About

Jean Savage Abbott was a complicated woman who pursued a life as an artist. She dedicated 23 years to painting and drawing.

In her 20s and 30s, she was a devoted mother, but found her life as a suburban housewife unsatisfying. In a tight black dress, she was often the most beautiful woman in the room, and was occasionally mistaken for Marilyn Monroe. Yet she was sensitive, and profoundly disturbed by the political events and the assassinations of the 60s and the Vietnam War.

She described herself as largely self-taught, but she graduated from Colby Jr. women’s college with a degree in Art, and took lessons from regional painters such as Lillian Stennport, in Newburyport, and John Northy, in Topsfield. She took two semester-long painting seminars at The deCordova Museum. And she attended “art camp” in Boothbay, Maine for 2 weeks each summer.

In 1963 she get serious, and set up a studio in the attic of the family house, an 1680-era house in Boxford, MA. Most nights after dinner, she painted until 3 or 4 in the morning. She put a sign at the bottom of the stairs, “Do Not Disturb.” She became isolated from her husband.

Her father passed away in 1963 and that triggered a series of events in her personal life. At her father’s funeral, she met Eric Lundgren, a professional artist, who was renting a studio apartment from her father, located on the end of Hockamock Dock, in Bremen, Maine. He was the first “real artist” she became friends with. His work was hung in the Chicago Museum of Art, and had a gallery in Florida. She wrote letters to him seeking his advice on a range of technical art topics, and they corresponded regularly for several years. They became close friends. In 1966, she travelled to Chicago, and saw an exhibition of his work. Before Eric died in 1971, he burned her letters.

She began to paint the world around her in Topsfield and Boxford. She painted friends singing, and dancing, and clowns dressing. She worked on a concept drawing of roosters fighting, reflecting the tension in her own marriage, that became “Spouses Spat.” She drew constantly while watching TV as a way of staying sane during the crazy news of the 1960s, using pen and ink, and magic markers. She sang in the choir of the Congregation Church of Boxford. The church hired Rev. Arthur White, and she invited him over for coffee in the mornings over several years, for long conversations about life, art and religion.

In 1972 she successfully fought breast cancer. She then announced to her family that she had done her job as a mother and wife, and would be devoting the rest of her life to painting. She had received a modest inheritance from her father, so she had the means to be financially independent. In May 1973, she moved to an apartment in Rockport, MA. She set-up a studio and finally was free to paint everyday.

She was accepted into the Rockport Art Association in 1973. In the beginning, her work was not of the RAA landscape and seascape style, so it took a while to get her work accepted into shows. Her first submission to a show was rejected., but she did not get disappointed. She volunteered to start Life Drawing classes at the Rockport Art Association and organized the artists and models. She loved becoming friends with fellow artists. She attended the RAA Sunday Night Discussion Group meetings, where she met artists she had only heard of before, that she felt “comfortable with as real friends.”

In 1975, she noted that she got health insurance through the RAA program, which was a big deal, given that her health history. In sum, “it was the best of years in many ways, very personal ways.”

She turned 48 in 1976. It was a pivotal year for her. She traveled into Boston on the train to see the Boston Visual Artist Union. She got a letter from a customer who wanted to buy her piece, “A Boy, A Chair.” But she felt very confused in her painting. She discarded a lot of old work, made storage portfolios, and organized her work. She kept stuff worth saving, but not worth framing. And, she “De-Crapped (her) Studio.” She finished several paintings of clowns she had started the previous year. She started reading “Gulag, Faulkner and Villard.” She got some worthwhile new paintings going of “bars, blacks, clowns and hippies.”

In the fall of 1975, she was offered the opportunity to have a “one-man show in In May 1976.” She painted really hard and “worked like crazy on show. Much confusion.” She spent $411.00 on framing. She had to provide a biography for Miriam, the RAA publicity lady. She noted, “Many, many details to remember, decision to make.” She looked for a dress, but thought she as too fat. Finally, she mounted 40 pieces of work, 5 paintings, and 35 drawings.

