Famous Names
The roster of artists and sculptors in the NSLM exhibition include Foxcroft alumnae and contemporary sporting art32 | Covertside
ists, male and female, whose subjects were often Foxcroft women. Edward Leigh Chase’s painting of Miss Charlotte, Joint MFH (1932-1946) with Daniel Cox Sands at Middleburg Hunt, is a beautiful homage to Foxcroft’s intrepid founder who always rode to hounds aside. Three works by the late Jean Bowman, founder of the American Academy of Equine Artists (AAEA), portray Jane Forbes Clark (’73) at the age of seven riding her pony, Gray Fox; Katrina (Hickox) Becker (’48) driving a pair hitched to a surrey, and Penny Denègre, Joint MFH Middleburg and Foxcroft School Trustee, showing aside at Upperville with Royal Affair. Jamie Wyeth, J. Clayton Bright, and Heather St. Clair Davis are among the artists represented. Katrina (Hickox) Becker grew up an avid foxhunter: her father, Charles V. Hickox, was Joint MFH of Meadow Brook on Long Island. “Jean Bowman was one of my great friends — I met her when she did a portrait of my father,” says Becker, who supports the Piedmont Environmental Council and the Civil War Trust. “I was very happy at Foxcroft. I thought Miss Charlotte was just wonderful. I hunted with Middleburg and was lucky enough to have some horses that my family let me have some of the time. I tried sidesaddle once — it was ridiculous! Miss Charlotte was fearless and hunted sidesaddle. When I couldn’t ride any more and had to stop hunting, I took up driving in about 1980. That painting by Jean Bowman of my children and me driving Tom and Jerry in the surrey is one of my favorites.” Christine M. Cancelli loaned her painting of the late Nancy Penn-Smith Hannum, class of 1937, to the Foxcroft exhibition. The artist drew her inspiration from Hannum, who followed the hunt in her Jeep
Leaping Fox and Quail, c. 2000, Eve Prime Fout, artist.
Collection of Joy Crompton, Class of 1978
The year-long observation of Foxcroft’s centennial reached a grand finale with the Celebration Weekend, April 25-27, and will continue, thanks to a very special exhibition, “Foxcroft School: The Art of Women and the Sporting Life,” at the National Sporting Library & Museum in Middleburg (until August 24). This unique collection of 30 paintings and sculptures from various private collections of alumnae or their descendents serves as a tribute to Miss Charlotte and to all of the young women of Foxcroft, who learned to throw their hearts over fences and gallop after their heart’s desire. “I loved Foxcroft. I grew up with horses in Texas, but I didn’t hunt until I went to Foxcroft,” says Julia (Armstrong) Jitkoff, class of ’65. “It was my favorite sport at that point — I had never done anything like that. Foxcroft was wonderful, a special time in my life. Later, I ended up in New Jersey in the 1990s and hunted with Essex Foxhounds...” Today, Jitkoff is a 3-D artist whose sculptures are full of action and energy. She remembered always drawing a lot, mostly pen and ink, and making things, but the magic in her hands didn’t manifest until 1980. The seeds were sown at Foxcroft, however, and Jitkoff says, “I was very pleased when the museum wanted one of my bronzes for the Foxcroft exhibition.” She continues to be very active in conservation and has put land into easement in Maryland and Texas. She serves on the board of the Maryland Agricultural Resource Council and recently joined the board of the Maryland Environmental Trust.