The Trailblazer

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Royal Gorge ca. 1875 Helen Henderson Chain

We often can find only scant information recognizing some of the important women artists of history. Helen Henderson Chain (1849 - 1892) is one of those artists. Chain lived at the same time as most of the French Impressionists, along with Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, Frederick Church, the Hudson River School and Thomas Moran. She studied with George Inness in Europe and America.

In her short life, Chain scaled mountains, traveled the world and was a devoted philanthropist. She was born in Indianapolis and raised in northern California, but fell in love with the Rocky Mountains of Colorado upon her move to Denver after marrying J. A. Chain. The couple opened the Chain and Hardy Bookstore on Larimer Street. She created a studio in the bookstore, where she held classes and sold art supplies. In 1891, along with several other women artists, she founded the Le Brun Art Club, which eventually grew into the Denver Ar…