Barbara Swan

1922 - 2003

Although Barbara Swan is often thought of as a Boston artist, her parents were born on Cape Ann, her childhood summers were spent in Rockport, and her ancestral roots were firmly entrenched in the history of the area. Writing in 1991, Swan noted that her roots in the community went all the way back to the beginning. “I am a direct descendant," she wrote "of Major John Rowe who led the militia from Cape Ann to the battle of Bunker Hill ... I believe my (maternal) ancestors came to Cape Ann in their own boat, no doubt feeling the need to leave England in a hurry.” Her paternal grandfather, John L. Swan (1869–1933), came to Cape Ann in the 1890s to work in the quarries. He worked for many years for the Rockport Granite Company and was foreman of a pit that came to be known as “John Swan’s quarry.”

Born in Newton, Massachusetts, Barbara Swan graduated from Wellesley College in 1943; she went on to study at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (from 1943 to 1948) and in France for two years on a fellowship from the MFA. In 1961, Swan was awarded a grant from the Radcliffe Institute of Independent Study designed to allow women artists to continue their work while managing their domestic responsibilities. Throughout this time, she taught art at Wellesley College, Milton Academy and Boston University. Swan’s talent as a draftsperson is well known and many of her finest works are portraits.

Barbara Swan, with her husband, Alan Fink, and their children, summered on Cape Ann on a regular basis throughout her life. By her own admission, she chose to “keep a low profile” in the community “because it (was) an escape from the action in Boston.”