She thought the show “went very well in spirit, but only sold two drawings.” She got a lot of support from her friend, Nancy Wheeler, who was a “big help, moral support, many crisis phone calls to her.” Earl Merchant brought wall charts, to visualize how to hang her work, and also brought wine to the opening ($18.40). The show put her on the Cape Ann artist map. Several galleries in the area, in Annisquam, and Gloucester, offered to show some of her work, and eventually, her bold, not always happy paintings, and pen and ink drawings began to sell.

After she show, she suffered a let down. She noted in her diary in June 1976, “Paint a fair amount, but no results. Feel very alone in my work. Ascetic doubts have me restless tho life is quiet.” Weeks later she wrote, “Yearn from the bottom of my soul for some rich, subtle, rewarding, constant, intelligent friendships.” She worked on developing friendships. After the RAA Annual Meeting, she had “3 guys back for 3 hours of good art rapping.” And she also noted a “rap with Lloyd Coe.” And she started going out to a piano bar with her childhood friend, John Northy, who was a professional artist now living in Topsfield.

In the fall of 1976, she noted that she had started to get compliments on her work all month, including from Lloyd Coe “who compliments me as well as my work. He makes me feel delicious.” And another artist, Joan Carroll said ‘Vigil’ is the best in a recent show, complimenting the “impact of it, and humanity.” And she got a critique of her show from fellow RAA member, Peter Spellman.

Her life revolved around her painting. In July 1977, she painted 18 full days. Her “Clown” painting was well hung in the big room for an exhibit, but her painting, “War Woman” did not pass jury for the next show. She noted it was a “setback, but a small, Rockport one.”

She noted in her dairy that 1978 was a “Strange year.” A surprising number of her friends pass away, and later in the year, her own health declined. “Bad news. Start hormone and radiation therapy.” It was very important to keep her health challenges secret from her new Rockport community, as she did not want sympathy. She asked family and close friends who drove her to appointments to never tell anyone in Rockport. From September to November she made 28 trips to doctors at Beverly Hospital. But when she recovered, she painted, and placed more work in the RAA shows.

In April 1981 she noted that Paul Sylva opened his Framery’s new place. He was very supportive of her ‘Blacks’. He was a great help in promoting her work. He “pushes my work, buys one himself, or swaps for $300 worth of paintings.” In August, she started doing monoprints with Mary Robbins, “fun time, off and on for 6 weeks.” She enjoyed to freedom of the relatively spontaeous process, and generated a number of printings that sold.

In June of 1982, she won two prizes at the first two RAA Summer Shows. But in late summer, she was not feeling well. “Can’t do much. Ribs on right side are sore. Swollen liver, I guess.” In October, and went to Beverly Hospital for 3 days of tests. They found a liver problem. She took 12 trips to Salem for radiation, and started chemo in October. She slowly felt better by Christmas.

In the 1983 RAA June Show, her painting “Good News” was a big hit. It sold quickly to a couple from New York, the Greenbergs. In July, she submitted 4 drawings to the Butler Institute in Ohio for their “Works on Paper Show, (but) they BOMB.” She also spent 3 days putting 45 art prints on her kitchen wall.

In August of 1984 her mother died. Jean had a difficult relationship with her mother, Olive, who had become a heavy drinker after her husband passed. After living alone in Maine for many years, Olive moved to an apartment in Beverly. But after a stroke, Jean moved Olive to DenMar in Rockport for the last several years of her life, and they were able to reconcile some of their issues.

In the fall of 1984, she was invited to join the Point Hill Gallery in Gloucester with many other “cream-of-the-crop painters.” In 1985 she noted in her diary that she was “Juggling oldish work between the RAA and Point Hill. Confusing as hell, since both places want new work every month.”

She passed away peacefully in the summer of 1987, in Beverly Hospital. She was drawing daily, until the end.

In her 23 year career as an artist, she completed over 100 paintings, and several hundred drawings.