Frances Simpson Stevens
Frances Simpson Stevens (1894 – July 18, 1976) was an American painter, who is best remembered as one of the few Americans to directly participate in the Futurist Movement.[1] Stevens was also one of the artists who exhibited at the landmark show Armory Show in New York City. The show included her oil painting Roof tops of Madrid ($200).[2]
Princess Dimitry Golitzine
July 18, 1976 (aged 81–82)
Early life[edit]
Stevens was born and grew up in Chicago, Illinois.[3][4] Her mother, Ellen Welles Stevens,[5] could trace their ancestry back to 12th century England and passed down a lifetime "fascination with lineage."[6] She was a descendant of Thomas Welles, the first Governor of the Colony of Connecticut.[7]
She graduated from Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and moved to New York City.[6] In 1912 she attended a summer painting class taught by Robert Henri in Spain. It was there that she painted The roof tops of Madrid, the painting that she would exhibit a year later in the Armory Show,[8] introducing America and Stevens into the concept of modern art.[9]
Personal life[edit]
Stevens was briefly engaged to Marchese Salimbeni in Florence Italy, but the engagement was discontinued due to World War 1 and Stevens moving back to America. On April 19, 1919, Frances was married Prince Dimitry Golitzine (1882–1928), who was then the attaché to the Russian ambassador. The wedding was widely reported and American Art News identified him as a son of the last Prime Minister of Russia, Prince Nikolai Dmitriyevich Golitsyn.[19] They had reportedly met at a dinner, when the Prince was attached to the Russian Embassy in Washington.[20] They were married in a registrar's office.[20] Frances was latterly styled Princess Dimitry Golitzine. After honeymooning in California, the couple departed for Vladivostok, where the Prince had a naval command, travelling by way of Japan.[19] Frances was his second wife; his first wife was killed in 1918 in Russia, during the aftermath of the Russian Revolution.
Prince Dimitri Golitzine died on May 12, 1928, in Nice, France. Little is known about Stevens' life after her return to America. In 1961, she was admitted to Mendocino State Hospital in California and later died in a residential care home as a ward of the State of California on July 18, 1976.[4]