Biographies H - L
Biographies M - Z

Albert, Ernest
(1857-1946)
A distinguished theatrical and scenic designer, Ernest Albert worked in New York, St. Louis and Chicago. Born in Brooklyn in 1857, he showed early talent and received the Graham Art Medal at age 15, while he was studying at the Brooklyn Art Institute. Though Albert had some early success as a newspaper artist, his introduction to the theater world in 1877, began a career in stage design, he worked on productions staring most of the best-known performers of the day. During this time, in 1879, he employed and befriended young Jules Guerin, who went on to become the Lincoln Memorial muralist.

From New York City, Albert went to St. Louis in 1880 and five years later to Chicago. In 1892, he became involved with the World's Colombian Exposition in Chicago. He was responsible for the color schemes and ornamental design of the many interiors of buildings in that renowned and successful fair. While in Chicago, he helped found the American Society of Scenic Painters. In 1894, Albert returned to New York City, where his work in scenic design was centered from then on.

All along, he had painted whenever he could snatch the time. At the pinnacle of his career in 1905, he began to withdraw gradually from his theater work. His family was settled in the striking new house he had built in New Rochelle, New York and his financial independence was established. From then on, he devoted most of his considerable talent and energy to his landscapes.

Albert's landscapes, painted mostly in Old Lyme, Connecticut and later on Monhegan Island, Maine {as well as a few on the West Coast}, are simple in composition but subtle in effect. His impressionistic rendering of color and light imbue his quiet country scenes with all the magic of the moment. The gentle strength of these pictures and of his still lifes ensured their popularity and earned him a place as one of America's respected artists.

Albert was active in several organizations and was a founder and first president of the Allied Artists of America.
 

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Armfield, George Smith
British, 1840-1875
George Armfield Smith, as he was known until the year 1840, was born in Wales. His father was a painter, who for some time had a studio at 54, Pall Mall, London. His father apprenticed him to a maker of fishing tackle - it may be that George's early promise was overshadowed by that of a brother, William, who was given a regular art education, and was sent to Rome to prosecute his studies. George did not serve his full term of apprenticeship. Before he was sixteen years old he devoted himself to painting, and, as his works found ready sale, his career as an artist was assured. He first exhibited in the year 1839, at the British Institution, when he showed two pictures, the "Study of a Dog's Head" and "Terrier chasing a Rabbit." These works must have attracted notice, for in the SPORTING MAGAZINE of the following year, 1840, we find the first of a long series of his pictures which were engraved for that publication on.

In 1840 he exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy, showing two pictures, "Fox and Wild Rabbits" and "Terrier and Rabbit," and, as the lists show, he continued to exhibit with regularity at both the Academy and the British Institution for the ensuing twenty years. He also sent pictures frequently to the Suffolk Street exhibitions. The British Institution catalogue gives his address in 1839 as 15, Lamb's Conduit Passage; but if he resided there at this time, he could not have remained long, as he spent practically all his life at Camberwell, Clapham, and Brixton.

His best period extended from 1840 to about 1869, and during these years his output was large. About 1870 his sight began to fail, and in 1872 he submitted to an operation on one of his eyes at Guy's Hospital, when Dr. Bader removed the lens. The operation was only partially successful, and his powers rapidly declined, he became the victim of fits of acute depression, in one of which he attempted to take his own life. He recovered from the self-inflicted wound, and continued to paint, but latterly was able to work only with the aid of a powerful glass and on small canvases.

So greatly had his powers of earning decreased, that in 1893 a pension of 20 pounds per annum was granted him by the Royal Academy; he died, however, before drawing the first installment of it. George Armfield was married three times. He was very young when he took his first wife; by her he had no children; by his second wife he had one daughter, and by the third, twelve children, one of whom, George, followed in his father's footsteps as a painter of animals, more especially dogs. The painter died at Clapham in August, 1893, and was buried at Norwood.

