Signature Verification on Oil Painting

Picked this up a little bit ago. I think its an oil on board. Possibly C. Houston is the artist. This was displayed at Emma Willard School which was a girls boarding school. Also it looks like it may have been in a library? Going to pull the back tomorrow. Can anyone verify the name on the back?

 

RCHS - Rensselaer County Historical Society? High School?

 

It does look like C. Houston - especially since the surname also appears on that RCHS sticker. What else is written back there?

 

Duh I didn't even put that together.

 

The line under the name looks like ______ Road, I assume the location of the scene.

 

Ah, I posted before I saw the whole text from the back. Looks like...

Margery C. Houston
[number] Western or Westown or Weston? Road
Troy, N.Y.

 

It's also a pastel?

 

and the title is Beach Foliage. Obviously executed elsewhere because the "beach" on the Hudson River doesn't look anything like that.

 

I also think it says "Pastel." I'm not sure, but think it might be oil pastel (like Cray-Pas), since the colors look so solid and opaque in the images.

 

http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/57776034/

I think I can see brush strokes. The glass is not up against the painting which makes it hard to see.

 

Hmm, using Google Maps, I don't see a road name in Troy that starts with "West" and obviously borders on water?

 

I don't like to trust my opinion on a piece of art's "medium" unless it's right in front of me, but why would she write "pastel" on the back if it was done in traditional oil paints?

I agree with Pat on the "look."

 

Oil pastels are sometimes used with a brush, so that could explain seeing brush strokes.

 

I don't think it was done anywhere near Troy. I lived in Albany for 5 years. Wouldn't surprise me if it was done on Cape Cod or another NE beach location.

 

You're probably right, Bakers. It does look like an ocean scene, not a river one. The address is probably where she lived, especially since it's under her name and not the foliage. I didn't think of that initially.

 

Margery C Houston, born 1889 in France, living with husband Livingston W Houston (Treasurer of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) and children in 1940 on Maple Avenue. I tried find later addresses but they seem to stop in the late 40's.

 

Ok ripped it apart...it is a pastel...seriously over-nailed!

 

I am not able to share it here, but I found a newspaper article that says that she was killed in an automobile accident in 1959, when she was 70 years old.

 

That's sad.

I hate hearing of deaths from accidents.

 

Me too, & back in 59 they were usually horrific as the cars were huge and lacked any protection.