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Biographies A - G
Biographies H - L
McCord, George Herbert
American, 1848-1909
Known for atmospheric marine and landscape paintings in oil, pastel, and
watercolor and for black and white drawings, George McCord was born in
New York City and remained primarily a resident in Brooklyn although he
traveled widely and from 1883 also had a studio in Morristown, New
Jersey. He was part of the second generation of Hudson River School
painters.
He studied at the Hudson River Institute, the Claverack Academy in
Claverack, New York and with Samuel Morse and James Fairman. By 1870, he
was exhibiting at the National Academy of Design. He made frequent
sketching trips in New England, Canada, Florida, and the Upper
Mississippi and participated in one of the exclusive excursions
sponsored by the Santa Fe Railroad to paint the Grand Canyon. He was
also part of a special Erie Canal painting trip, and was commissioned by
Andrew Carnegie to paint the scenery around his castle in Cluny,
Scotland. He lived for three years in Venice and later in Paris.
In 1880, he was elected an Associate of the National Academy and had
many exhibitions throughout the country. Source: Michael David Zellman,
"300 Years of American Art"
McGlynn, Thomas Arnold
American, 1878 - 1966
Born in San Francisco, CA on March 29, 1878. As a youth McGlynn was
active with the Columbia Park Boys Club (a precursor of Boy Scouts) for
which he contributed artwork and served as editor for their first
magazine. At about 13 an accident crushed his back making him dependent
on crutches and canes for the rest of his life; however, he never
allowed them to interfere with his art career. In 1899 he entered the
local School of Design and studied there for many years on scholarships.
At that school Arthur Mathews became his mentor and later appointed him
chief designer for Mathews' Furniture Shop from 1906-18. He taught for
27 years in the San Francisco school system and for a short time at UC
Berkeley before building a home and studio in Pebble Beach in 1938. He
died there on June 21, 1966.
McGlynn painted luminist landscapes of the Pacific coast from Canada to
Mexico. Member: Carmel AA (pres., 1951-52); SFAA; Bay Region AA; SWA;
AAPL; AFA; Society for Sanity in Art; Santa Cruz Art League. Exh: LA
Liberty Fair, 1918 (award); Calif. State Fair, 1924, 1939-40; SFAA
annuals; Santa Cruz Art League, 1929-57 (awards); Monterey Co. Fair,
1931-40; Carmel AA, 1934, 1949 (solo), 1962 (solo), 1966 (solo); Oakland
Art Gallery, 1936-49; Society for Sanity in Art, 1938-46; GGIE, 1939-40;
Santa Cruz Co. Fair, 1940, 1955 (1st prizes); AAPL, 1941-46; Art in
Nat'l Defense, 1943 (award); CPLH, 1945; SWA, 1948-60; Carmel Museum,
1969; Triton Museum (Santa Clara), 1970 (solo); Monterey Peninsula
Museum, 1979 (solo); San Mateo Co. Hist. Society, 1982; Ventura Co. Hist.
Museum, 1984, 1985. In: Monterey Peninsula Museum; Monterey Community
Hospital; Oakland Museum.
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Melrose, Andrew W.
American,
1836-1901
Born in Selkirk, Scotland, Melrose immigrated to the U.S. as a young man
and settled in New Jersey. He is known for his landscapes of his own
region, the Hudson Valley, and New York Harbor, as well as from his many
travels to varied places, including the Berkshire Hills, the North
Carolina mountains, the Shenandoah Valley, Cornwall (England), Lake
Killarney (Ireland), and the Tyrolese Alps. He may also have painted in
the West. His "New York Harbor and the Battery" (While House Coll.) was
widely distributed as a chromolithograph in 1887. Museums holding his
works include Museum of Art at Brigham Young University, The New York
Historical Society, The Georgia Museum of Art and The White House.
Newell, Hugh
American, 1830-1915
Hugh Newell was born near Belfast, Ireland on October 4th, 1830. He
began studying art at the age of nineteen in London at the Royal College
of Art. Later he would receive instruction at the Academy of Antwerp and
in Paris.
Newell came to the United States in
his early twenties and soon settled in Baltimore. As a portrait painter,
he achieved a degree of success in a relatively short period of time. He
remained in Baltimore until sometime around 1863 at which point he
traveled for several years before ending up in Pittsburgh around 1870.
