Georgiana Brown Harbeson

Georgiana Brown Harbeson pioneered modern needlework in the United States during the late 1920s and the 1930s. She was the author of two comprehensive books and numerous articles on needlework, as well as designs and articles for many women's magazines such as Vogue, Woman's Home Companion, and Ladies Home Journal, her work often appearing on the cover. She developed her crewel and needlepoint embroideries by making a watercolor sketch or "cartoon," working the sketch into a pattern and applying it to fabric. The colors came from a "palette of wool." Harbeson began doing needlework at the age of seven, when she was taught embroidery by a nun at a Quebec Convent school. She became a most sought after stitchery artist, commissioned by churches, including the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., to design cushions, stall seats and kneelers for the Chapel of St. Joseph. Her work has been collected by museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In addition to these accomplishments, she designed costumes and stage sets for theater and ballet. Harbeson is remembered for elevating stitchery to an art form.

Education and Training
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Honors Graduate, 1912-1917
Moore Institute of Art, (Moore College of Art and Design), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
New York School of Design, New York, New York
New York University, New York, New York
Philadelphia Museum College, (University of the Arts), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Teachers and Influences
Studied with Daniel Garber, Violet Oakley, Joseph T. Pearson, Hugh Breckenridge, Henry McCarter, and Lucien Bernhard

Connection to Bucks County
Harbeson lived on Honey Hollow Road in New Hope and had a studio on Ferry Street. She was married to Frank Godwin, a well-known cartoonist and painter. The couple settled in the New Hope area in 1940 and lived on Honey Hollow Road until Frank Godwin's death in 1959.

Colleagues and Affiliations
Harbeson was married to Frank Godwin. He drew the comic strip "Connie" for The Philadelphia Inquirer and "Rusty Riley" for King Features Syndicate.
Georgiana was associated with the Upstairs Gallery in New Hope.

Major Solo Exhibitions
Milch Gallery, New York, New York
Arden Gallery
Argent Gallery
Pen & Brush Club
Woodmere Art Gallery (now Woodmere Art Museum), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1964
Lambertville House, Lambertville, New Jersey, 1971

Major Group Exhibitions
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1916, 1917
National Association of Women Artists, 1926
New York Women's Exposition, Art and Industry, New York, New York, 1929
New York Art Alliance, New York, New York, 1927
Art Alliance of America, 1929,
Powell House Exhibition, 1935, 1937
Eastern States Exposition, 1937
Embroiderers' Guild, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1962
Emergency Aid Needlework Show, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1979
Historical Society of New Hope, New Hope, Pennsylvania, 1963
Early Women Artists of Bucks County, Rodman House, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 1979
Early Women Artists of Bucks County, Rodman House, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 1979

Major Collections
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
Smithsonian-Cooper Hewitt Museum, New York, New York
Irwin Undermeyer Collection
Academy of Fine Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii

Commissions
Murals
John Murray Anderson and Robert Milton School of Theater
Pasteboard Club, New York, New York
Churches
National Cathedral, Bishop's Chapel, Washington D.C., needlepoint for 40 kneelers
St. Joseph's Chapel, Washington, DC, altar rails, cushions, stalls and kneelers, 1957
St. Paul's, Cincinnati, Ohio
St. Paul's, Rochester, New York
St. Paul's, Dayton, Ohio
St. Phillips Chapel, New Hope, Pennsylvania
Trinity Cathedral, Trenton, New Jersey, altar rails, cushions, stalls and kneelers
Trinity Church, Coventry, Kentucky

Nonfiction
American Needlework: 17th Century to Contemporary,
History of American Needlework, 1938, reprinted 1961, 1967

Publications
Wrote articles on furniture decorations and designs for Studio Magazine, Harper's, House Beautiful, House and Garden, Ladies Home Journal, Vogue and McCall's

Major Awards
Thouron Prize for Composition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1916, 1917
1st Prize, National Association of Women Artists, 1926, 1932
New York Art Alliance, 1927
New York Women's Exposition, Art and Industry, 1929
Art Alliance of America, 1929
Powell House Exhibition, 1935, 1937
1st and 2nd Prizes, Eastern States Exposition, 1937
50th Anniversary of the National Cathedral in Washington D.C.; design needlepoint cushions, stall seats and kneelers, Chapel of St. Joseph of Arithamea, 1957
Special Award, Embroiderers' Guild, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1962
Two prizes, Historical Society of New Hope, 1963
Governor's Award, Pennsylvania, 1979
First Place, Emergency Aid Needlework Show, Philadelphia, 1979

Affiliations and Memberships
Founder and past president, American Needle Arts Society
Founding member, Embroiderers' Guild of America
Member, Embroiderers' Guild, United States and England
National Association of Women Artists
New York Society of Craftsmen