Claude Raguet Hirst
Birth Date: November 1855
Death Date: 1942
Artist Gallery
Claudine Raguet Hirst was born in Clifton, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio in 1855. Named for her grandmother, who in turn had been named for an aunt in France, Hirst submitted her work under the name Claude R. Hirst in order to conceal her femininity and be taken seriously in a male-dominated art world. In 1874, Hirst studied at the Cincinnati School of Design before moving to New York. In New York, she studied under Agnes D. Abbott, George Smillie and Charles Curran. On June 4, 1922 a New York Times article entitled A Pipe That Brought Fame begins: "Many Years ago Miss Hirst loaned her studio to a fellow painter who was waiting for his to be completed." Says Miss Hirst, "He was like me, he was not very orderly. His tobacco things were always around and one day I noticed what an attractive group they made. He had a meerschaum pipe that was a glorious color. It was like old ivory. I had always liked old books and old engravings, so I put the pipe with some of my old books and painted them. It came out very well, and I sent it to the Academy, which was then in an old building on Twenty-third Street. It sold immediately. H.O. Havemeyer bought it." Hirst married this fellow–painter, William C. Filter, in 1901. According to this same article, one of the artist’s favorite books was a small volume of Paul and Virginia (note the book in the painting). In this romantic French novel, written by Bernardin de St. Pierre in 1788, Paul and Virginia grew up as childhood playmates that fell in love with each other. After a separation, Virginia tried to return by ship to Paul, but a hurricane broke up the ship, and the body of Virginia was found upon the beach. In her own words Hirst’s explains her method of working: "I always paint small things that I can paint the actual size; my books are small books, and I never use a magnifying glass to work with. I can’t do it. I get things too large. Some women like to sew to calm their nerves, but I paint books."