Helen Hodge, oil, Impressionist Landscape, mountains in distance, on artist board, image area 12" X 16" plus frame, well listed artist....Raised in Topeka, Kansas, Helen Iserman Hodge became a painter in oil and watercolor of landscapes in many geographical areas and was especially noted for her depictions of Kansas wildflowers. She also did portraits including one of Cyrus Holliday, founder of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.Hodge was the daughter of a country doctor and wife, Joseph and Frances Iserman. She began drawing at age three, and later studied in Cincinnati with George Hopkins, also from Kansas, and in Washington DC at the Corcoran Gallery School of Art. There she was living with her older sister, Ida Randall Bolles.She returned to Topeka, Kansas, and in 1898, married a physician named Willard Francis. However, he died two years later, which led to financial problems. Forced to support herself, she turned to photography, and enrolled in the Illinois College of Photography. From that time, she continued her fine-art painting but kept a photography studio to insure income. In 1917, she married again, this time to L. Cady Hodge, who was managing director of the Topeka Daily Capital. He took over her photography business, which allowed her freedom to paint.As a young painter, she did scenes of Kansas and continued that subject matter throughout her life. By 1897, she was also painting in Colorado where her sister Ida was living. In 1919, Ida moved to Laguna Beach, and Helen Hodge visited her there. The sisters traveled around California to paint, traveling to coastal areas and the Mohave Desert. Hodge also painted in Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming and in Europe and Canada including Lake Louise in Glacier National Park.The artist died in November 1958 in Topeka, Kansas. Work by her can be found in the Mulvane Art Museum, Washburn University in Topeka and Topeka High School.Source:Phil Kovinick and Marian Yoshiki Kovinick, An Encyclopedia of Women Artists of the American West, pp. 143-144.

excellent