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Barbarroux, Edmond Paul Auguste  
French, 1882-1948
Inscribed miniature costal oil on board.  The artist produced similar works for the tourist trade in France.

Bentley, John William
American, 1880-1951
John William Bentley was born in Paterson, New Jersey in 1880.  He became a student at the Art Students League with George Bridgman, Frank DuMond, and Robert Henri, John Bentley became a landscape painter. He was an early member of the Woodstock Art Colony, and exhibited at the Buffalo Society of Artists (prize), the Sacramento State Fair (prize) and the Ridgewood Artist Association (prize). He was also a WPA artist, and his work is in several buildings in New York City and the Dutch Reformed Church of Woodstock.  He died in Kingston, NY in 1951. Source: Peter Falk, "Who Was Who in American Art"

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Brunel de Neuville, Alfred Arthur
French, 1851-1941
Neuville painted primarily animals, still lifes, fruits, and occasionally flowers.  In his still lifes of fruits, the velvety richness of their smooth and silky texture is set in opposition to the rougher material of wicker baskets.  Brunel de Neuville was in addition rather well-known for his ability to render the texture and shine of copper pots.

Bryant,  Everett Lloyd
American, 1864-1945
A painter and muralist, Everett Bryant was known for his floral still lifes and
landscapes in watercolor and oil. He was raised in Galion, Ohio, and showed early
art talent but had no formal study until he was age 28.

He studied in London with Herbert Herkomer and Monat Loudan, and later in Paris with
M. Blanc and Thomas Couture. After three years in Europe, he shared business
pursuits with his brother that included a trip to Alaska.

Returning to art, he attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts under Thomas
Anshutz, William Merritt Chase, and Cecilia Beaux. He married Maude Drein, a fellow
student in 1904, and they traveled in Europe. They also spent much time in Southern
Maryland, Maine and New Hampshire. In 1909, he moved to Baltimore and in 1930 to
Los Angeles where he was active until his death on September 7, 1945. From
California, he took numerous sketching trips into Arizona and Nevada.
 

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Cameron, Simon
American, 1799 - 1889
A consummate machine boss who "never forgot a friend or forgave an enemy," Simon Cameron spent many years behind the scenes in Pennsylvania politics. Thanks to his early, effective support for Andrew Jackson, Cameron was put in charge of patronage for the state in the 1830s. He served as a printer, Indian claims adjuster, railroad builder, and banker before running for the Senate in 1845, replacing James Buchanan, who had joined James K. Polk's cabinet. By 1856, Cameron had joined the Republicans. In exchange for his support of Lincoln at the Republican Convention of 1860, Cameron was named secretary of war. Rampant corruption forced his resignation early in 1862, and Lincoln named him ambassador to Russia. Brady photographed Cameron in Washington around 1858, when he became the first Republican senator from Pennsylvania.
 

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Clays, P. J.
Belgian, 1817-1900
As a marine painter and a prolific artist, he was best known for his paintings of the Scheldt. 
He concentrated on the areas around the Lower Scheldt and the river Thames, infusing both with references from 17th Century Dutch naval painting. His early work was influenced by Realism before he fully developed into his own style of painting. His painting is in Previous Inventory.

Coffin, William Anderson
American, 1855-1925
Landscape and figure painter William Anderson Coffin was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania in 1855. After study at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, he left for Paris in 1877 to continue his art education. Coffin studied in the atelier of academic artist Leon Bonnat, possibly for up to five years, where he painted the figure and continued drawing and painting from casts of classical sculpture that had first captured his interest at Yale. Coffin exhibited in the Paris Salons of 1879, 1880 and 1882. The painting shown in 1879 represented the students at work in Bonnat's figure painting class. His landscapes were influenced by the Barbizon School of French artists.

In 1883, Coffin came to live and work in New York City, participating in many exhibitions, including the National Academy of Design in 1889. He was a fixture in the art world of his day, a well-known art critic who wrote articles for "Scribner's" and "Harper's Weekly", among other publications. Coffin held the position of art critic for the" New York Evening Post" from 1886-1891, and was art editor at the "New York Sun" from 1896-1901.

