Ethel Edwards

American, (active 1914–1999)
Ethel Edwards (1914–1999) was an American painter, collage artist, illustrator, and muralist born in Opelousas, Louisiana. She studied at H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College Art School and was a student of Xavier Gonzalez, whom she later married. During World War II, Edwards and her husband Xavier Gonzales moved to New York City where they both taught at the Art Students League and she did fashion illustrations for Town & Country and Fortune magazines. From 1942 to 1949, the couple lived in New York City and spent summers at Wellfleet, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. Edwards later taught at the Truro Center of the Arts. The Xavier Gonzalez and Ethel Edwards Travel Grant given by The Art Students League of New York was first awarded in 2002; it provides stipends to artists for travel in Spain. Edwards was an instructor at the Art Students League.

New York TImes: Ethel Edwards, an artist, friend, and teacher, died on January 24, 1999, at her home in the Gainsborough Studios, New York City. A native of New Orleans, Ethel attended Newcomb College, where she met her husband, of 62 years, the artist Xavier Gonzalez who passed away in 1993. Ethel and Xavier were both instructors at the Art Students League, where they were both dedicated supporters of the school and generations of students. Ethel was for many years on the board of the Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, MA, and the Artists' Fellowship. She was a member of the Cosmopolitan Club and the Century Association in New York City where she exhibited. She will continue to inspire and encourage others through her exuberant works of art in the collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Newark Museum, Colby College, and many other collections. Ethel and Xavier embodied their art with a style and lust for life, a spirit they shared with all who met them on their many travels and at their homes in New York and Wellfleet. Ethel was an artist for all seasons, full of warmth and with an intense discipline to create.