Edith Mitchill Prellwitz (1864-1944) wasn’t playing hard-to-get when she refused Henry Prellwitz’s entreaties to marry her. She had studied at the Art Students League in New York City with luminaries such as William Merrit Chase and at the Academie Julien in Paris. A woman of her time, she felt she could not fulfill the roles of both wife and artist—and artist came first. She wrote, “I will not be a dabbler. I cannot and care not to marry. I would rather die than live long in this humdrum way.”
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But persistence was Henry’s long suit, and he eventually persuaded her to marry him, promising always to honor her as an artist. In 1911, driving east, they spotted an old farmhouse that was due for demolition. They had it taken apart, barged and rebuilt on Indian Neck in Peconic, near the summer homes of their good friends, artists Irving Wiles and Edward August Bell. “High House” sits on a cliff overlooking the vast expanse of Peconic Bay. Henry built twin “His and Hers” studios adjacent to the main house and always kept his promise.
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Edith, who was one of the most important American painters of her time, holds the honor of being the first woman ever to be chosen as a member of the National Academy. She founded the Woman’s Art Club, which later became the National Association of Women Artists. Both Edith and Henry Prellwitz painted in a variety of media and created works with varied subject matter — landscapes, seascapes, marine paintings and allegories. Their works hang in major collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Their great-grandaughter, artist Wendy Prellwitz, lives in High House and paints in their studios.
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