Coffin was an important figure in both the Pan-American Exposition in 1901, and Panama- Pacific Exposition in 1915. He directed the Fine Arts Division in the former, and helped organize the latter. He was also involved in other artists' groups, holding office in several, including the Municipal Art Society and the American Fine Arts Society.

His other memberships include the Lotos Club, Architectural League of New York and the National Academy of Design. He received the Webb Prize from the Society of American Artists in 1891. Coffin's work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City and the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D. C.

William Anderson Coffin died in New York City in 1925.

Source:
Michael David Zellman, "300 Years of American Art"
 

Corbiere, Roger
French, 1893-?
Corbiere is known for his landscape and coastal scenes.

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Crawford, Earl
American,  1891 - 1960
Earl Crawford was a landscape painter from Pittsburgh where he maintained a studio at 7346 Whipple Street and in Detroit where he lived on the East Side. Born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania on June 5, 1891, Crawford studied at the Carnegie Institute, the University of Pittsburgh and with Christian J. Walker. He was a member of the Golden Triangle Association and the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh exhibiting at both origination's annual exhibitions in the 1930s and 1940s. At the 32nd exhibition of the Associated Artists in 1942 he received an honorable mention, and at the 34th annual in 1944, Crawford was awarded the Ida Smith Memorial Prize for best landscape in oil In a review of the show by the origination's vice president, Clarence H. Carter, Crawford was praised for his Slaymaker Farm, "in which the reds of the earth and the blues of the sky are intensified and balanced in such a way that they make for one of the most feeling and tasteful canvases to come from his hand".

In 1946, Crawford received the honor of being invited to participate in the Carnegie Institute's 13th annual Exhibition of Paintings by Pittsburgh Artists. Popularly known as the Summer Show, the exhibition was devoted exclusively to works in oils by artists who lived and worked in Pittsburgh. Crawford also exhibited at the Butler Art Institute, Youngstown, Ohio in 1944 and 1945; the Indiana State Teachers College, Indiana, Pennsylvania, in 1945 (prize) and in 1946; and at Parkersburgh, West Virginia, in 1945 and 1946. His works are included at the Steidle Gallery at Penn State University.
 

Fox, Henry Charles
(British 1855 1929)
This London based artist is best known as a watercolorist and etcher who exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1880 and continued thereafter for the remainder of his life. His idyllic scenes of country life gained immense popularity and the influence of W.H. Hunt and J.F. Lewis can be seen in his paintings as shown by the stippling manner of his style. He did not view the harsh facts of rural existence with the realism which Van Gogh so much admired in such contemporize "graphic" artists as Holl and Fildes. Rather, his softer vision belongs to the well-established pastoral tradition practiced earlier in the century by such artists as Palmer, Linnell and Calvery, and has an undeniable nostalgic charm.

Fredericks, Ernest
American, 1877 - ?
Born in McPherson, Kansas of Swedish parents in 1877, Ernest Fredericks later moved to Chicago to study art, heavily influenced by Swedish artist and fellow Kansan Birger Sandzen of Lindsborg. Earlier works were signed Ernest Fredericks, a pseudonym. He made his way to Eureka Springs, Arkansas in later life to paint and teach under his real name of Fred Swedlun. Fred and his son Glenn Swedlun taught art classes in the Ozarks. Many of the regional landscape paintings from Ernest are of this area and are signed Fred Swedlun. He died in the 1950s.

Fulton, Samuel
Scottish, 1855-1941
Born in Glasgow, Fulton painted animals, chiefly dogs. His work is characterized by broad, flat brushstrokes, with some of his work having a very sketchy quality. His painting, "Fox Hounds" is in the Glasgow Art Gallery.  His name can be found in the Preferred Artist List for Scotland,

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Gechtoff, Leonid
American, 1883 - 1941
An American artist who lived much of the time in Cairo, Egypt, Gechtoff painted in the American southwest and also had a close affiliation with the state of Pennsylvania.  His technique involved very heavy impasto, and his subjects were landscapes including desert scenes, Middle Eastern subjects, mosques, nude figures, and marine.

