In time Cory would come to consider Prescott home. After spending seven years in total isolation on the mesas her decision to move there may have been a simple matter of wishing to live in one of the most culturally advanced towns in the Southwest. But another influence may have been Sharlot Hall. Hall was a writer and collector who was determined to preserve the area’s early pioneer history. The two became close friends and remained so until Hall’s death.
Immediately after arriving in Prescott, Cory went about designing and building her house. Influences of her recent stay on the Hopi mesas are prevalent in the stone and wood two story structure. Nearly one hundred years later the house at the base of Thumb Butte is still in good condition and in use.
The following year Cory exhibited one of her landscapes, Arizona Desert, in the now famous 1913 Armory Show. Cory was the only Arizona resident artist to be featured. The event was conceived and implemented as an alternative venue for artists choosing to break from the rigid academic ideals and restrictions authorized by the National Academy of Design. Well over one thousand paintings from a broad range of schools and styles where included, but the show is best known for providing the nation with its first major exposure to modern art. Reaction from the press, critics, and observers ranged from shock to disdain and outrage, some going as far as to term the exhibition as an “invasion” of modern art.
One of Cory’s previous teachers at the Art Students League, Kenyon Cox, wrote scathing attacks in response to the exhibition. A strong proponent of Classical Realism, Cox found the work "heartrending and sickening" and Cubism "nothing else than the total destruction of the art of painting."
Another one of Cory's instructors at the Art Students League, J. Alden Weir, had a piece exhibited in the show. He may have been influential in convincing Cory to also exhibit her work.
During World War I Cory joined the Women’s Land Army and returned to New York to work on the Garden Project. The endeavor raised vegetables on “Victory Gardens” on estates in Long Island for use in the war effort. Shortly afterwards she was recruited to draft copies of British plane designs for America’s use. Another responsibility involved the inspection of materials which were used for construction of plane wings. During this assignment she began to express her ideas on various camouflage techniques and did pioneering work in the field.
In 1921 a group of Prescott businessmen, threatened with the cancellation of the annual Frontier Days rodeo, organized a “Way Out West Show” to raise badly needed funds. One of the acts involved a group of white dancers in Native American costume engaging in a performance based on the Hopi Snake Dance. The troupe soon named themselves the Smoki People. Originally started as an endeavor “to produce and present more realistic performances” for tourists and attendees at the Way Out West Show, the Smoki People in time became dedicated to preserving several different elements of Native American Culture. In 1923 the Smoki People “enlisted the advice and guidance from noted frontierswoman, anthropologist, and artist Kate T. Cory.” Over the next decade the group grew in both size and scope and 1935 saw the opening of the Smoki Museum in Prescott. The 5,100 square foot pueblo like museum was constructed, funded in large part by the Civilian Work Authority (CWA). Cory provided architectural assistance for the building and designed a double-mouthed Zuni-style fireplace and chimney painted with katsina images. The Smoki Museum and people depended heavily on Cory for her knowledge of Hopi customs, dress, and ceremonies. Cory in turn later donated an extensive portion of her personal paintings and photo archives.
It has also been reported in various sources that sometime during the 1920’s(or perhaps the early 1930’s) Cory went to Hollywood to serve as a consultant on Western films, but it is not known on specifically which movies she provided assistance.
In 1930 The Bureau of Reclamation commissioned Cory to create a painting of the site where Boulder Dam was to be constructed. After receiving the commission, “she chose a grizzled prospector as her helper and cook and went to the site. Days were spent covering the terrain” and sketching. Several paintings were later created from the sketches, one each in the permanent collection of the Arizona Capitol Museum, the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, and the Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott.
Cory was also known to hand paint china with Indian designs as a hobby. However unlike Lillian Wilhelm Smith, one of her Arizona contemporaries, she was never successful at having the designs commercially produced by a china company. One account claims there was a company willing to manufacture and distribute her blue and white Hopi designs, but that she was asked to modify the motifs too far beyond their original designs for her liking. Yet another account claims she was told the proposition would be too expensive.
The last three decades of Cory’s life were lived in relative quiet in Prescott. For several years she was a member of the Monday Fine Arts Committee, the first women’s club in Arizona. The group included fellow Prescott artists Claire Dooner Phillips, Mabel Lloyd Lawrence, and Ada Rigden.
Her later years were characterized by a Spartan existence that in time has become the stuff of local legend. Cory “lived in a clutter of books, paintings, and work in progress.” Like every true artist she was clearly driven by a strong sense of internal values, deeply rooted in her desire for artistic expression. Concerns such as personal appearances and housekeeping were not given priority. Frugality, on the other hand, was highly valued. She was once was offered used clothing, apparently an improvement over her wardrobe at the time, and she politely declined. A vegetarian, she “ate beans from an open can heated on the back of her woodstove.” In the winter months she would build a tent of blankets around a small space heater to conserve the heat. A cot and easy chair were then placed inside the tent.
Yet also remembered was her gentle demeanor and charitable nature. “Trim and spry with bright blue eyes”, she was always known to be gracious and open to visitors. A devout member of the Prescott Congregational Church, it was said that she rarely missed a Sunday, although she would more often than not be seen and not heard. Residents recall that she would “slip in, listen attentively and slip out again”.
Cory moved into the Arizona Pioneers Home at the age of 95 where she remained until her death two years later in 1958. Considered a “congenial, generous eccentric” to those who didn’t know her and beloved by those who did, the bronze plaque at the base of her tombstone best describes her journey:” Kate Cory, Artist of Arizona. Hers was the joy of giving.”
At the time of her passing Cory had no idea of the importance her Hopi photographs would eventually attain. It was not until several decades afterwards that scholars began serious study of her photographic work. Despite her self-imposed Spartan existence, she had lived a life which was remarkably diverse and rich. Her remarkable legacy consists of significant contributions to both art and history. Cory’s paintings are in the permanent collections of both the Smithsonian’s Museum of National History and American Art Museum.
Bibliography
Babbitt, Bruce E. Color and Light: The Southwest Canvases of Louis Akin. Flagstaff, Arizona: Northland Press, 1973
Bucholtz, Lucas Kate Cory-Creating a Visual Chronicle of the Hopi People Waukegan Historical Society July 2006
Butcher, Harold. “Seven Years with the Hopi” Desert Magazine February 1951
Duncan, Johni Lou. Interview by Gary Fillmore
Johnson, Ginger. Kate T. Cory -Artist of Arizona. Prescott, Arizona 1996
Leake, Dorothy Lillian. Interview by Gary Fillmore
“Miss K. T. Cory Honored Here”, Prescott Courier. February 20, 1945 pp. 1-6
O’Neal, Tunis. “96 Today, It’s Like Any Other for Kate Cory”, Prescott Evening Courier. February 8, 1957 pp. 1-2
Parker, Charles Franklin. “Sojourn in Hopiland” Arizona Highways May 1943
Stragnell, Robert. Phippen Museum of Western Art Proudly Presents Five Ladies of Prescott and Their Art. Prescott, Arizona: Phippen Museum of Western Art, Publications Committee, 1995
Wright, Barton; Gaede, Marne; Gaede, Marc. The Hopi Photographs-Kate Cory: 1905-191. Albuquerque, New Mexico: Chaco Press, 1986
Click on thumbnail for enlargement. If the image does not enlarge the painting is not longer available.
We are always interested in purchasing or accepting Claire Dooner Phillips paintings on consignment. Please contact us with any inquiries.
Click the page numbers below to continue
1 2