NATIONAL WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

Honoring Eleanor King Hookham, Founder Elmhurst Art Museum

BY LARRY ATSEFF | PHOTOS BY VICTOR HILITSKI

March is National Women’s History Month and, therefore, an appropriate time to honor Eleanor King Hookham for her artistic talent and perseverance in establishing the world-class Elmhurst Art Museum in Wilder Park.

She was our choice after reviewing a compilation of 37 profiles of “The First Ladies of Elmhurst” by Ruth Strand and Eugenie Urick, in 2000. Hookham’s inspiring story is an excellent example for Women’s History Month in March.

In her profile, Hookham says, “I started when I was very young doing sketches of the children in the neighborhood and their dogs and cats. My mother had a green thumb. We always had fresh flowers in the house. She would say, ‘You go paint those flowers before they wilt.’ So, I have been painting flowers since I was ten years old!”

In her profile, she credits Martha Avey, an Oklahoma City College instructor, with teaching her the “basics of color, composition, and perspective.” It was her only formal training in painting. Avey also piqued her general interest in the art world in New York, London, Paris, and Rome. As she progressed, she started participating in art shows and even was shown in a New York art gallery.

She clearly had the talent, but then there was an interruption. She married, had one child, divorced, remar- ried, and ultimately moved to Elmhurst with her second husband, Commander Robert Hookham. They had two children. She wanted to start painting again, but Hookham said, ‘Mama, you better stay out of the big galleries and raise the children and then we’ll pitch in and help you.’”

As the story is told, she so loved art she found a way to follow her passion. Once her children were older, she started teaching over 180 children and adults art in her home until 1983. With the money she earned and her husband’s support, she then resumed her personal art career.

Her paintings started showing in Chicago, then New York and France. Ultimately, she presented 22 onewoman shows in Paris until 1992 and then began appearing in Chicago again.

As much as she loved painting, she also found time for community service. She founded the Elmhurst Artists’ Guild in 1946 and the Elmhurst Fine Arts and Civic Center Foundation in 1974.

As her profile relates, her dream and passion were to see an Elmhurst Art Museum, ideally in Wilder Park. In the beginning, the Elmhurst Park District turned down the idea. But she was determined. With her husband, she continued to raise money any way they could.

The Art Guild began buying lots on Virginia Street. Eventually, through land purchases and cooperation with the Park Dis- trict, the City of Elmhurst, and the Fine Arts and Civic Center Foundation, the property was exchanged, and a site was dedicated at the north end of an expanded Wilder Park.

In October 1993, there was a groundbreaking, and in September 1997, there was a Grand Opening for the Elmhurst Art Museum, and her dream was realized.

As part of the museum, there is also a wing devoted to an architecturally significant Ludwig Mies van der Rohe home. Her profile relates that the entire glasshouse was slowly removed from its foundation and literally moved off its site on Prospect Avenue to Wilder Park. The acquisition was considered quite a coup and added to the museum’s reputation. In 2000, Chicago Magazine selected Elmhurst as the «Best Suburban Art Museum.»

Eleanor King Hookham passed away in 2003, but her legacy lives on. Her works, which she signed as “El King,” are on display worldwide. And the Elmhurst Art Museum is a fitting tribute to her talent and dedication to painting and all the fine arts. ■