By Mark Andrew Harris
Founder & Director of Dixie Art Colony
Top Photo: Richard Blauvelt Coe | Portrait of Edward Stewart Coe, circa 1935, oil on canvas, 54 x 34 inches | Gift of Christiana Cairnes and Jeffrey Cairnes in memory of their Mother Margaret Coe Cairnes | RBC-2024.AW.0008 | Edward was Richard B. Coe’s only sibling and the father of Margaret Coe Cairnes.
It’s always exciting when the Dixie Art Colony Foundation receives telephone calls and emails from followers across the county. This year alone, followers from the states of Washington, Colorado, Texas, Florida, and Minnesota have contacted us. It’s even more exciting when family members of the DAC artists contact us.
Several months ago, I was contacted by Christiana Cairnes, the great-niece of DAC artist Richard Blauvelt Coe. She said that her mother, Margaret Ellen Coe Cairnes, Richard Coe’s niece, had recently passed away, and she was following up on a request her mother had made before her death. According to Chris, through our website, her mother was familiar with the Dixie Art Colony Foundation and requested that we be contacted after her death. Chris explained that her mother had five oil paintings and one etching by Richard Coe. In accordance with her mother’s wishes, she and her brother, Jeff Cairnes, wanted to donate the artwork to the DAC Foundation. “In an effort to honor my mother’s wishes after she passed away, I reached out to the Dixie Art Colony Foundation. After viewing their website and speaking with Mark, I felt confident I had found the proper home for my great-uncle, Richard Blauvelt Coe’s artwork. I know my mother would be pleased. Thank you to the DAC Foundation for helping preserve the legacy of the Dixie Art Colony,” said Chris Cairnes.
On Tuesday, September 17, 2024, I traveled to Houston, Texas, to accept this generous gift. Chris Cairnes and her husband, Tom Calhoun, were such gracious hosts. They made me feel like family. Chris also shared copies of family photographs, including rare pictures of her great-uncle Richard Coe.
The painting included in this post is an excellent addition to our growing collection of portraits. This gift is another example of the DAC Foundation’s ongoing effort to bring DAC-related artwork by Alabama artists to the state where the artist was born and raised. Richard Coe was born and raised in Selma, Alabama. The Coe family moved to Selma, Alabama, from Ramapo, New York, in the early 1860s.
This post is the first in a series of posts featuring the six works of art recently donated to the DAC Foundation from the Estate of Margaret Ellen Coe Cairnes.
For more information on the Dixie Art Colony, visit their website at www.DixieArtColony.org
Additional information on Richard Blauvelt
Richard Blauvelt Coe was born on February 27, 1904, in Selma, Alabama. Coe lost his mother on July 10, 1910, at the tender age of 6. She was only 27 years old when she passed away. Coe’s father remarried in 1915.
Coe was raised in Selma, where he attended grade school. After grade school, he attended Castle Heights Military Academy in Lebanon, Tennessee, followed by a one-year stint at the University of Cincinnati, where he studied architecture. In 1925, Coe won a “Birmingham Allied Arts Club / Birmingham News-Age-Herald” scholarship to study at the Grand Central School of Art in New York City.
He then continued his studies with Philip Hale at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. While there, he also studied with two visiting British instructors, Rodney Burne and Robin Guthrie, who helped him win a “Page Traveling Scholarship.” Through this scholarship, Coe was able to travel and study in Europe. He, along with a friend, toured Italy, Germany, France, Denmark, Scotland, and England on a bicycle. During this time, Coe also operated a small studio in Florence, Italy.
After Coe’s return to the United States, he studied at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, but soon returned to his home state of Alabama. After settling in Birmingham, Coe was appointed to head the state’s WPA art programs.
For the last 25 years of his life, Coe lived in Goldens Bridge, New York, a small town located north of New York City, near Danbury, Connecticut. After retiring from McCall’s magazine, Coe spent his time painting and teaching art at several schools and his home.
Coe passed away on December 13, 1978, in Goldens Bridge, NY, at the age of 73. He was laid to rest in Live Oak Cemetery in his hometown of Selma, Alabama. His obituary lists his only survivors as his wife Anne Hunt Coe and one niece, Margaret Ellen Coe Cairnes.
Sources: AskArt.com, DAC Foundation Archives, Selma Times
