Women - Hunterdon County, New Jersey

ANNE STEELE MARSH
Anne Steele Marsh, the distinguished printmaker
and painter, has had a notable impact on the art world,
both in her native state of New Jersey and in her longadopted
home in Hunterdon County.
She was born in Nutley in 1901, the daughter of
Frederic Dorr Steele, best known for his illustrations of
the Sherlock Holmes stories. The family spent
summers on Monhegan Island, ME, with many other
artists, including the young Rockwell Kent whom Mr.
Steele taught the art of printmaking. The family later
moved to New York City where Anne attended Cooper
Union Art School, majoring in design. She had further
training in occupational therapy and in the arts of
tapestry and weaving, and taught occupational therapy
for several years. In 1925 she married James R. Marsh, a member of a family
distinguished in the art world.
Mr. and Mrs. Marsh moved to Essex Fells to raise a family. Mr. Marsh had a studio
where he designed fine wrought iron fixtures, and Mrs. Marsh was involved with
printmaking, painting and crafts. In 1948, the family moved to Pittstown in Union
Township, naming their farm Fiddlers' Forge. Mr. Marsh, a cellist, and their son Peter,
now a professional violinist, and other musicians held chamber music sessions on
Sunday afternoons in their barn.
In 1952, the Marshes helped lead a group of local citizens to purchase the old stone
mill in Clinton and found the Hunterdon Art Center, which is now known as the
Hunterdon Museum of Art. Mrs. Marsh was in charge of exhibitions. Four years later,
she launched the first Annual National Print Exhibition and began the Museum's
collection of prints from the exhibitions. The "Anne Steele Marsh Collection" now
contains the works of many influential printmakers of the past 40 years.
Over the years, Mrs. Marsh served on the boards of many art organizations,
including the Hunterdon Art Center, Clinton Historical Museum, Audubon Artists,
Delaware Valley Artists Association, New York Society of Women Artists, the Society of
American Graphic Artists, American Association of Museums, and Friends of the State
Museum. She was a founder and president of Associated Artists of New Jersey.
Her wood engravings are included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, Library of Congress, Philadelphia Art Museum and the Brooklyn
Museum. Her work is also in the New York Public Library, New Jersey State Museum
and the Museum of Modern Art, as well as in private collections.
Among the many awards she has received are those from the Hunterdon Art
Center, Philadelphia Print Club, New Jersey State Museum, Montclair Art Museum,
Audubon Artists, National Association of Women Artists and the National Arts Club.
Mrs. Marsh died in 1995 at the age of 94.
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