For the next nine years he would hold the position of Principal of the
Women's School of Design. He then returned to Baltimore where he held
posts at the Maryland Institute of Art and Design as well as Johns
Hopkins University.
Hugh Newell throughout this time
continued to exhibit at the Carnegie Internationale and there is some
evidence he returned to Pittsburgh for three years prior to his death in
1915.
Newell's exhibition record also
included the Maryland Historical Society, Washington Art Association,
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Annual and the National Academy of
Design. Two of his paintings are in the Peabody Institute of Baltimore
and are represented in the
Westmoreland Museum of American Art.
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Peters, Carl William
American, 1897-1980
From Rochester, New York, Carl Peters became an American Scene painter
and regionalist. During his growing years where he was raised on a farm
near Woodstock, he was exposed to a variety of artistic movements
including the Hudson River School painters, tonalist tradition, Ashcan
School, American impressionism, and early modernism.
At the age of sixteen, he declared himself an artist and reportedly
painted every day for the rest of his life. After attending art school
in Rochester, he enrolled in the Art Students League in New York City
and spent several summers in Woodstock, New York, studying with Charles
Rosen and John F. Carlson, the latter being his most influential
teacher.
His forte was snow scenes, which he frequently painted in the Genesee
Valley on his family farm near Fairport. He also spent many summers near
Cape Ann, Massachusetts. He exhibited widely and won three Hallgarten
Prizes from the National Academy of Design, 1926, 1928, and 1932. He was
a camouflage artist in the army during World War I, and he also did WPA
murals for the Federal Arts Project during the Depression years. In
spite of the pervasive modernist movement, he remained true to a
realistic style of landscape painting.
His work is in numerous museums including the National Museum of
American Art, the Memorial Art Gallery and Strong Museum of Rochester,
New York; the Fairport Museum of Fairport, New York; and the Rockport
Art Association in Massachusetts.
Source:
"American Art Review", June 1999
Picknell, George W.
American, 1864-1943
George W. Picknell, born in 1864 in
North Springfield, Vermont, was a well-known rural landscape painter.
After working in Boston as a young engraver, Picknell left to study art
at the Paris Julian Academy in 1887. During his long tenure in France,
Picknell founded the American Artists Association of Paris and regularly
exhibited his works of the French countryside at the Salon des Artistes
Français. In 1911, Picknell moved back to the United States, settling in
Silvermine, Connecticut, where he would finish out his life. While in
Silvermine, he founded the Silvermine Artist Guild and the Fine Arts
Theatre in Westport, Connecticut. He was a regular participant in major
exhibitions in the United States and France where he exhibited paintings
at the Pennsylvania Academe of Fine Arts, the Art Institute of Chicago,
The Society of Independent Artists, and had a one- man exhibition at the
Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis (Now the Indianapolis Museum of
Art); his French venues included (in addition to the Salon des Artistes
Français) exhibitions in Toulouse and Nice. He was a member of the
Salmagundi Club, the American Federation of Arts, and the Springfield,
Illiinois Art Association. Picknell will always be remembered for his
stunningly alluring paintings of rural landscapes of both Connecticut
and France
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Poole,
Eugene A.
American, 1840-1912
After
studying in Philadelphia and Paris, E.A. Poole was first recognized for
his sculptures of some of the more famous Civil War officers. By 1887,
Poole was in Pittsburgh concentrating his efforts on painting fall
landscapes. It is assumed that Poole along with many other area artists,
traveled to Scalp Level on sketching trips. Like so many other artists
of his era and surrounds, the French Barbizon painters would be among
his primary influences. Poole exhibited at some of the finest venues of
the day including the Louvre, National Academy of Design and the
Corcoran Galleries.
Purdy, Donald Roy
American, 1924-
A still life, figure, landscape and marine painter in Impressionist/Barbizon
style, Donald Purdy earned at B.A. Degree at the University of
Connecticut and an M.A. degree from Boston University. Memberships
include the American Federation of Arts and the Silvermine Guild of
Artists, and exhibition venues are the Audubon Artists, Allied Artists
of America and Hudson Valley Exhibitions. Mr. Purdy's paintings are
included in the permanent collects of the Cincinnati, Columbus and
Bridgeport Museums, the Butler Institute and the Walter P. Chrysler
Museum. Two Purdy paintings were included in the US State Department's
"Art in America" show which toured Europe.
