Known as the "Dean Of Northwest Women Painters", Myra Albert Wiggins was one of the earliest professional artists in the Northwest to achieve an international reputation.
Born in Salem, Oregon, she began her study of art at the age of sixteen. Sharing an interest in photography with her brother, they jointly purchased a camera and equipment. She continued to develop her expression in this medium even after her brother's interest quickly waned.

In 1891 she went to New York to study at the Art Students League with such prominent American masters as William Merrit Chase, John Twachtman and Willard Metcalf.
While developing her painting abilities, Wiggins continued to exhibit her photography, winning many awards in important exhibitions in the U.S. and in Europe.

In 1900, she had the first of two one-woman exhibitions of her photography at the Chicago Art Institute and was admitted into the Photo-Secession group which was headed by Alfred Stieglitz. Wiggins exhibited three of her photographs in the Secessionists' important exhibition at the Albright Gallery in Buffalo, N.Y. in 1910. By this time, she had won over fifty major international awards for her achievements in photography.

Myra Wiggins had moved to Washington State in 1907 and settled in Toppenish where she continued to work until her permanent move to Seattle in 1932.

In 1930, Wiggins co-founded the Women Painters Of Washington, one of the city's oldest existing art organizations and became a vital force in most of the region's arts activities.

Her work is in the permanent collections of the Portland Art Museum, the Getty Museum, the National Gallery of American Art, Smithsonian Institution and many others.

Self Portrait, c. 1920, Platinum Photograph

Edge of the Cliff, c 1902, Platinum Photograph

For more information about Myra Wiggins, please read "Witch of Kodakery" by Carole Glauber, WASU Press
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