raspail – a notable Art Deco building near Denfert-Rochereau. She also exhibited four watercolors at the February 1911 show organized by the American Woman’s Art Association (New York Herald European edition, February 19, 1911, 6).

Six of Douglass’s works were accepted into the Salon of the Société des Artistes Indépendants, held from April 2 to June 13, 1911 (Catalogue de la 27e exposition 136):

• Une fille d’Urk
• Le Marché (Pont Aven)
• Le Marché au beurre
• Le Joug vert
• Vielle femme
• Vieille maisons

From October 1 to November 8, 1911, Douglass's watercolor  titled "Cathédrale (Cadix)" [Cadiz] was exhibited at the Salon d’Automne (Catalogue des ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, dessin... exposés au Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées 90).

The catalogs of both exhibitions list her address as the Paris American Art Co., located at 125 Boulevard du Montparnasse. This store, situated on the corner of Boulevard du Montparnasse and Rue de Chevreuse – just steps from the Girls' Art Club – sold art supplies and often advertised in Salon catalogs, offering artists discounted prices on paints, paper, and frames. It was common at the time for such stores to send artworks to Salons on behalf of the artists, which may have been the case if Douglass was absent from Paris. Her watercolor "La racommodeuse," listed under the name L. Douglas in the catalog of the 1912 Salon des artistes français, was also sent from the store's address (Base salons, Musée d’Orsay).

Years later, Douglass gave lectures on her experiences in Europe, the essence of which were captured in The Weekly Review of the Far East. However, the summary only briefly touched upon her time in Paris:

Miss Lucille Douglass gave an informal talk at the regular meeting of the American Woman’s Club held at the Carlton Cafe, Tuesday afternoon, November 15, on her art student days spent in Holland and Spain. Miss Douglass traced her early desire for travel from a mere child, being born with a wanderlust, as she herself expressed it, and starting on her travels around the world at an early age. She related some of the peculiar customs of the European countries, spending more time, however, on her life in Holland and Spain, and more particularly on Volendam, which is a village well known to every artist of Europe – a town which has retained its individuality unchanging for generations. Although Miss Douglass had first planned to work in portraiture and began her studies in Paris, she soon developed interest for outdoor work, with a special interest in human nature as seen in the brightly colored market places of sunny climes. In going from Holland to Spain Miss Douglass in speaking of the topography of the latter country, said Spain owed her splendid system of waterways and locks to Holland. Here she presented the picture of fascination and intrigue, symbolic of Spain. Her studio there was in the garden of the Alhambra where opportunity was afforded for the study and appreciation of Moorish civilization (November 19, 1921, 555).

In a 1917 interview with Anne Dunlap of The Birmingham News, Douglass mentioned that she spent two summers in Pont-Aven, Brittany – a very popular destination for artists within the American Colony. However, the specific timing and duration of her stay there remain unclear (The Birmingham News, October 21, 1917, 7). In the same interview, she also recalled spending two summers in Volendam, Holland, though she did not provide exact dates. An article in the Birmingham Post-Herald suggests that she returned to Holland in the summer of 1911, just before her move back to the United States (May 24, 1911, 7). According to The Woman Citizen, she also studied with American impressionist painter Richard Miller, who was active at the Giverny art colony between 1909 and 1911 (October 1925, 11). Many American women staying at the Girls’ Art Club frequented Giverny, so it is not improbable that Douglass spent time there while in Europe.

Return to the U.S.: Birmingham and Beyond

Douglass returned to Birmingham in October 1911 and exhibited the paintings she had completed in France, Spain, and Holland a month later in her studio (The Birmingham News, 14 November 1911, 12). Between 1911 and 1918, she focused on teaching, exhibiting, and occasionally lecturing across the United States, particularly in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, but also in Texas, California (where she shared a studio with Isabel Percy in 1913), and New York. She also re-engaged with her vibrant social life, attending and hosting teas, receptions, and dinners. In 1914, Douglass relocated to a new studio at Five Points in Birmingham. Some additional highlights of this era in Douglass’s career:

