Original Drawings & Model Commentaries:

AIA Drawing # 18
(17 inches X 23 inches)





 

Lucy Taylor Butt:  1892-                   Clarksborough,  West Virginia


Copyright  © 1992-2006  Jim Branscum Art Studio
All Rights Reserved

Lucy Taylor Butt was one of those I have met in my years as an artist who I wanted to draw the moment I saw them.   Although Lucy is twice my age,  I fell in love with her beauty and poise when we were introduced.  Her physical beauty made me think of Jessica Tandy and her poise as she sat for me made me think of my daughter who is a fashion model living in Milan, Italy.  Lucy's soft voice was like that of an angel when she spoke and she followed direction with the patience of a saint.  There was little in her image or actions which indicated that 102 years had passed since her birth  in 1892.  As she posed in various settings,  I realized that my hardest task was going to be selecting only one pose to represent her overall beauty.

Lucy was born to George Taylor and Hettie Risen Taylor and raised on a farm with two brothers and four sisters in the small village of Malta,  Ohio.  She is the direct descendant of the fourteenth President of the United States,  Zachary Taylor.   the last surviving member of her family.  She met,  fell in love and married Lewis Wesley Butt,   a salesman, and moved to Buffalo,  New York.  She found employment in the fashion industry and became the buyer for exclusive shops in New York.  She stated that she loved her work in the fashion industry and stayed in the field until her retirement.  Her poise was developed in her youth and is maintained in her later years.

Lucy gave birth to her daughter,   Nancy,  in 1915.  She recalls that she and Lewis worked long and hard to provide for their daughter,  and Nancy excelled in life.  They attended Nancy's Masters Ceremony at State Teacher's College in Buffalo in 1933.  This accomplishment is still one of great pride for Lucy.  She instilled an attitude of conquering any obstacles that prevented women from achieving their potential in an age which resistance to the status quo was rarely rewarded. Nancy's academic accomplishments were later overshadowed by chronic health problems.  Lewis passed away in 1971,  leaving Lucy to care for Nancy who had become nearly incapacitated by her health.  Lucy moved numerous times in search of a climate that would better suit her daughter's worsening condition.  In 1978,  while living in North Carolina,  Nancy passed away.

Lucy,  now 86 years old,   continued to live on her own in North Carolina.  She moved to Clarksburg,   West Virginia,  to live with a niece in the 1980's.  In 1989,  at the age of 97,  Lucy became a resident of the Clarksburg Continuous Care Center in Clarksburg,  West Virginia. 

She posed in the bright natural light of a warm summer afternoon exhibiting patience as she modeled.  Though Lucy had long since retired from her career in the fashion industry,  her love of fashion and "class" live on in her daily life.  Her mannerisms and disposition mirror those of a refined culture.  I was told by the staff that Lucy never leaves her room unless her hair is in a perfect French twist and her clothes are properly coordinated with her shoes and purse.  She maintains her dignity through these small remembrances of a lifetime in fashion.  She maintains her humanity in her kindness and a disposition that endears many of her visitors to stay and spend another moment with the beauty she so bountifully possesses.  Today,  more than four years since we met,  I rarely pass her drawing without remembering my initial emotions while visiting with her and the kindness she extended to me.