Posts in Category: American
Eadweard Muybridge
Eadweard Muybridge, British-born American Photographer, April 9, 1830 – May 8, 1904
John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent, January 12, 1856–April 14, 1925, was an American painter born in Florence to expatriate American parents. He received early art training in Florence, moved to Paris in 1874, passed the entrance examinations for the École des Beaux-Arts, and studied in the atelier of Carolus-Duran.
Sargent exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1877 and established an international career in portraiture before making London his principal base. He traveled frequently in Europe and the United States, maintained friendships with figures including Henry James and Robert Louis Stevenson, and never married.
After about 1907, Sargent reduced his portrait commissions and devoted more time to watercolor, landscape, and mural projects for the Boston Public Library and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He served as an official war artist in 1918 and died in London in 1925; principal collections of his work include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Tate, the National Gallery of Art, and the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Edward Steichen
Edward Jean Steichen, Luxembourgish American photographer, March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973
Alfred Pinkham Ryder
Albert Pinkham Ryder, March 19, 1847–March 28, 1917, was an American painter born in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He studied under William Edgar Marshall and at the National Academy of Design in New York. He traveled in Europe and studied the work of the Barbizon and Hague schools.
Ryder became a founding member of the Society of American Artists in 1877 and exhibited with it through 1887. His paintings include landscapes, seascapes, and subjects drawn from literature and religion. Works by Ryder are held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Gallery of Art, and other public collections.
After 1900, Ryder produced fewer new paintings and sometimes reworked earlier pictures. His health declined in 1915, and he died in 1917 in New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art held a memorial exhibition of his work in 1918.
Dedicated to the memory of Thor Furulund, Norwegian painter, June 12, 1943 – January 16, 2016, who loved Pinkham Ryder
Thomas Eakins
Thomas Eakins, July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916, was an American painter, draftsman, photographer, and teacher. He is widely regarded as one of the most important artists in the history of American art. His work is associated with realism and is noted for its close observation of the human figure, scientific accuracy, and unsentimental depiction of contemporary life.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Eakins studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts before continuing his training in Paris under Jean-Léon Gérôme. Returning to Philadelphia in 1870, he devoted his career to painting portraits, athletes, rowers, surgeons, musicians, scientists, and family members. His major works include The Gross Clinic, The Agnew Clinic, and Max Schmitt in a Single Scull. He also became an influential teacher, though controversy over his use of nude models led to his resignation from the Pennsylvania Academy in 1886.
During his lifetime Eakins achieved only limited commercial success, but his reputation grew steadily after his death. Today he is recognized as a central figure in American realism, admired for his technical skill, psychological insight, and commitment to depicting modern life with honesty and precision. His works are held by major institutions including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the National Gallery of Art.
