page_title: Bernice Cross
section_title: Early life and education
hierarchical_section_title: Bernice Cross / Early life and education
caption_attribution_description: English: Bernice Cross, The Little Dove's Stove, 1936, oil on canvas board 18 x 10 inches, acquired 1940, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
context_page_description: Bernice Cross was an American artist and art instructor born in Iowa City, Iowa, who was based in Washington, D.C. for most of her professional career. Known for her originality, creative imagination, sense of humor, and love of fantasy, she painted with a deceptive simplicity and handled color and form with subtlety and a sure touch.
context_section_description: Cross was an only child. She was born on August 22, 1912, to Frank Wallace Cross, a lifelong Iowa resident, and Constance Mabel Bunting whose family came from England. Her full name is Bernice Francena Cross. In her late teens Cross enrolled at the Wilmington Academy in Wilmington, Delaware. A few years later she began study at the Corcoran School of Art and, in about 1933, became a student at the Phillips Gallery Art School in Washington, D.C. Begun in 1927 the Wilmington Academy was run by N. C. Wyeth. In 1933 C. Law Watkins established the Phillips School at Studio House, adjoining the gallery.
caption: Bernice Cross, The Little Dove's Stove, 1940, oil on canvas board 18 x 10 inches, acquired 1940, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "400", "Image YResolution": "400", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2010:11:24 09:34:47", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4173", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "429", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "768"}