Emily Noyes Vanderpoel

Emily Caroline Noyes was born on June 21, 1842, in New York City to William Curtis Noyes and Julia Tallmadge Noyes.[1] She was the great-granddaughter of Col. Benjamin Tallmadge.[2] She was educated in private schools in New York, and later studied art under Robert Swain Gifford and William Sartain.[1]

On May 22, 1865, she married John Aaron Vanderpoel, with whom she had one son, John Arent Vanderpoel. They lived in New York City and Litchfield, Connecticut. After a year her husband died before she gave birth. She remained unmarried.[3]

A color chart of a mummy case from 1902

A color chart of a mummy cloth from 1902

Emily Noyes Vanderpoel was known for her work as a painter, working in watercolors and oils.[4] She was a member of the New York Watercolor Club (of which she also served a term as Vice-President) and the Woman's Art Club of New York.[5] She exhibited her work at the Woman's Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois.[6] There she was awarded a bronze medal.[5]

Beyond her artistic career, Noyes Vanderpoel was also a philanthropist and an active participant in the Litchfield community. She was the Honorary President of the Needle and Bobbin Club of Litchfield, and the Vice-President and Curator of the Litchfield Historical Society, during which time she published a two-volume history of the Litchfield Female Academy. She was also a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.[7]

She was the author of the Color Problems, which was published in 1902. The book had 400 pages and 116 colour illustrations. Vanderpoel would create a ten by ten grid and then record the colours used in a cup and saucer, an Egyptian mummy. Vanderpoel recommended F.W,Moody's idea that nature's palettes were nearly always a good match. She suggested that a marquetry cabinet that was designed with the same colours as a dead sparrow would be "balanced".[3] It has been suggested that her theories anticipate later theories but Vanderpoel was not attributed. Her book was brought back into print in 2018.[3]

She died on February 20, 1939, and is buried in East Cemetery in Litchfield.[7]

Vanderpoel donated her art pottery collection to the Litchfield Historical Society and her Japanese art collection to the Norwich Museum.[6]

• Color problems: a practical manual for the lay student of color (1902)
• Chronicles of a pioneer school from 1792 to 1833 (1903)
• The tale of the spinning wheel (1903) (illustrator)
• American Lace and Lace-Makers (1924)
• More chronicles of a pioneer school, from 1792 to 1833 (1927)

Media related to Emily Noyes Vanderpoel at Wikimedia Commons