Several "First Awards" have been given to Mr. Purdy in competition with
maor artists. Two of the awards, including the Gold Metal of Honor" were
from the National Academy in New York City. The noted Van
Diemen-Lilienfeld Gallery shows his work along with canvases of Vlaminch,
Derain, Pissaro, Monet, Chagall and Picasso. His one-man shows have been
seen in New York at the Ruth Butler Galleries, and in Massachusetts and
Connecticut. He also showed in Paris at the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery.
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Schafer, Simon P
American, act. 19th - early 20th
centuries
Shafer was active in the last part of the 19th century and was married
to Ella M. Shafer, a fruit and floral painter. Simon was noted as a
Trump still life painter who resided in Detroit, Michigan and later
Earlville, Ohio. He exhibited in numerous galleries with his wife during
the last quarter of the 19th century. His listings included Davenport's
Art Reference Guide, Who Was Who, Artists of Early Michigan by Gibson
and various on-line resources.
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Selby, Joe
American, 1893-1960
An African-American self-taught painter of ships and yachts that docked
at the Miami city pier between 1921-1959. In 1905, as a 12-year-old deck
hand, he lost a leg in an accident aboard ship. During the 1930s, he
crewed again aboard a steamer out of Mobile, AL. But he was primarily a
marine artist who, by 1921, concentrated on painting yacht portraits in
Miami. Born in Mobile Alabama in 1893, his later addresses included
Overton and Miami, Florida. His works are in private collections along
with the Systic Seaport Museum. References include Davenports Art
Reference Guide, Maine Antique Digest (n.d., c. 1990) and various online
soureces including askart, artnet, and artprice.
Swedlun, Fred - see Fredericks,
Ernest
Steele, Thomas Sedgewick
American, 1845-1903
Thomas Sedgwick Steele was born at Hartford, CT June 11 1845, and died
at Swampscott, MA September 9, 1903. He attended Hartford High School,
and after high school was in the jewelry business with his father as a
partner. In his youth, he began drawing and painting.
In 1880 and 1882, he published two books on the woods of northern Maine,
entitled "Canoe and Camera" and "Paddle and Portage." These books are
lavishly illustrated with engravings and wood cuts (some depicting
Steele's paintings, others from the photos taken on the trips
described). His books were accompanied by an important early map of that
region, which was published in at least three different editions, being
one of the first maps ever created specifically for canoeists.
In 1887, he gave up jewelry for art full time. In 1890 Steele joined the
Boston Art Club. His painting "Net Results" was much noted at the time.
Steele studied art in Paris with Marcius Simonds. Steele traveled to
other parts of Europe and North Africa. His exploits in Norway are
recounted in the book "A Voyage to Vikingland" (1896) again accompanied
by a map and lavish illustrations.
Steele was a member of the National Academy of Design, Salmagundi Club
of New York, and numerous genealogical societies. His style was very
realistic and his subjects were mostly recently hooked fish and still
life scenes. While he dabbled with impressionism and luminism, he
believed that these schools of art would not have significant staying
power.
Steele was twice married, first to Annie Eliza Smith and second to Sarah
Cole Goff, daughter of Rhode Island industrialist Lyman Goff. He
apparently had no descendants.
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Sutton, Rachel
McClelland
American (1887 - 1982)
Rachel Sutton was born in the Shadyside area of Pittsburgh. Her father
was Dr. James H. McClelland, a founder of the Shadyside Hospital. Her
mother came from the Bakewell-Pears glass family. Their family home,
called Sunnyledge, was designed by H. H. Richardson, architect of the
Courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh, and is listed by the Pittsburgh
History and Landmarks Foundation.
Except for a period of time during her marriage to William S. Sutton, a
certified public accountant who died in 1954, Sutton always lived in
Sunnyledge. She traveled abroad 16 times, the first when she was only
two years old. The artist also traveled widely in the United States and
Canada. She never painted when traveling, but stored away impressions
which later found expression in her paintings.