• February 18-19, 1914: Participated in a theatrical production of Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, organized by the Birmingham Art Club at Cable Hall. Douglass helped paint the backdrops, reproducing the works of major artists (Birmingham Post-Herald, February 8, 1914, 26). She specifically recreated Edmund Dulac’s print of the loggia of a Persian palace (The Birmingham News, February 15, 1914, 34).
• September 1914: Studied in Chicago with Aulich (Birmingham Post-Herald, October 2, 1914, 6).
• February 1915: Traveled to New Orleans for the carnival season with Isabel Percy (Birmingham Post-Herald, February 12, 1915, 6).
• September 1915: Stayed in New York for six weeks, attending a class on design and color theory taught by Columbia University professor Robert Gray (The Birmingham News, September 17, 1915, 6; Birmingham Post-Herald, November 30, 1915, 8).
• March 1917: Opened a garden shop in her Five Points studio in Birmingham, which remained open through September: The “garden shop” is typical of the enormous energy and efficiency which Miss Douglas’ [sic] wonderful talent and cleverness: she has practically lived in her little studio at Five Points the past few weeks (she does this all the time, only more so since she has been arranging the “Garden Shop”) and the result is a riot of color in a gorgeous array which she has combined with a master hand (Dalrymple, 6).

When the United States joined the war effort in 1917, Douglass felt it was her duty to support the country and people who had welcomed her and were instrumental in her career as an artist:

In the two summers I lived and worked among the little cheery, happy peasants of my Florendam [sic] cottage in Holland, I grew to love them and understand their temperaments, their little happinesses and their needs. The two summers I spent among the peasants of Pont-Aven, in Brittany, the poor French too won a place in my heart. As the war progresses and this magnificent, unthinkably wonderful French resistance and courage has been shown to the world, I love them even more. The French are such a wonderful people! Many times I believe they are the most wonderful people on earth (Dunlap, 7).

In October 1917, she thus spent two months in New York City, preparing herself for the relief work she would conduct in France as a volunteer “soldier of life” with the American Auxiliary of the Société Évangélique de France:

[...] I made up my mind that I wasn’t going to let the biggest thing the world has ever known, probably ever will know, happen right under my nose, and yet take no part in it. So I got on the train and went to New York, more determined than ever before in my life to get into the thing, somehow. I went before this never-ending chain of committees and finally convinced them that I was qualified for service. Of course, the women they take must be fit physically. They must know the French language well so that they can write and speak it intelligently, and they must be strong-spirited and enthusiastic and determined. [...] And because I felt sure that there must be a good deal of business and clerical work attached to the service, I have taken a complete business course in preparation. It was a little hard to do and a little inconvenient – rushing through with it, and at the same time carrying on my studio work – but I am sure it will prove just the thing (Dunlap, 7).

To better prepare herself to assist women in French villages, she undertook a business course and dedicated a month to learning infant care at New York City’s Day Nursery. Additionally, she trained in agricultural techniques on a settlement farm.

Before Douglass’s intended departure in 1918, the Equal Suffrage Association hosted an exhibition featuring Dutch artist Louis Raemaekers’s war cartoons at the Hillman Hotel on December 2, 1917. The exhibit, which also showcased works by Douglass, Dryer, and other artists, was introduced by Douglass with a speech about Raemaekers (The Birmingham News,  December 2, 1917, 3). Proceeds from the event were donated to the Red Cross. Aware that this might be her last time in Birmingham for a while, her friends gifted Douglass a travel bag as a symbol of the journey ahead. During the presentation, the head of the Birmingham Art Club, Mrs. W. S. Lowell, said, “We hope the new friends that you will make will love you as much as the old friends you are leaving” (The Birmingham News,  December 2, 1917, 30).

As no documents have surfaced regarding her work in the devastated French villages and towns evacuated by the Germans, it remains uncertain whether Douglass actually made it to France or participated directly in the war effort. However, reports indicate that she was “left physically and emotionally exhausted by war work, with no desire to resume her painting” (The Woman Citizen, October 1925, 11).

