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Florence Howell Barkley (1880-1954) was an American landscape painter and illustrator best known for depictions of seascapes in oil and watercolor and illustrations in many popular newspapers in pen and ink. During this time, she was one of few women who was able to receive formal training in the arts. Although her most well known work was created in 1912 and exhibited in 1913, her career was disrupted by World War I, and thereafter consisted mostly of freelance illustration work.

Early life
Florence Howell Barkley was born Mary Florence Barkley in Maysville, Kentucky, on February 17, 1880 to Henry Clay Barkley, an Irish immigrant and hardware worker, and Isabella Imogene Howell. She and her seven siblings grew up in Maysville and all attended school. After the death of her parents in 1897, Barkley lived with her sister Helen, her brother Frank, her brother Harry, and his wife Lillie. Her brothers opened up a small shoe store, H.C. Barkley & Company, while she and her sister kept house. During this time, Barkley and her sister Helen began to create paintings of landscapes and floral arrangements in watercolor and pastel that they would submit to contests in the Mason County Fair. Barkley lived in Maysville with siblings until she was 20 years old.

Education
In 1900, at the age of 20, Barkley moved to Cincinnati to study art. She was educated at the Cincinnati Art Academy where she studied landscape painting. After completing her schooling at the Cincinnati Art Academy, Barkley began to study at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women. Here, she was one of many women to study under the instruction of Robert Henri. Henri had a very strong effect on his female students' works. Henri aided in the development of female modernism as his students applied his modernist ideals across many different media. Barkley flourished under his instruction and began to create some of her most famous works after studying under him. During her time studying at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, Barkley also became friendly with several other notable female artists including Josephine Hopper and Henrietta Shore.

Career
During the bulk of her career Barkley lived and worked in New York City. She moved to New York at first to work for The World as an illustrator. . Moving to New York gave Barkley the ability to work as an illustrator part-time while also exploring landscape painting in her free time.

While she was in New York, Barkley continued to make landscape paintings such as "Jerome Avenue Bridge", her most notable work. This oil painting depicts the Macombs Dam Bridge, located in The Bronx, near Barkley's residence. Originally titled "Landscape over the City", this work, priced at $100, was exhibited in Gallery E of the Armory Show in 1913. The work was exhibited alongside works by artists such as Arthur Bowen Davies,Walt Kuhn, and Joseph Stella. Barkley was one of fifty women whose work was exhibited at this show.

Just as her career was beginning, World War I broke out. Barkley put her artwork aside and worked as part of the Red Cross during World War I.

Barkley was employed after the war by New York's   Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine in 1921. She created illustrations for hundreds of articles. Her illustration style was modern with loose strokes and slightly abstracted figures. In Volume 103 of The Century Monthly, her artist profile read, "the flaky style of Florence Howell Barkley is charming." At this point in her career Barkley worked almost entirely in black and white pen and ink. Barkley lived in New York's 15th Ward with roommate Grace James, also an artist.

In 1930, Barkley's widowed sister, Helen and niece Isabel moved to New York to live with Barkley. In order to support Helen and Isabel, who took care of their apartment, Barkley continued to take on freelance illustration jobs.

Death and Legacy
Barkley died at the age of 74 in East Northfield, MA in 1954.

Her work is included in the Museum of the City of New York. Her paintings are expressive, romantic, and showcase the introduction of female artwork into American Modernism.