Ellen Wilson 1860–1914

Born Savannah, Georgia First Lady 1913–1914

After her husband Woodrow Wilson began teaching at Princeton University in 1890, Ellen Axson Wilson found more time to pursue painting. However, she did not publicly exhibit her Impressionist-style landscapes until the 1910s. In 1913, when she exhibited a group of fifty paintings in Philadelphia, like the ones seen behind her in this photograph, she donated the sales proceeds to charity.

Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.