Work and Travels in China

In the fall of 1919, Douglass was employed in the lantern slide department of the Centenary committee in Nashville, Tennessee, under the management of Reverend T.A. Matthews:

Miss Douglass is leading the tinting of the slides to be used with stereopticon pictures by missionary secretaries and pastors of the M. E. church, South. Over two thousand pictures selected of the centenary celebration held at Columbus, O., last June, which cover scenes in the home and foreign fields, are being colored and prepared for a series of lectures to be put on by the centenary this fall (Nashville Banner, September 1919, 26).

Seizing a unique opportunity, Douglass agreed to set up a stereopticon-slide coloring workshop in China under a three-year contract proposed by the Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, where she was recognized as “a regularly appointed missionary” (letter in support of her passport application, Ancestry.com). At the time of her 1920 passport application, she was residing at the Van Rensselaer Hotel on East 11th Street in New York City. Douglass departed for Shanghai in August 1920 aboard the Empress of Asia liner. In her book on Florence Ayscough, Knowledge is Pleasure, Lindsay Shen offers insights on the significance of Douglass’s work:

She swiftly established a workshop at 4 Quinsan Gardens [...] an area of diverse missionary activity. The workshop employed Chinese adolescent girls and built up a library of slides for the mission’s use in lectures throughout China. When Douglass accepted this position, she stipulated that work opportunities be given to Chinese women, because of her “constant interest in the feminist movement.” While employed under Douglass, the girls learnt English and some received tuition fees to attend school. Her promotion of educational opportunities for Chinese women would certainly have found empathy with Ayscough, whom she probably met in November 1921 when Douglass was lecturing to the American Women's Club. Soon the workshop was creating hand-coloured slides for Ayscough. [...] For Ayscough, having her slides meticulously hand-coloured by Douglass’ workshop ensured that the subjects were presented as realistically as possible (107).

Douglass’s time in Shanghai marked a significant turning point in her life, not only leading to future travels but also reigniting her passion for art and painting. On one of her numerous trips outside the city, she discovered a yellow temple nestled in the mountains, an encounter that led to a profound epiphany:

It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her life, she thought, and suddenly the urge to put it down in paint took hold of her. Outside of the trifling labors with the coloring of slides, she had still done nothing with her brush. In her wanderings about Shanghai, she never even took paints with her, and it was necessary to borrow from a missionary girl before she could transfer the yellow temple to canvas. But she did it and when the picture was finished she realized to her own surprise that she could paint even better than before she gave it up! (Hark 25).

From 1922 to 1924, Douglass explored China’s artistic heritage while working on the editorial staff of the Shanghai Sunday Times. She spent her weekends drifting along the canals in a houseboat, sketching the vibrant waterways of China and producing some of her finest work (The Woman Citizen, October 1925,11).

During her time in Shanghai, Douglass met author and translator Florence Ayscough, who “opened to her the doors to China’s beauty and culture and made possible her wide vision and understanding of the people” (Kuhn 370). Their friendship blossomed into a lifelong collaboration. Ayscough commissioned Douglass to color the lantern slides she used for her lectures on China and to illustrate several of her books. According to Shen, Ayscough’s support was instrumental in securing Douglass’s financial independence as an artist and lecturer (107). Ayscough was committed to their partnership, insisting on sharing the royalties from their collaborative publications (McNair 41).

In 1924, Douglass traveled through India, Egypt, Palestine, and Southern France, including a visit to Paris. She then flew to England and Canada, where she visited Quebec and St. Andrews before returning to the U.S. She completed about 40 richly colored pastels that were first displayed at the Anderson Gallery in New York (The Art News, April 4, 1925, 4; China Mail, May 21, 1925, 9; The New York Herald, March 29, 1925, C20). Following the exhibition, noted art critic Royal Cortissoz reviewed her work in the New York Herald Tribune.

It is a very interesting exhibition that Miss Lucille Douglass makes at the Anderson Galleries of her pastels done on the waterways of China. She draws the streams and bridges and junks and occasional pagodas in a bold, straightforward manner, never forcing the picturesque note, but leaving it to register its effect as so much simple truth. We have never seen modern pictures of the East more artlessly convincing. She sees her Oriental world always from a well chosen point of view and makes it live (cited in Kuhn 370).

