Walter Granville-Smith

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Walter Granville-Smith
BornJanuary 28, 1870
South Granville, New York
DiedDecember 7, 1938
Jackson Heights, Queens, New York
NationalityAmerican
EducationArt Students League of New York
Known forIllustration and Painting

Walter Granville-Smith (1870–1938) was an illustrator and painter who was born in South Granville, New York on January 28, 1870. He is notable for producing the first colored illustration that appeared in the United States. Granville-Smith and his wife, Jessie, had a daughter Jesse and sons, Walter.[1] and Edward.[2] Granville-Smith died on December 7, 1938, at his daughter's home in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York.[3]

Granville-Smith was a National Academician in 1915 with the National Academy of Design and served as president of the Salmagundi Club in New York from 1924 to 1926. His works are part of the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution (Grey Day),[4] Butler Institute of American Art (The Willow), Toledo Museum of Art (South Haven Mill), the Currier Museum of Art (Truth),[5] the Salmagundi Club, the Lotos Club, the Fencers Club of New York and the Art Club of Philadelphia. Many of his works can be seen at the Athenaeum website.[6]

Career[edit]

Granville-Smith attended the Newark Academy in Newark, New Jersey. He received his first instruction in painting from David McClure and as a teenager he studied under Walter Satterlee. He then studied at the Art Students League of New York under Willard Metcalf and James Carroll Beckwith.

Granville-Smith started his career as a magazine illustrator. His illustrations appeared in Harper’s Magazine, Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, Metropolitan Magazine,[7][8] and Collier's. He was noted for his pioneering work in color. As an illustrator, he produced the first colored illustration to appear in the United States, for Gertrude Atherton’s A Christmas Witch, in the January 1893 issue of Godey’s Lady’s Book[9][10]

In 1897 Granville-Smith toured Europe, visiting Holland, Belgium, and France. In Paris he studied at the Academie Julien. After 1900 Granville-Smith focused on landscape painting. He acquired a summer home in Bellport, New York in 1908, and this area became a frequent subject of his landscape and seascape paintings. His New York Studio was located at 96 Fifth Avenue. His work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics.[11]

Awards[edit]

Granville-Smith won numerous art awards,[12] including

Gallery[edit]

Spring Time by Walter Granville-Smith
Walter Granville-Smith - Grey Day - 1920.4.4 - Smithsonian American Art Museum
'Summer Night' by Walter Granville-Smith
'Sentinel Trees', Bellport, Long Island by Walter Granville-Smith
Metropolitan 1900-02

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Walter Granville-Smith Jr., Esty Company Officer, Dies". The New York Times. New York Times. February 3, 1974. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  2. ^ "Elizabeth R. GRANVILLE-SMITH, Petitioner, v. Edward GRANVILLE-SMITH". Legal Information Institute. Cornell University. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  3. ^ "GRANVILLE-SMITH, NOTED PAINTER, 68: Former Head of the Salmagundi Club Was Academy Member p. 27". New York Times. December 8, 1938.
  4. ^ Smithsonian American Art Museum. "Walter Granville-Smith". Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  5. ^ "Walter Granville Smith". Currier Museum of Art. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  6. ^ "Walter Granville-Smith". The Athenaeum. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  7. ^ "New Year's Number". MagazineArt.org. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  8. ^ "Woman holding a bundle of flowering branches, standing in a field among flowering trees". MagazineArt.org. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  9. ^ Atherton, Gertrude (January 1893). "A Christmas Witch". Godey's Magazine. 126 (751): 3.
  10. ^ "Glimpses". Bedford's Monthly. 10: 506. 1893. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  11. ^ "Walter Granville-Smith". Olympedia. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  12. ^ "Walter Granville-Smith (1870 - 1938)". waltergranvillesmith.com. Retrieved August 20, 2019.

External links[edit]