Grace Ravlin

A native of Kaneville, Illinois,^[1] Ravlin studied under John Vanderpoel at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and under William Merritt Chase at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.^[2] In Paris she took lessons with Émile-René Ménard and Lucien Simon.^[1] She traveled and painted widely during her time in France, visiting many places both in Europe and in North Africa.^[3] She was a member of numerous organizations, including the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, the Société des Peintres Orientalistes Français, and the Salon d'Automne. Among the awards which she received were the third medal at the Amis des Arts of Toulon in 1911; the silver medal at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in 1915; and the Field and Butler prizes at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1922.^[1] Besides the Institute,^[4] examples of her work may be found in the Musée du Luxembourg, the Newark Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,^[1] and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, among others.^[5] Ravlin described herself as an "ethnographic painter", and her chief subject was the exotic locations to which she traveled.^[2]

Ravlin died in Plano, Illinois.^[6] Many of her letters have survived in private archives.^[3] In 2018, a 1920 Ravlin painting appeared on Antiques Roadshow, where it was appraised at between $15,000 and $20,000.^[7]

• List of Orientalist artists
• Orientalism