Stories from the First Cathedral 26: Grace Emmajean McKinstry

Grace Emmajean McKinstry was one of the most celebrated women artists in the 19th and 20th centuries in America. Grace was an accomplished artist who painted portraits and landscapes. She used oil on canvas in her paintings. Most of her works reside in the Rice County Historical Society in Faribault. Grace lived in a house in Faribault near the Hutchinson Bed and Breakfast west of downtown. She was trained in Chicago and New York. She has works in California and spent some time in a permanent studio in Southern California. Her paintings can be found in Paris, the Smithsonian in Washington DC, Minnesota History Center, and Minnesota State Capitol. Grace was born in Fredonia, NY and died in Minneapolis. She is buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Faribault. Most of Grace McKinstry's years were spent in Faribault even though she painted all over the United States and Europe. Grace never married.

The First Cathedral owns three paintings by Grace McKinstry. The most famous one is a portrait of the Rev Dr James Lloyd Breck found in the Cathedral Cloister. Looking at the portrait a person can appreciate her soft-like and Rembrandt-like brush strokes in the composition. The second painting by Grace is in the secretary's office of the First Cathedral, which is in the Guild House. This is a small landscape from the countryside in Rice County. It is a beautiful green impressionist scene with trees in the spring displaying new and fresh leaves. The third McKinstry painting is a portrait hanging in the Great Hall of the Guild House. This is a large portrait of a soldier and teacher from Shattuck-St Mary's school. In my next story, I will tell you his name, where the painting was discovered after being hidden for decades and how it was repaired.