Sutton was educated by a German governess until the age of eight. She
was then enrolled at Miss Ward's School (at the site of the Church of
the Ascension). There she began her art lessons with Miss Stoney. She
furthered her education at the preparatory division of the Pennsylvania
College for Women (now Chatham College), the Masters School at Dobbs
Ferry, and graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology with a
degree in Fine Arts in 1916. She also attended the Art Student's Leagues
in Pittsburgh and New York.
Suttons training resulted in portraits, western Pennsylvania landscapes
and views of Pittsburgh from the 1920s through 1940s. The artist also
painted many subjects she found in and around her family home. She
worked mainly in oil on canvas and in an impressionistic technique and
interest in color.
She joined the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh in 1919, often exhibited
with them and was awarded several prizes throughout the 61 years of her
membership.
In 1945, when Sutton's interest shifted to modern-style watercolor, she
joined the Watercolor Society. She was made an honorary member of that
society in 1974.
The artist suspended painting in her eighty-second year, due to failing
eyesight, but her work was shown later in at least eight local
exhibitions. She once concluded an interview by saying, "It's so nice to
have lived long enough to have been discovered".
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Van Sweringen,
Ron
American, 1936-
An heir to the C&O Railroad fortune, Ron Van Sweringen grew up in
Hampton Virginia and began painting when he was nine. During his adult
life he lived in Old Town Alexandria, VA and later retired to Florida.
In 1982, Nancy Reagan discovered his work in a Georgetown gallery and
purchased two impressionist paintings for their private residence at the
White House. In addition to having been hung at The White House, in both
Reagan and Bush administrations, Van Sweringen's realist and
representational-styled works have been included in exhibitions at the
Corcoran Museum of Art and in various private local, national and
international collections.
Wall, Alfred Bryan
American, 1861-1935
As a second generation "Scalp Level School" artist, Mr. Wall frequented
that artist's retreat outside of Pittsburgh with his father and uncle,
Pittsburgh artists Alfred S. Wall and William Coventry Wall. This
experience and the tutoring by his father was his only art training. His
work includes portraits of Andrew Carnegie and Mrs. Henry Clay Frick
along with his pastoral landscapes which featured sheep and occasionally
cows. His brushwork was often loose but confident and exhibited a
freedom of spirit. His work is often described as being casual and calm
but without sentimentality. His first exhibition was in 1879 at the
National Academy of Design and he was a trustee of the Carnegie
Institute where he served on the Fine Arts Committee to help select the
permanent collect.
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Wall, Alfred S.
American, 1825-1896
The father of A. Bryan Wall and brother of William C. Wall, Alfred was a
large influence on many artists and collectors. In addition to his
painting, he became a well respected consultant to the emerging
collectors in Pittsburgh. He was one of the initial trustees to the
Carnegie Institute. As the case with the other Scalp Level artists,
Alfred S. Wall concentrated his efforts on landscapes but painted
portraits to help support himself.
Wall, Bessie
American, 1872 - 1937
Bessie Wall was born Sarah Elizabeth Wall on October 13, 1872 in Woods
Run, Allegheny County Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Alfred S.
Wall, the Pittsburgh painter, and was one of five children along with
Sarah Virginia, Robert Carr, Alfred Bryan (Bessie painted similar
subjects as her brother Alfred), and Helen Myers. In 1858, Robert and
Helen got diphtheria and Robert survived but lost his hearing. She was
the niece of William Coventry Wall.
Bessie, along with her brother Alfred Bryan, was taught painting by
their father and accompanied him and her uncle to Scalp Level, PA, a
popular destination for Pittsburgh painters of the late 19th century and
early 20th century. Ahead of her time, her works are expressionist in
nature and are characterized by fast brush strokes with a freedom of
hand. She is best known for her landscapes which sometimes included
domestic animals and usually worked with oils.
As the sole surviving daughter, Bessie was responsible for the care of
her parents while her bother Alfred Bryan moved to Philadelphia to set
up a studio. On March 4, 1933 she finally married her childhood
sweetheart, William Jamison, after the death of his first wife. It is
said in the family that William Jamison had very good taste in jewelry.
Bessie died on November 1, 1937.
Biography developed with the help of Barbara Wall, great-grand niece of
the artist.
