Artist Helen Chain

Post by Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Mount of the Holy Cross
photo by William Henry Jackson - 1873 

There is a painting of the Mount of the Holy Cross in 50% of the Story Gallery at the Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum. From the moment I saw it, I was fascinated. 

The artist is Helen Henderson Chain. Born in Indiana in 1849, Helen attended the Illinois Female College in Jacksonville, Illinois. (Close to where I grew up.) She studied English and art., graduating in 1869. She married James Albert Chain in Indianapolis in March of 1871. The couple soon moved to Denver, Colorado, where James started a bookstore and print shop. Helen used a back room as her art studio.

Perspective: Helen Henderson Chain
 from Western Art & Architecture

Unlike other female artists, Helen loved the outdoors, and she and her husband spent many hours climbing and hiking. Helen was one of the early women, in petticoat, long skirt, and probably corset, to climb the 14,011-foot Mount of the Holy Cross in addition to painting the mountain. She also painted Pikes Peak.

Unfortunately, in 1892, while the couple was on a two-year world trip, their ship sank in a typhoon in the China Sea, killing the couple along with more than 100 others.

For more on this fascinating woman, here are some additional links:

https://www.historynet.com/helen-chain/ 

https://www.cspm.org/50-percent/mount-of-the-holy-cross-by-helen-chain/

https://images.app.goo.gl/7349dnNU4mRmmAhM9

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Henderson_Chain