Background
Markham was born Elaine Hyman in Chicago, Illinois.
artist lithographer painter printmaker
Markham was born Elaine Hyman in Chicago, Illinois.
She studied at the Chicago Art Institute from 1907 to 1919, and subsequently worked as a muralist and printmaker.
Markham was briefly married to the architect Lloyd Wright, and five years later, married David Stoner Gaither. She worked for the Federal Arts Project, creating works of social realism that documented American life in the 1930s. During World World War II, her art was focused on the propaganda effort against the Nazis.
She appeared with the Chicago Little Theater from 1909 to the 1920s, with the Provincetown Players from 1916, and in movies in Los Los Angeles
From the 1920s until the Depression she obtained commercial commissions from clubs and restaurants. Markham returned to the Art Students League in New York in 1930, where she studied with Alexander Abels.
In 1934, Markham organized her first solo exhibition in Ogunquit, Maine, featuring prints, murals and lithographs. Markham sold work to the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Library of Congress and the Metropolitan Museum of Artist
From 1935 to 1937, she worked for the Federal Arts Project, a New Deal program designed to provide employment for artists during the Depression.
Markham created works of social realism depicting street beggars, musicians, actors and scenes from department stores. Over the next twenty years she sold her designs to a postcard company, American Arts, Incorporated., and had her prints published in prestigious publications. The Hall of Inventions at the 1939 World"s Fair in New York included 40 dioramas by Markham.
In 1946 she moved to Halifax, Vermont.
Markham moved to Portuguese-au-Prince in Haiti as a widow in 1960. Markham died in Portuguese-au-Prince, Haiti in 1967.
During World World War II she created propaganda satirizing the Nazis and promoting patriotism at home.
She was still enthusiastic for her work, and her later work reflected Markham"s new home.