Robert Gwathmey

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Robert Gwathmey
Photo of Robert Gwathmey.jpg
Born(1903-01-24)January 24, 1903
DiedSeptember 21, 1988(1988-09-21) (aged 85)
OccupationAmerican Social Realist painter
Spouse Rosalie Gwathmey
Children Charles Gwathmey
The Countryside (1941), mural for the post office in Eutaw, Alabama, commissioned by the Section of Painting and Sculpture The Countryside, by Robert Gwathmey, 1941 (cropped).jpg
The Countryside (1941), mural for the post office in Eutaw, Alabama, commissioned by the Section of Painting and Sculpture

Robert Gwathmey (January 24, 1903 – September 21, 1988) was an American social realist painter. [1] [2] [3] His wife was photographer Rosalie Gwathmey [4] (September 15, 1908 – February 12, 2001) and his son was architect Charles Gwathmey.

Contents

Robert was born to Robert Gwathmey Sr. (1866–1902) and Eva Mortimer Harrison (1868–1941). [5] His half sisters were Kathrine and Ida Carrington. Robert Sr. was killed at work by an explosion and his wife was killed in a vehicular accident. [5]

Education

Gwathmey attended North Carolina State College in Raleigh, studying business from 1922-1923. [5] He did not think this path would take him anywhere so he got a job on a freighter and later studied a year at the Maryland Institute of Design in Baltimore. [5] The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia is where he completed his education of the arts; he spent four years there. [5]

In 1929 and 1930, Gwathmey was the winner of the Cresson Traveling Scholarship, which allowed him the opportunity to study abroad in the summers. He traveled to Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Genoa, Pisa, Florence, Venice, Vienna, Munich, and London. [5]

Artwork

Throughout his studies, Robert Gwathmey was influenced by many artists, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Vincent van Gogh, and Rufino Tamayo from the European modernists, French satirist Honoré Daumier, realist painter Jean-François Millet [6] along with Daumier and Degas. [5]

Gwathmey is known for simplifying compositions and using symbolic abstraction to create his messages. [7] His style is recognized by the color, shapes, and figures he uses in his artwork.

When asked about being a "social artist" this was his reply: "I'm a social being and I don't see how you can be an artist and be separate....Artists have eyes...You go home. You see things that are almost forgotten. It's always shocking." [7]

Life

After finishing school, Robert Gwathmey was a professor at several colleges: Temple University in Philadelphia (1930-1932), [5] Beaver College in Glenside, PA (1930–1937), Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, PA (1939–1942), the Cooper Union School of Art, New York City (1942–1968), New School for Social Research, New York (1946–1949), and Boston University (1968–1969). [6] He was an instructor to artists Faith Ringgold [8] and Alvin Carl Hollingsworth.

He was also an activist for several political movements; because of this he was watched by the FBI for the last twenty-seven years of his life. [6]

Awards

Exhibitions

Collections

In Elia Kazan's novel The Arrangement when Evangelos is describing to Florence the property that she can keep for herself he says: "...all paintings, even that by Picasso and Gwathmey."

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References

  1. Kammen, Michael G. (1999). Robert Gwathmey: the life and art of a passionate observer . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN   0-8078-4779-8.
  2. McGill, Douglas C (September 22, 1988). "Robert Gwathmey, 85, an Artist Of Social Passions and Style, Dies". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 25, 2015. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
  3. Kammen, Michael G. "The New York Times Book Review: Robert Gwathmey: The Life and Art of a Passionate Observer". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 2009-04-17. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
  4. Duncan, Erika (September 4, 1994). "ENCOUNTERS; 'I Just Quit,' Rosalie Gwathmey Said. And She Walked Away". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 26, 2015. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Kammen, Michael G. "Chapter One." Robert Gwathmey: The Life and Art of a Passionate Observer. Comp. The New York Times on the Web. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1999. N. pag.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Zelaya, Lauren A. "Robert Gwathmey". Caldwell Gallery Hudson.
  7. 1 2 Arts Connected. "ArtsNet Minnesota: Identity: Robert Gwathmey." ArtsNet Minnesota: Identity: Robert Gwathmey. Arts Net Minnesota, n.d. Web. 05 May 2013.
  8. https://www.moma.org/d/pdfs/W1siZiIsIjIwMTkvMDIvMTIvOGp5ZGh5NTd6YV9Nb01BX1Jpbmdnb2xkX1BSRVZJRVcucGRmIl1d/MoMA_Ringgold_PREVIEW.pdf?sha=057c1d937cb795dc [ dead link ]
  9. "Brooklyn Museum". www.brooklynmuseum.org.
  10. "Robert Gwathmey". The Johnson Collection, LLC.
  11. "Robert Gwathmey | LACMA Collections". collections.lacma.org.
  12. "Robert Gwathmey". The Museum of Modern Art.
  13. "Philadelphia Museum of Art - Collections Object : Across the Field". www.philamuseum.org.
  14. "Robert Gwathmey | Smithsonian American Art Museum". americanart.si.edu.
  15. "Robert Gwathmey". whitney.org.