Diana Heiskell 1910-

Diana Hieskell taken 1958. Credits: Contained in: Macbeth Gallery records, [ca. 1890]-1964. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560.

Diana Heiskell was born in Paris, France in 1910 (Neuilly-sur-Seine on 30 March 1910 1), the daughter of Morgan Ott Heiskell and Ann Hubbard Heiskell. She moved to Marlboro, Vermont in 1942 during the Second World War. She studied at the Parsons School of Art in Paris, and was a photographer's assistant before taking up painting. She is known for modernist-leaning landscapes, works in watercolor, oils, and pencil, and has exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Whitney Museum of American Art. She wrote an autobiography, Diana Heiskell (New York : American British Art Center, [1947])

Photo credit: Forrest Holzapfel. Taken 4/14/1999. Diana at 90 in front of her home on Stearns Hill Road, Marlboro, Vermont. The house was built about 1818.

Travel:
Arrived in Ellis Island on May 15, 1921 on board the ship, Panhandle State, port of departure: Boulogne. She was accompanied by her mother, Ann, and her brother, Andrew.

Diana grew up on the Italian island of Capri, where her parents lived. The English author, Sir Compton Mackenzie, wrote: My recreation in those days of early spring was going for long walks with Diana Heiskell. The relief of a child's mind amidst the endless imbroglios and pasticcios of Capri was immense. She had a birthday at the end of March, so I suppose she must have been on the edge of seven...." My Life and Times, 1915-1923, vol. 5:153.

  
Williamsville, Vermont                                                                           Olive Grove, Greece (pencil drawing)

Waterwheels (1936)

Chaise rouge devant l'océan. Cover illustration to Parcours d'un écrivain : notes américaines by Marie-Claire Blais. Painted in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, 1961 (watercolor).

1 Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925 for Morgan Heiskell.