Elisabeth Luther Cary

Born in Brooklyn on May 18, 1867, Elisabeth Luther Cary became an American writer and art critic at a time when serious art writing was still finding its audience. She was privately educated and studied art for many years, experience that helped shape the informed but readable voice she later brought to her criticism.

Cary is especially remembered for writing about art and artists in a way that opened the subject to general readers. Alongside criticism, she published biographies, including work on figures such as William Morris, and built a reputation as a thoughtful interpreter of visual culture rather than a purely academic commentator.

She died on July 13, 1936. Today, she stands out as one of the women who helped define early American art criticism and literary nonfiction, making complex creative lives feel vivid and accessible.