Hugh McKean, Unfinished Portrait of Gennette McKean, oil on canvas, 23 3/4 by 27 3/4 inches. The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of Art, Winter Park, FL. The Charles Hosmer Morse Foundation, Inc.
The “First Lady of Rollins College” inadequately defines Jeannette Genius McKean’s contribution to Winter Park and Rollins College. The McKean Gate at the entrance to Rollins today welcomes visitors to a school that Mrs. McKean helped to shape with her love of nature, art, and her involvement in student life and the cultural life of the Winter Park. Jeannette Genius was the granddaughter of Charles Hosmer Morse, one of the earliest developers of Winter Park. Morse donated the land for Winter Park’s Central Park and was an early trustee at Rollins College.
Jeannette Genius, Wild Iris #4, 1966, pastel on paper 19 by 12 inches.
As an artist Jeannette Genius (as she signed her work) exhibited internationally and extensively in the southeast and Florida. Her work was seen in many group exhibitions and she had over twenty solo exhibitions. A collector as well as an artist, her most important legacy is the purchase from the Louis Comfort Tiffany family, the largest collection of Tiffany art in the world and the founding of the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park.
Jeannette Genius, Dancing Shells, circa 1956, oil on canvas, 16 by 20 inches, signed lower left J. Genius
At a Rollins College commencement on June 1, 1962, Jeannette Genius McKean received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts. The degree read, in part, “Jeannette Genius McKean: Artist, dreamer of lovely dreams and teacher in the best and oldest sense of the word: Because you create both rare and beauty yourself and lead others into the adventure of discovering it for themselves; Because you value both the art of your own time and have the courage to rediscover the beauty of art forms neglected or forgotten; Because you are one of those wise few who know that a town, a park, a campus, a building, as well as a picture, can and should become a work of art of great importance and influence; And because in your quiet way and winning manner you show that a life, too, can be colored with the same qualities as those of a fine work of art; And because you have the affection, as well as the admiration and respect of the faculty, students and the Trustees of Rollins College who know that in honoring you, they honor themselves.”
Jennette Genius, White Azelea #2, 1974, pastel on paper, 41 by 30 inches.
Jeannette Genius, Red Peppers, oil on canvas, 6 by 9 inches, signed JB lower right.
Born: June 26, 1909, Chicago, Illinois. Died: August 10, 1989, Winter Park. Education: Dana Hall, Wellesley, Massachusetts; Columbia University, New York City; Pine Manor Junior College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts; Grand Central Art School, N.Y.C.; Art Students League, N.Y.C.; with Hans Hoffman, John Sitton, Helen Stotesbury, George Parker and Rivington Arthur. Membership: Rollins Studio Club; Orlando Art Association; Florida Federation of Art; Palm Beach Art League; National Association of Women Artists, honorary vice president; Florida Artists Group; National Arts Club; Artists Equity; Pastel Society of America; Pen & Brush Club, New York City; National Arts Club, New York City; New Hampshire Art Association; Palm Beach Art League; American Institute of Interior Designers. Exhibits: Florida Federation of Art, annual circuit, 1932; Florida Federation of Art, All Florida Exhibit, Society of The Four Arts, April 1938, Still Life; Studio Guild, Fifth Avenue, New York City, March 1941, annual spring members exhibit; Rollins College, Decoration of Honor, 1943; Florida Federation of Art, 1943; Society of The Four Arts, 7th Annual Members Show, January 1945; Society of The Four Arts, 10th Annual Members Exhibit, December 1947-January 1948; Orlando Art Association, Municipal Auditorium, March 1948; Florida Federation of Art, best pictorial design, any medium, 1948; National Arts Club, 50th Annual, New York City, 1948, Blue Quietness, Blue Lagoon; Florida Federation of Art, 1949, pictorial design, non-represented shapes, 1st prize, Amber Harmony; Society of The Four Arts, 12th Annual Members Exhibit, December 1949-January 1950, 2nd prize for oil, Amber Harmony; Palm Beach Art League, 32nd Annual Members’ Exhibition, March 1950, oil, Color Chord No. 3; Society of The Four Arts, 1949, 1950, 1954; Research Studio, Maitland, Florida, 1951; Society of The Four Arts, 14th Annual Members Exhibit, December 1951-January 1952; Hispanic Institute in Florida, 1952, Cervantes Medal; Society of The Four Arts, 15th Annual Exhibition, Contemporary Paintings and Sculpture, March 1953, oil, Passage; Pen and Brush Club, 1953; Rollins College, 1954, Algernon Sydney Sullivan Medallion; Palm Beach Art League, 36th Annual Members’ Exhibition, March 1954, Potential; Contemporary Arts, New York City, 1953, 1956, 1964; Art League of Manatee County, 1955; Palm Beach Art League, at Norton Art Gallery, March 1955, honorable mention, nonrepresentational; Florida Artists Group, 6th Annual Circuit, Palm Beach Art League, April 1955, Community; Florida Federation of Art, 30th Annual Exhibit, West Palm Beach, 1956, Nets; Pen and Brush Club, New York City, 1959; Center Street Gallery, Winter Park, March 1959, Jungle Fantasy, Tropical Moonlight; Daytona Beach Art Center Exhibit, National Association of Woman Artists, April 1959; Clearwater Art Group at Clearwater Auditorium, April 1961, Paintings by Hugh and Jeanette McKean; Center Street Gallery, Winter Park, 1963, 1964, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1975, 1978; Dana Hall, Wellesley, Massachusetts, 1966; Galleries of Florida Federation of Art at DeBary Mansion, DeBary, Florida, June-July, 1966, sixty paintings; Morse Gallery of Art, Winter Park, 1968; Florida Federation of Art at DeBary Mansion, 1970; Art Center, Daytona Beach, Florida, 1971; Florida Governor’s First Annual Award for the Arts, 1973; James Hunt Barker Galleries, Palm Beach, 1975; National Association of Women Artists, Medal of Honor, 1984; Kunst Museum, Bern, Switzerland; Royal Scottish Academy Galleries, Edinburgh, Scotland; Chateau de la Napoule, La Napoule, France; Pen & Ink Club, National Arts Club, Studio Guild, New York; Ball Room Gallery, Currier Museum, Manchester, New Hampshire; Allied Artists of America, Annual Exhibition; Butler Gallery of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio; Delgado Museum, Louisiana; Norton Gallery & School of Art, West Palm Beach. Collections: Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Columbus Museum of Arts and Crafts; Medal of Honor, National Association of Women Artists, 1984. Jeannette Genius McKean is listed in Who’s Who in American Art and Who’s Who in American Women.