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Gorson, Aaron Harry
American, 1872-1933
Kovno was a city with a thriving textile industry, and at age thirteen Gorson was apprenticed to a tailor. In 1888 he emigrated to the United States to join an older brother in Philadelphia. He soon found employment and worked as a machine operator in a clothing factory during the day, while at night he attended classes at the Spring Garden Institute to pursue his dream of becoming a painter.

Gorson married in 1894 and enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, studying under Thomas Anshutz and being trained in the school of realism established by Anshutz's teacher Thomas Eakins. While attending school between 1894-1896 and 1897-98, he continued to work and obtained portrait commissions. One of his major patrons at this time was the Rabbi Leonard Levy, who arranged for Gorson to study in Paris for a year in 1899. In 1900, Gorson enrolled at the Academie Julian where he received instruction from visiting lecturers from the Ecole de Beaux-Arts, such as J. J. Benjamin constant and Jean-Paul Laurens. Gorson also attended evening classes at the Academie Colarossi, a school that was located near the studio of the one painter who probably influenced him the most, James Abbott McNeill Whistler. He was a member of the American Art Association of Paris and the Union International des Beaux Arts et des Lettres, Paris. Later, in the mid-1910's, Gorson was honored in Paris for his industrial landscapes.

Returning to Philadelphia, Gorson worked to receive portrait commissions. He was accepted at the 1902 exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and had his portrait of a violinist hung in the Room of Honor. The same year he exhibited a life-size painting of a young girl at the Art Institute of Chicago, and also received an award from the American Art Society. Gorson left Philadelphia in 1903 and moved to Pittsburgh. He began to paint the steel mills of Pittsburgh and other industrial towns, a career that lasted almost 20 years.

Gorson exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, the Indianapolis Museum of Fine Arts, the City Art Museum of St. Louis, and at Rochester's University Art Gallery. He showed in fourteen exhibitions at the National Academy of design between 1912 and 1933, at the Pan-American Exhibition in Los Angeles in 1915, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, and also had his work shown in galleries in Boston, Detroit, and New York.

In 1921, Gorson moved to New York City and began painting scenes of the city and views of the Hudson River, and continued to produce paintings of the steel mills of Pittsburgh. He was a founding member of the Grand Central Art Galleries, and belonged to the American Federation of Arts, the Brooklyn Society of Artists, the Art Alliance of America, and the Salmagundi Club. His works were handled by the John Levy Galleries, Cronyn & Lowndes Galleries, and Knoedler &Y Co., in New York, and by the J. J. Gillespie Galleries and Wunderly's Gallery in Pittsburgh. He died in New York at the age of sixty-one on October 11, 1933.

Gorson's paintings are in numerous private and public collections, including the Carnegie Museum of Art; the Andrew W. Mellon Collection; the Charles M. Schwab Collection; the Westmoreland County Museum of Art; New York University; Mellon Bank Corporation, Pittsburgh; PPG Industries, Inc.; the Duquesne club, Huntington, New York; and the Pittsburgh Art Collection, owned by the Pittsburgh School Board, and was included int eh exhibition of the collection at the Carnegie Institute in November 1942.

In 1967 a retrospective exhibition of Gorson's paintings was held at the Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute and at the Spanierman Gallery in New York the following year. He was included in the "Art in Nineteenth Century Pittsburgh" at the University of Pittsburgh Art Gallery in 1977. In 1989, the Spanierman Gallery and the University held an exhibition of thirty-six paintings in "The Power and the Glory: Pittsburgh Industrial Landscapes by Aaron Harry Gorson (1872-1933)."
Ref: Falk, Who Was Who In American Art; westbeth.org
 

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