Vivian Louise
Aunspaugh, painter and art teacher, was born in Virginia. Her
father was a cotton broker and the family moved from Virginia to
Alabama, South Carolina, and Georgia during Vivian's childhood.
In Georgia, she graduated from Shorter College and was awarded
the Excelsior Art Medal. In 1885 she taught at the Woman's
College of Union Springs, Alabama. Between 1886 and 1890 she
studied with B.R. Fitz and John Henry Twachtman in New York and
with Cecil Payne and Alphonse Mucha in Paris. In 1890 she
returned from Europe. For the next two years she taught art at
McKinney College in McKinney, Texas, then served for a year as
art supervisor for the Greenville Public Schools. From 1893 to
1894 she taught at the Masonic Female College in Bonham. She was
head of the art department at Patton Female Seminary, Dallas,
from 1894 to 1896 and an instructor in decorative arts at St.
Mary's College from 1896 to 1900. She exhibited at the Expo
Universelle, Paris, France, in 1900 and received a gold medal.
She also exhibited at the State Fair of Texas. In 1898 she and
sculptress Clyde Chandlerestablished joint
studio classes in Dallas. Their studio became the Aunspaugh Art
School in 1902. It was the first art school in the Southwest to
offer classes in fine and commercial art, including the use of
live models, nude and draped. By 1909 she was heading the art
department of the Dallas Woman’s Forum and became the driving
force in establishing the Texas artists annual at the Woman’s
forum beginning in 1911 on San Jacinto Day. Vivian Aunspaugh
continued teaching for the next fifty-seven years.