Sears - Elinor

Sears (Adams), Elinor Lathrop (1902-1988)

Elinor Lathrop Sears was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1902. She studied art as a student of Hale, Logan, Mora, and Calder and became known for her miniatures, pastels, and portraits. She was associated with the Lyme Art Association and exhibited there. Sears was also a member of the Hartford Art Society, the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts, and the American Water Color Society. H. Viggo Anderson wrote an article about her exhibit of children’s pastel portraits at the Hartford Town and Country Club in the April 24, 1929 Hartford Courantconcluding that “Sears always catches her subjects in moods most characteristic of them.” The portraits were of children “in natural, unstudied poses” which was “the secret of their great appeal.” Working for the WPA Federal Arts Project from 1935-1936, Sears completed fourteen works. She published a book entitled Pastel Painting Step by Step in 1947.  She lived for many years in Old Lyme, Connecticut and died there in 1988.

Sources:  WPA Artist’s Work Card; AskART; Who Was Who In American Art (1985), p. 556; Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters (1986) p. 835; Social Security Death Index under “Elinor Adams;” New York Times: “Lyme Art Association Shows Its Work,” August 7, 1927; “Another Show At Lyme,” August 5, 1928; “Gleams on the Horizon,” June 14, 1936; “Frank W. Adams, Aide of Fuller Brush Co.,” January 21, 1952; Hartford Courant,: H. Viggo Andersen, “Shows Love of Children In Portraits,” April 24, 1929; Photo Stand-alone 39, December 27, 1931; Photo Standalone 2, August 6, 1944; Article 11, February 15, 1948.

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Elinor Sears:

Sears, Elinor