Martha Elizabeth “Belle” Austin (1880-1980)B. Smith County. D.: Fort WorthPainter, china painter, teacher.Fort WorthStudied: Art Student League of New York; George Brant Bridgman; Stickney Memorial Art School, Pasadena, California, with Jean Mannheim. Exhibitions: Panhandle-South Plains Fair, Lubbock, 1932, (china painting) (prize); Settles Hotel, Big Spring, 1935; Texas Artists Exhibition, Fort Worth Museum of Art, 1935, Near Lake Worth, 1936, Portrait of Mary Byrne, 1937, Texas Thistles; Collins Art Gallery, Fort Worth, 1936, (solo); Bandy's Gallery, Fort Worth, 1939, (solo); Dow Gallery, Fort Worth, 1940, (solo), Wild Flowers Near Fort Worth, Scene in Palo Pinto County, Garden Flowers, Rio Grande River, Yellow Roses, Lake Worth Bluebonnets, Daisies and Corn Flowers, Autumn Hillside, Lake Worth Autumn, Bowl of Roses, Red Tulips, Bluebonnets, Dahlia Zinnias, Snow Scene-New Mexico, Bowl of Bluebonnets, Yellow and Red Wildflowers, Red Roses; Glidden's Art Gallery, Fort Worth (solo). Belle Austin was born in Smith County, Texas. She was a was a third cousin of empresario Stephen F. Austin. A child prodigy as an artist she was painting at age seven and as a teenager was selling her paintings. Her family wanted to provide a formal art training background for their daughter and sent her to New York to study with artist and teacher George Bridgman. She attended the Art Students League in New York. After completing her training in New York she traveled to California training at the Stickney Memorial Art School located in Pasadena. After studying and painting in California she returned to Texas and taught art in Big Spring and Abilene before moving to Fort Worth. She then opened a studio on Hemphill Street in Fort Worth where she specialized in Texas landscapes and sought commissions for portraiture. She traveled the state for over 30 years painting and teaching art. Her works were often florals and landscapes. She competed in the annual Texas art exhibitions held in Fort Worth. She had numerous solo exhibitions and was promoted in the Dow and Bandy Galleries in Fort Worth into the 1950's. Sources: Askart.com; Roper, Texas Artists and Artisans, Vol. 1: A-G; Grauer; Mallett, Supplement; O'Brien; Powers; Fort Worth City Directory 1947-1952; Fort Worth Star-Telegram, February 16, 1940.