Clifford Prevost Grayson (July 14, 1857 – November 11, 1951) was an American painter and teacher.
Clifford Prevost Grayson | |
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Born | (1857-07-14)July 14, 1857 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Died | November 11, 1951(1951-11-11) (aged 94) Old Lyme, Connecticut |
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Occupation | Painter, teacher |
Spouse(s) | Anna L. Steel
(m. 1902; died 1945) |
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He was born in Philadelphia, the youngest of the three sons of lawyer and newspaper editor Frederick William Grayson and Mary Mallett Prevost.[1] Grayson graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1878,[2] and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Christian Schussele and Thomas Eakins.[3] He studied further at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Jean-Léon Gérôme.[2] After graduation, he joined the artist colonies at Pont Aven and Concarneau, and opened a studio in Paris.[2] Grayson was a regular exhibitor at the Paris Salon during the 1880s.[2]
Grayson returned to Philadelphia in 1890.[2] He was hired as instructor in oil painting at the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry in 1891, and promoted to director of the Art Department in 1893.[4]: 122 Under Grayson, the art curriculum expanded from a 2-year to a 4-year program. He hired Howard Pyle as an instructor in 1894, in what became the School of Illustration.[4]: 125 Grayson taught portraiture and life classes, and Charles Grafly taught clay modeling and sculpture. Thomas Eakins had been forced to resign from PAFA in 1886, after using a fully nude male model before female students. Grayson hired him to lecture in anatomy in January 1895, and dismissed him two months later, after Eakins again used a nude male model before a class that included female students.[5] When Grafly took a one-year sabbatical in 1895, Grayson hired Cyrus Dallin to teach the sculpture classes.[6] The Art Department seemed to flourish under Grayson, attracting students such as Maxfield Parrish, Elizabeth Shippen Green, Jessie Willcox Smith, Violet Oakley and Frank Schoonover.[4]: 130 After being ordered to make severe budget cuts, Grayson tendered his resignation in December 1904.[4]: 130–31 He left Drexel in June 1905, after the announcement of the dissolution of the Art Department.[4]: 131
Grayson was an active member of the summer artist colony at Old Lyme, Connecticut.[7]
Grayson received Honorable Mentions at the Paris Salons of 1885 and 1892.[2] The American Art Association awarded him the 1886 $2,000 Purchase Prize for Mid-day Dreams, and donated the painting to the Corcoran Gallery of Art.[8] He exhibited semi-regularly in PAFA's annual exhibitions, from 1876 to 1905.[9] PAFA awarded him the 1887 Temple Gold Medal for The Fisherman's Family, and purchased the painting for its collection.
He was a member of the Art Club of Philadelphia,[2] and the Salmagundi Club and Century Association in New York City.[7]
Grayson married Anna L. Steel (1867–1945) on January 21, 1902.[2] They lived at 262 S. 15th Street, Philadelphia, and had a daughter, Helen, and a son, Clifford Jr.[10] They retired to Old Lyme, Connecticut.[3]
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Art research institutes |