Ellen Emmet Rand
Self-Portrait, 1927
Born	Ellen Gertrude Emmet (1875-03-04)March 4, 1875 San Francisco,California, U.S.
Died	December 18, 1941(1941-12-18) (aged 66) New York, New York, U.S.
Other names	Ellen Gertrude "Bay" Emmet
Known for	Painting
Spouse	William Blanchard Rand ​ ​ (m. 1911)​

Ellen Emmet Rand (néeEllen Gertrude Emmet; March 4, 1875 – December 18, 1941) was a painter and illustrator. She specialized in portraits, painting over 500 works during her career including portraits of PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt, artistAugustus Saint-Gaudens, and her cousinsHenry James andWilliam James. Rand studied at the Cowles Art School in Boston and the Art Students League in New York City and produced illustrations forVogue Magazine andHarper's Weekly before traveling to England and then France to study with sculptorFrederick William MacMonnies. TheWilliam Benton Museum of Art at the University of Connecticut owns the largest collection of her painted works and theUniversity of Connecticut, as well as theArchives of American Art within theSmithsonian Institution both have collections of her papers, photographs, and drawings.

Ellen Gertrude Emmet was the third of six children born to Ellen James Temple Emmet and Christopher Temple Emmet.^[1] She was called "Bay". Ellen was born in San Francisco but moved to New York after her father's death in 1884.^[2] Her cousins were paintersLydia Field Emmet (1866–1952),Rosina Emmet Sherwood (1854–1948), andJane Emmet de Glehn (1873–1961) and the writersHenry James (1843–1916) andWilliam James (1842–1910). She married William Blanchard Rand in 1911 and had three sons. Rand's primary studio was in New York City but she would also work in Salisbury, Connecticut where her family lived.

Rand studied withDennis Miller Bunker and attended theCowles Art School in Boston and then from 1889 to 1893 registered for classes at theArt Students League of New York. Rand then attended theWilliam Merritt Chase'sShinnecock Hills Summer School of Art.^[3] Harry McVickar, editor ofVogue magazine, saw her work in an exhibit for the summer school and asked her to illustrate for the magazine. She also illustrated forHarper's Weekly andHarper's Bazaar. In 1896 Rand travelled to England. She returned to the US in 1898^[4] and then to Paris to study with MacMonnies. Also in France and studying with MacMonnies was fellow American artistMary Foote. Rand returned to New York City in 1900 and began her painting career in earnest.

Rand focused her energy and output on painting portraits of corporate directors, society women, politicians, scientists, professors, lawyers and artists in the United States. Her portraits of the singerSusan Metcalfe Casals, her husband celloistPablo Casals, and opera singerCharles Gilibert,^[5] as well as her portraits of sculptor Saint-Gaudens and MacMonnies, all attest to her engagement with the arts in the first decade of the twentieth century.^[6] In terms of politicians she claimed to have started a work on a portrait of PresidentTheodore Roosevelt but she "had to give it up. 'It was ridiculous,' she recalled. 'He couldn't sit still—especially with children going in and out of the studio with snakes and spiders.'"^[7] Rand did, however, complete three portraits of President Franklin Roosevelt, including his official presidential portrait. She was the second female artist commissioned to produce a presidential portrait. After his death, the portrait was moved to the Roosevelt estate and futureFDR Library in Hyde Park, NY. It is unclear exactly why such a move was made, although there are letters exchanged between PresidentHarry Truman and First LadyEleanor Roosevelt concerning the transfer of the portrait. Another portrait was then used to replace the Rand work in the White House.^[8] In 2004 the portrait was reported missing from the Library.^[9] Rand also painted three U.S. Secretaries of State—John Milton Hay,Elihu Root, andHenry Lewis Stimson.

Rand was the first woman awarded aBeck Gold Medal by thePennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. She was honored for herPortrait of the Hon. Donald T. Warner (1921) at PAFA's 1922 annual exhibition.^[10]

• William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut
  • Ellen Emmet Rand Online Gallery^[11]
• Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts
  • Rt. Rev. William T. Lawrence^[12] (1850–1941)
  • William Watson Goodwin^[13] (1831–1912)
  • Ada Louise Comstock^[14] (1876–1973)
  • Richard Glover Ames (died 1935) and Henry Russell Ames (died 1935)^[15]
• Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington, Connecticut
  • Ada Brooks Pope^[16]
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
  • Augustus Saint-Gaudens^[17]
  • Armory S. Carhart, Jr.^[18]
  • Benjamin Altman^[19]
  • William Sloane Coffin^[20]
• Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
  • Mary Elizabeth Marvin Goodrich^[21] (wife ofBenjamin Goodrich)
• Vanderbilt University Art Collection, Nashville, Tennessee
  • Ann Gordon Colby^[22] (Mrs.William Vanderbilt III)
  • Ellen French Vanderbilt^[23]
  • William H. Vanderbilt III^[24]
• Winterthur Museum Collections, Wilmington, Delaware
  • Henry Algernon du Pont^[25]
  • Henry Francis du Pont^[26]
  • Mary Pauline Foster du Pont^[27]
• U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C.
  • United States Secretaries of State Gallery^[28]

• National Museum of Women Artists DatabaseArchived 2016-03-04 at theWayback Machine
• Smithsonian American Art Museum page
• National Archives, Letter from Eleanor Roosevelt to President Harry S. Truman concerning the Rand portrait of FDR
• National Archives, Letter from President Truman to E. Roosevelt concerning the Rand portrait of FDR

Media related toEllen Emmet Rand at Wikimedia Commons

• 1875 births
• 1941 deaths
• American portrait painters
• 19th-century American women painters
• 20th-century American women painters
• 19th-century American painters
• 20th-century American painters
• Painters from San Francisco
• Painters from New York City
• Art Students League of New York alumni
• Students of William Merritt Chase
• Emmet family

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