Waugh, Samuel Bell
American, 1814-1885
Waugh was born in the small western Pennsylvania town of New Wilmington,
the home of Wolf's Fine Art. He was an accomplished portrait and
landscape painter He studied under J.R. Smith in Philadelphia; and also
spent time in France, England, and Italy perfecting his talent. Waugh is
best known for his portraits of Lincoln and Grant, and is highly
regarded for his panoramas of Italy. Other artists in his family
included his wife, Mary Eliza Young Waugh, their
son, Frederick Judd Waugh, their
daughter Ida Waugh, and a nephew, Henry W. Waugh.
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Wells, George
British, 1842-1888
A member of the Royal College of Art, Wells painted genre, landscapes,
flowers, still life, and portraits.
White, Robert
American, 1921
After several years of study under
Jacques Maroger, Technical Director of the
restoration laboratories at the Louvre in Paris, and author of "The
Secret Formulas
and Techniques of the Masters", Robert White acquired the formula for
reconstructing
the oil medium used by the Dutch and Italian masters of the sixteenth
and
seventeenth centuries.
Robert White has achieved recognition as a Trompe l' oeil and
representational still
life expert - a field in which very few artists can succeed, because of
its
technical and artistic demands. His paintings have been exhibited at the
Corcoran
Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C., The Peale Museum and the Baltimore
Museum of
Art in Maryland, the well known Grand Central Art Galleries and the
Wickersham
Gallery in New York City. His paintings hand in many private
collections, including
those of Mr. Charles White, Chairman of the Board of Republic Steel
Corporation, Mr.
Charles Bartlett, the well known Washington columnist, and in the
collection of
International Telephone and Telegraph to name a few.
Wilcox, Ruth
American, 1908 - ?
Mrs. Wilcox was born in New York City and was married to Ray Wilcox. She
was primarily a painter and a commercial artist but was also known as a
craftsperson. She was a member of the AAPL and NAWA and studied at ASL,
NY School of Fine & Applied Art, PAFA and Academie Julian in Paris. Mrs.
Wilcox was also known as Ruth Wilcox Dawes. The following is an
exhibition history: NAD, 1931-33; PAFA Ann., 1932; NAWA, 1933, 1935-46;
Carnegie Inst.; CAFA, 1934; Montclair Art Museum, 1933-46; Rochester,
Poughkeepsie, both in NY; Jersey City, Newark, Hackensack, Trenton, all
in NJ; Salons of Am. Awards: prizes, NAWA, 1932, 1934; NAD, 1934;
Ridgewood (NJ) AA, 1935, 1947, 1948; Wichita Art Museum, 1937;
Fitzwilliam, NH, 1938-41; medal, Montclair Art Museum, 1936, 1939.
Her works are part of the following collections: Maugham School,
Tenafly, NJ; Grammar School, Leonia, NJ.; Palisades Interstate Park
Commission; murals, Provident Institution for Savings, Jersey City;
Colonial Life Ins. Co., East Orange, NJ.; Knickerbocker Country Club,
Tenafly, NJ.
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Wooster, Austin C.
American, 1864-1913
Austin C. Wooster, son of Dr. Henry Wooster and Rebecca Thornburg, was a
southwestern Pennsylvania painter of portraits, landscapes, and still
lifes from 1860 to 1916. His great-grandfather, Thomas Thornburg, was a
member of the Pennsylvania Militia during the Revolutionary War. He was
born on the Thornburg farm in Chartiers Valley, Allegheny County,
Pennsylvania. This is now part of a town called Thornburg. Austin's
grandparents, Jacob and Jane Lorain Thornburg, who raised him after the
early death of his parents, discouraged his art, looking on it as an
insane fancy or crime, rather than as a gift. Wooster lived in Green
Tree (then called Union Township), Allegheny County, Pennsylvania where
he earned his living as an artist and did occasional work at house
painting. Wooster had a studio in Pittsburgh at Fourth Avenue and Wood
Street. He exhibited his work in various ways, including the 1890
Western Pennsylvania Exposition Society, and Pittsburgh department
stores, where he sold his work. Wooster also did work for hire; painting
houses, farms, and vineyards in neighboring communities. According to
two of Wooster's neighbors he did portraits, and he gave lessons in
watercolor to at least one young girl, also a neighbor
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