Douglass’s collaboration with Ayscough inspired her to delve into and eventually master the art of etching on copper plates (Kuhn 370). After studying with Peter J. Platt, renowned as the "old master of copper plate gravure in America" (Daily Boston Globe, September 27, 1931, A46), Douglass submitted two etchings to the exhibition of the Chicago Society of Etchers at the Art Club of Chicago in March 1925. This exhibit showcased her proficiency in this newly adopted medium, setting the stage for her future artistic pursuits (Baker 3). Douglass  achieved immediate success, and her etchings were featured in numerous exhibitions across the U.S. and Canada throughout 1925 and 1926. These shows were often complemented by her lectures at museums, schools, and private clubs, all enriched with colored lantern slides and films that illustrated China’s sacred traditions and art treasures.

Through her association with Ayscough, Douglass also undertook the painting of murals in the Niger Reef Tea House in 1926. This modest one-story log cabin, situated along St. Andrews Harbor was constructed on land leased by Ayscough to serve as the Chapter House of the Passamaquoddy Chapter of the IODE – a Canadian women's charitable organization founded in 1900 during the Second Boer War to patriotically support the British Empire. Ayscough commissioned Douglass to adorn the interior walls of the Tea House with landscapes and seascapes in Chinese styles. The building was officially opened on June 17, 1926, in a ceremony featuring a speech by Florence’s husband, Francis Ayscough. Today, the Tea House is listed on The Canadian Register of Historic Places:

A significant characteristic of this property rests in the interior and heritage value is exemplified through murals painted by Lucille Douglas. Exquisite paintings on the wall were painted by Lucille Douglas, a popular painter and friend of Florence Ayscough. Florence Ayscough was an expert on Chinese customs and wrote many books about China and her books were illustrated by Lucille Douglas. Like her books, Miss Douglas illustrated Mrs. Ayscough’s tea room. The collection of murals Lucille Douglas painted in this building were treescapes and rocky landscapes appropriate to the Atlantic Coast, but they were influenced by her experiences in the Orient. She created them in the style of Chinese panels with strips of wood laths separating and dividing the panels. There are 4 murals, one on each wall. Miss Douglas had used water-based paint on beaverboard about a centimetre thick. (Canada’s Historic Places).

Travels in Southeast Asia

Another pivotal figure in Douglass's life was author Helen Churchill Candee, a survivor of the sinking of the Titanic, who commissioned her to illustrate a book on China and several Southeast Asian countries. The pair traveled to Indochina, Siam, Java, and Bali – a journey that profoundly influenced Douglass’s career as an artist and lecturer (North China Herald, August 28, 1926, 412). In an interview with The Birmingham News about her exploration of Angkor, Cambodia, Douglass passionately stated, “I can only say that finding it was one of the most thrilling adventures I’ve ever had into the realm of beauty” (May 8, 1928, 3). Candee’s resulting book, New Journeys in Old Asia: Indo-China, Siam, Java, Bali, was published in October 1927 by A. Stokes Company and featured 21 reproductions of Douglass’s etchings. It garnered critical acclaim in the U.S. and internationally.

Before this publication, Douglass had been invited by Georges Groslier, Director of the École des Arts Cambodiens, to join a team of archaeologists from the École Française d'Extrême-Orient to create drawings of Angkor (Lantern 139). Working under the challenging conditions of intense heat and humidity in a mosquito-infested jungle, Douglass produced a series of detailed studies of various temples and complexes. These works cemented her reputation and eventually overshadowed her previous artistic endeavors. In article she wrote for The Woman’s Journal, noted journalist Ann Hark vividly captured Douglass's experiences, highlighting her significant contributions to the field:

