BURIED TOGETHER

Partner Sara Tyson Hallowell

Queer Places:
Ramparts, Pl. de Samois, 77250 Moret-Loing-et-Orvanne, France
Cimetière de Moret-sur-Loing, 49 Rue de Gros Bois, 77250 Moret-sur-Loing, France

Harriet Hallowell (June 15, 1873 - March 1943), born on June 15, 1873, in Boston, Massachusetts, and passing away in March 1943 in Moret-sur-Loing, France, was a notable expatriate American miniature painter and wartime volunteer who spent five decades living and working abroad.

Born into a Quaker family to architect Lewis Morris Hallowell and Harriet Cordelia Hawley, she grew up alongside her brother, the artist George Hawley Hallowell. Following her mother's early passing and her father's later life, Harriet established deep roots in France, where she moved around 1894 after likely exhibiting in Boston the previous year.

Settling in France, Hallowell maintained a studio in Paris and shared a life and home with her aunt, Sara Tyson Hallowell in the picturesque village of Moret-sur-Loing near the Forest of Fontainebleau. Within biographical and historical frameworks focusing on queer history and women's networks of the era, Sara Tyson Hallowell is recognized as her lifelong domestic partner, aunt, and central companion. The two women shared their household for decades, navigating the art worlds of Paris and the United States together. Hallowell's artistic career flourished through her miniature paintings and landscapes, with her works exhibiting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Art Institute of Chicago, the annual Paris Salon, the American Women's Club of Paris, and through her active involvement with the Paris chapter of the American Artists Professional League.

During World War I, Hallowell demonstrated profound dedication to her adopted home. Rather than fleeing, she and Sara remained in Moret-sur-Loing, volunteering at the local hospital and transforming their home into a relief center where injured soldiers, refugees, and local residents collaborated to crochet essential clothing. Supported by American donations, particularly from their cousin T. Morris Perot, their humanitarian efforts persisted well beyond the armistice. In recognition of her extensive war relief on behalf of French and Allied soldiers, the French government honored her with the Légion d'honneur, sometimes noted in records as the Croix d'Honneur, in 1930.

Following Sara's death in July 1924, Harriet inherited her aunt's estate, which included treasured works of art such as paintings by Anders Zorn and gifted sculptures from Auguste Rodin, a close friend of Sara. However, the subsequent onset of the Great Depression and the devaluation of French stocks brought severe financial distress, which intensified drastically with the occupation of France during World War II. Despite facing desperate circumstances and frequent displacement to evade German troops, Hallowell steadfastly refused multiple offers from U.S. relatives to evacuate, choosing instead to remain in France. She passed away in her Moret home in March 1943 at the age of 69 and was laid to rest in the Cimetière de Moret-sur-Loing.

References:

• Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Book (National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, 1908) – Documentation regarding family lineage.
• U.S. Department of State Records / Passport Applications (National Archives, Washington, D.C.) – Archival records concerning residency, travel, and wartime work in France.
• Lapsansky, Emma Jones, and Anne A. Verplanck. Quaker Aesthetics: Reflections on a Quaker Ethic in American Design and Consumption (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003) – Detailed coverage of the Hallowell family, their artistic community, and life in Moret-sur-Loing.
• Webster, Sally. Eve's Daughter/Modern Woman: A Mural by Mary Cassatt (University of Illinois Press, 2004) – Contextual background on Sara and Harriet Hallowell's social networks, artistic circles, and expatriate life.
• Butler, Ruth. Rodin: The Shape of Genius (Yale University Press, 1993) – References concerning Auguste Rodin, Sara Hallowell, and the artwork inherited by Harriet Hallowell.
• Carr, Carolyn Kinder. Women Building Chicago 1790–1990: A Biographical Dictionary (Indiana University Press, 2001) – Biographical entries detailing Sara Tyson Hallowell and her household.
• The Historical Society of Pennsylvania: Perot Family Papers (Collection 1886) – Documentation detailing financial and logistical support from cousin T. Morris Perot for the Hallowells' World War I relief efforts.
• Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum: Records regarding Harriet Hallowell's 1927 donation of her brother George Hawley Hallowell's work (St. George and the Dragon, after Carpaccio).
• Columbia University (Reid Hall Artist Index): Biographical logs tracking American miniature painters and expatriates in Paris and surrounding art communities between 1893 and 1914.
• The New York Times – Historical features on expatriate art agents and artists abroad, including coverage of Sara Hallowell ("Sara Hallowell Unique in the Art World," December 31, 1905).
• Friends' Intelligencer – Periodical records regarding Quaker families, community updates, and biographical notices from the early 20th century.

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