Artists

Erdix Tenney Wilson was born on October 15, 1831 in Hardwick, VT.  His parents, Samuel and Martha, resided in Hardwick.  The 1860 census lists Wilson as living with his parents in Plainfield, VT and his occupation as "ambrotype taker" (photographer).  He married Julia B. Wentworth in April 1868.   Living in Lancaster, NH, he learned the art of...

Alfred Rudolph Waud (wōd) (October 2, 1828 – April 6, 1891) was an American artist and illustrator, born in London, England. He is most notable for the sketches he made as an artist correspondent during the American Civil War. Early career Before emigration, Alfred Waud had entered the Government School of Design at Somerset House, London, with...

James Abbott McNeill Whistler (July 10, 1834 — July 17, 1903) was an American-born, British-based artist. Averse to sentimentality and moral allusion in painting, he was a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake". His famous signature for his paintings was in the shape of a stylized butterfly possessing a long stinger for a tail.[1]...

George W. Waters was born on March 31, 1832 in the small upstate community of Coventry in Chenango County, NY.  He began his artistic career early and in 1850, at the age of eighteen, Waters had his first exhibit when one of his paintings was on view at the National Academy of Design in New York City.  Though he maintained a studio in New York City...

Carl Friedrich Heinrich Werner (1808–1894) was a German watercolor painter. Born in Weimar, Werner studied painting under Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld in Leipzig. He switched to studying architecture in Munich from 1829 to 1831, but thereafter returned to painting. He won a scholarship to travel to Italy, where he ended up founding a studio in...

Gottlieb Daniel Paul Weber (19 January 1823-12 October 1916) was a German artist. He was born in Darmstadt. He studied art in Frankfurt, and in 1848 came to the United States, settling in Philadelphia. In 1858 he went to Darmstadt, where he was appointed court painter. Among those of his works that are owned in the United States are “A Scene in...

Robert Walter Weir (June 18, 1803 - May 1, 1889) was an American artist, best known as an educator, and as an historical painter. He was considered an artist of the Hudson River school,[1] was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1829, and an instructor at the United States Military Academy. Among his better-known works are: The Embarkation...

Virgil Macey Williams was born in Dixfield, Maine on October 29, 1830. He was raised in Taunton, Massachusetts and, after studying at Brown University, began his art training in New York City under Daniel Huntington. During 1853-60 he studied in Rome with renowned New York painter William Page and became a close friend of Page after marrying his...

John Douglas Woodward (12 July 1846 – 1924) was an American landscape artist and illustrator described by Joseph Pennell as one of the country's "best-known painters and illustrators". He produced hundreds of scenes of Europe, the Holy Land, and the United States, many of which were reproduced in popular magazines of the day.[1] Life and...

Thomas Waterman Wood (November 12, 1823 – April 14, 1903) was an American painter born in Montpelier, Vermont. Origins Thomas Waterman Wood's father, John Wood, came to Montpelier from Lebanon, New Hampshire in 1814. The Wood family was of Puritan stock, and it was from Lebanon that John Wood, the father of the artist, married his wife Mary...

Charles Herbert Woodbury (July 14, 1864—January 21, 1940), United States marine painter, was born at Lynn, Massachusetts. Biography Charles H. Woodbury was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, where his earliest work was part of the oeuvre of the group later known as the Lynn Beach Painters. While an undergraduate at MIT he became a regular exhibitor...

William Winstanley was an early American painter born in England and transferred to the United States as a young man. He is credited as one of the very first American landscape painters and was active in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Winstanley has been criticized by some art historians for his “sterile recipes” for creating...

Karl Ferdinand Wimar (also known as Charles Wimar and Carl Wimar) (1828-1862), was a painter of Western Native Americans and buffaloes. He is particularly known for his 1855-1856 painting entitled The Abduction of Boone's Daughter by the Indians, a depiction of the 1776 capture of Jemima Boone and two other girls by Indians. The painting shows...

William Williams (1727 – 27 April 1791)[1] was an English/American painter. He was born in Bristol, England. His family is believed to have originated in Caerphilly, Wales just across the Severn River from Bristol. He began living in Philadelphia around 1747 after time at sea. In Philadelphia he was instrumental in building America's first...

Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts firms. He designed a long series of houses for the rich and the very rich, and various public, institutional, and religious buildings, some of which can be found to this day...

Edwin White (born, South Hadley, Massachusetts 1817; died Saratoga Springs, New York 1877) was an American painter who studied in Paris, Rome, and Florence and later taught at the National Academy of Design, in New York. Works by White, mostly in storage, are in the collections of Yale; The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston;...

Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller (February 18, 1751 — October 5, 1811) was a Swedish painter whose notable works include Danaë receiving Jupiter in a Shower of Gold. Wertmüller was born in Stockholm and studied art at home before moving to Paris in 1772 to study under his cousin Alexander Roslin and French painter Joseph-Marie Vien.[1] On July 30,...

Though born in Ohio, Theodore Wendel eventually made the town of Ipswich his full time permanent residence. He in Germany under fellow Ohioan Frank Duveneck, and through the great teacher met and befriended James McNeil Whistler. He later attended the Academie Julian in Paris at the same time as Dow and Henry Rodman Kenyon. While living in France...

Mary Way (1769-1833) and her sister Elizabeth Way (1771-1825) were born in New Haven, Conn., the daughters of Ebenezer Way (1728-1813) and Mary Taber Way (1737-1771).  The sisters were both painters of small watercolors.   Mary Way moved to New York City about 1811 and advertised herself as a portrait and miniature painter, as well as a teacher...

A leading figure in New York’s turn-of-the-century art establishment, Harry Watrous had a successful career as a painter and administrator. After training in the French academic mode at the Academie Julian in Paris, Watrous returned to New York and won recognition for his stylized female portraits, elegant still lifes, and enchanting...

Susan Catherine Moore Waters (May 18, 1823—July 7, 1900), self-taught painter of animals and resident of Bordentown, New Jersey. Biography On May 18, 1823, Susan Catherine Moore Waters was born in Binghamton, New York. A self-taught artist with little formal training, Waters did attend seminary school in Friendsville, Pennsylvania, where she...

Marcus Waterman graduated from Brown University and then moved to New York City, where he had a studio from 1857 to 1874. He became an associate member of the National Academy in 1861. After 1874, Waterman made his home in Boston and spent much of his time around New England in Vermont and Cape Cod. From 1879 to 1884, the artist traveled to...

James Walker, born on June 3, 1819 in Northamptonshire, England, was a historical painter whose works can be found in the permanent collections of the U. S. War Department Building, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the California Historical Society and the Tennessee State Museum among others. Not much is known of his training, although it has...

Frederick Judd Waugh (September 13, 1861 – September 10, 1940) was an American artist, primarily known as a marine artist. During World War I, he designed ship camouflage for the U.S. Navy, under the direction of Everett L. Warner. Background Born in Bordentown, New Jersey, Waugh was the son of a well-known Philadelphia portrait painter, Samuel...

Robert Wylie (1839 - February 4, 1877), American artist, was born in the Isle of Man and relocated with his parents to the United States as a child. Wylie studied in the schools of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, later serving a curator. In 1860, he helped found the Philadelphia Sketch Club, now one of the nation's oldest...

John Wollaston (active between 1742 and 1775) was an English painter of portraits who was active in the British colonies in North America for much of his career. He was one of a handful of painters to introduce the English Rococo style to the American colonies.[1] Biography Little is known of Wollaston's early life. He is believed to have been...

Baltimore boasted a thriving art community in the second half of the nineteenth century. Even in the midst of the Civil War, the Maryland Academy provided professional training for aspiring artists and the Maryland Art Association regularly exhibited artists' works. By far, the most popular of Baltimore's numerous successful artists at mid-century...

The portraitist Samuel Lovett Waldo was born April 6, 1783, in Windham, Connecticut, one of eight children born to farmer Zacheus Waldo and his wife Esther Stevens Waldo. At the age of sixteen he went to Hartford and took drawing lessons from an obscure painter named Joseph Steward. He set up a studio there in 1803, but found few clients and...

Henry Walton made elaborate, highly detailed oil and watercolor portraits and miniatures as well as views of towns and buildings, in the literal, rather stiff style of American provincial artists of the first half of the nineteenth century. Like many such artists, Walton is a relatively obscure figure. He was born in Ballston, New York, the son of...