Laura Woodward: The Artist Behind the Innovator Who Developed Palm Beach

Laura Woodward (1834-1926), born in Mount Hope, Orange County, New York, was one of a handful of women members of the Hudson River and White Mountain Schools. In the 1870s-80s, she hiked and sketched in the wilderness of the Northeast, revering nature and realistically depicting its pristine state. Her paintings invoked great praise from the critics of the day and her bravery cleared the path for women landscape artists to follow.

Woodward came to Florida in the 1880s and from ca.1888-1896 became one of the most extensively traveled artists in the state. She braved the alligator, panther and bear-infused jungles to depict Florida's natural beauty in colorful watercolors and oils. Woodward was the pioneer artist of Palm Beach, one of the first professional women artists to paint in the Everglades and Miami, and the inspiration to Henry Morrison Flagler in his development of the most magnificent resort in the world. Brought up in the Victorian tradition of modesty, she remained publicly silent about her accomplishments and it is only now that the breadth of her importance is finally known.

Laura Woodward: The Artist Behind the Innovator Who Developed Palm Beach not only rediscovers Florida's most important nineteenth-century woman artist and one of its greatest publicists, it also explores the challenges of women artists who lived in Woodward's era. It thoroughly discusses the early history of Palm Beach and myths about the great Henry Morrison Flagler are refuted. As Palm Beach County celebrates its 100th anniversary, it is highly appropriate to acknowledge the woman who precipitated its development