On elephant back she traveled to the ruins each day, and from that lofty perch made her vigorous sketches, safe from the ever-lurking jungle dangers of the striking cobra and clinging leech. But at times the passive role of artist and spectator palled, and the woman atop the broad back of her mammoth steed would lay aside her sketching materials and descend to the ground. Side by side with the archaeologists, she would plunge into the work of excavation, gaining a first-hand, intimate knowledge of the ruins that no other woman has enjoyed. That is why when Victor Golontew [sic, Goloubew], one of the French scientists responsible for much of the excavation work, was prevented by illness from coming to America this winter, Miss Douglass was asked to lecture in his stead at the Metropolitan Museum. And that lecture was only one of many [...]Through her dramatic genius, the stately relics of a vanished race have been presented in a way that all can see and understand, and the name Angkor has become a byword standing for surpassing beauty (1931, 24, 40).

Exhibitions and Speaking Tours in the USA and Beyond

Throughout the 1930s, Lucille Douglass's pastels and etchings were showcased in numerous prestigious galleries and museums in the U.S. and internationally. Notably, the Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired a series of her prints (The Birmingham News,  May 3,1931, 17). Her work was displayed at the Library of Congress in Washington and the Musée Guimet in Paris (The Birmingham News, September 30, 1935, 14). Douglass’s depictions of China and Cambodia were frequently featured in news articles, including a full-page spread by L.J. Robbins in The New York Times (March 2,1930, 85, 91). Additionally, her etchings of Angkor were part of the “Indo-China Building” at the Colonial Exposition in the Bois de Vincennes on the eastern outskirts of Paris from May to October (The Birmingham News, May 3, 1931, 17). The French government purchased one of her works (The Birmingham News, January 9, 1933, 9), and in 1931 and The British Museum acquired an etching depicting a bas-relief of elephants in procession at Angkor Thom, engulfed in vegetation (4/10).

In November 1931, Douglass’s long-time friend Mrs. Howard C. Motley organized an exhibition at the Atlanta High Museum of Art. With Douglass absent due to her lecturing and exhibiting schedule, Motley introduced the show, which featured 10 reproductions of the etchings displayed at the Colonial Exposition and 3 drypoints after ancient Chinese paintings, including scenes like “North Gate-Angkor Thom,” “Khmer Lion-Angkor Wat,” and “Royal Stairway” among others (Robert 3).

Until the end of her life, Douglass was a sought-after lecturer on topics related to Angkor, China, Bali, and other Asian countries, whose talks were enlivened by colored slides and motion pictures. After a prolonged illness, she passed away on September 26, 1935, at the home of a friend in Andover, Massachusetts (The Birmingham News, September 30, 1935, 14). In its obituary, The North-China Herald praised her remarkable achievements and her warm, engaging personality:

Original and humorous always, Miss Douglass was welcome everywhere and her name was linked with that of Dr. Fearn [Thomas] as an inimitable Southern raconteur. She had friends all over the globe, who came from widely separated parts to visit her in New York, where she made her headquarters in the American Women’s Association rooms for some time. Ambitious and indefatigable, the quality of her work seemed to improve constantly and her passing is a loss to the artworld as well as to her friends (October 2, 1935, 24).

In line with her wishes, Lucille Douglass was cremated and her ashes were scattered around a majestic mango tree in front of the Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia – a symbol of continuity and beauty preserved in both art and nature. Writer and curator Stephen Goldfarb poignantly concludes his biography of Lucille Douglass with a 1933 interview she gave to the New York World Telegram, when she was fifty-five years old:

I have made my life as I wanted it. I have given up marriage and home ties, because I knew they would not be possible with my career. I am sorry not to have a home, but one must not be greedy. I have planned my life just as it is, and I am content with it (n.p.).

In April 1937, Anne Morgan, head of the American Woman's Association in NY (AWA), announced the creation of the Lucille Douglass Memorial Award. This annual award, given at the AWA exhibitions of members’ work, honored Douglass’s decade-long active membership and significant contributions. The award was initially funded through the sale of paintings and etchings that Douglass had donated to the association (New York Herald Tribune, April 28, 1937, 20; New York Herald Tribune, January 07, 1940, D8; Wesleyan Alumnae Magazine, February 1938, 14).

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