Dorcas Doolittle 1901-1993

Dorcas Cooke Doolittle was an early 20th century modernist who explored contemporary European trends in painting, including Cubism and Expressionism. Born in Philadelphia in 1901, Doolittle received formal academic training at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, now Moore College of Art. After graduating in 1923, the artist went on to further study at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 1926, the Academy granted her their Cresson Traveling Scholarship, and Doolittle spent time painting in Europe. The artist concluded her studies at the Academy under the tutelage of Hugh Breckenridge in 1927. From 1927 until the mid-1940's, Doolittle exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Woodmere Art Gallery, the Plastic Club, and the Philadelphia Art Alliance. Doolittle was married twice, adopting the names Bastian and McClelland at different junctures in her life.  She lived all of her life in the Philadelphia area and taught summer school at the artist's colony of Gloucester, Massachusetts. Dorcas Doolittle died in 1993.