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William A. Harper

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William A. Harper (1873 – 1910) was an artist best known for his landscape paintings, and is represented in both the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the National Museum of African American History in Washington, D.C. Harper was born in Cayuga, Canada, and immigrated to Illinois in 1885. He graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago (“AIC”) in 1901, and subsequently studied at the Académie Julian in Paris, France. Harper’s paintings were regularly accepted in juried exhibitions of the AIC and the Society of Western Artists and were acknowledged with multiple awards.


Life and Career

Harper was born in Cayuga, Canada and immigrated to Illinois in 1885[1] where he attended college in Jacksonville [2]. He enrolled in the AIC in 1895, serving as a janitor there to put himself through school. [3] Harper spent summers working and painting at the Eagle’s Nest Art Colony near Oregon, Illinois where he was the protégé of members of the Colony[4] , including Lorado Taft, Charles Francis Browne, and William Wendt[5]. Harper graduated from the AIC with second honors in 1901[6] , whereupon he accepted a job in Houston, Texas as drawing instructor in the Houston public schools.[7]

In 1903, Harper traveled to Europe, initially painting with William Wendt in Cornwall, England. In the fall of 1903, Harper enrolled at the Académie Julian in Paris, France, a venue favored by many AIC graduates. While in Paris, he took the opportunity to copy well-known paintings at the Louvre, and to explore and sketch the French countryside.[8] In the spring of 1904, Harper and Charles Francis Browne travelled south of Paris to the area of Barbizon to paint.[9] By 1905, he was back in Chicago, once again working at the AIC to support his painting career, this time as a night watchman.[10]

During the years following his graduation from the AIC, Harper’s paintings were regularly accepted in the annual juried exhibition of works by Chicago artists, jointly managed by the AIC and the Municipal Art League of Chicago and in the exhibitions of the Society of Western Artists (of which he was a member). He won the Municipal Art League prize in 1905[11] and the Young Fortnightly Club award in 1908.[12] Harper’s paintings borne of his time in Cornwall and in France figure prominently in the exhibitions beginning in 1904 and reflect the continuing influence of the Barbizon school.

Harper made a second trip to France in 1907, this time studying with Henry Ossawa Tanner,[13] the well-known American expatriate artist, who had homes in both Paris and the north of France. Harper continued to paint in the French countryside, and under Tanner’s influence his work began to take on a more impressionistic style.

By 1908, Harper’s health was failing, and he moved to Cuernavaca, Mexico.[14] He nevertheless continued to paint until his death in 1910 from consumption (tuberculosis). Following his death, the AIC featured a one-man exhibition of sixty of Harper’s paintings[15] , “certainly the first major museum show for a black artist in Chicago, if not anywhere in the United States.”[16]


Museums/Collections

Harper’s works appear in numerous museums and important collections including:

Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City - https://www.metmuseum.org/search-results#!/search?q=%22William%20A.%20Harper%22&orderByCountDesc=true&page=1

National Museum of African American History in Washington, Washington, D.C. - https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/collection/search?edan_q=*:*&edan_fq[]=p.edanmdm.indexedstructured.name:"Harper,+William+A."&edan_local=1&op=Search

Columbus Museum, Columbus, Georgia - https://columbusmuseum.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/72AC0C4B-7E65-49FB-B641-226254332948

National Gallery of Art, Washingtion, D.C. - https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.42623.html

The DuSable Museum of African American History - https://www.dusablemuseum.org/

Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan - https://flintarts.org/art/objects/3917

Christine M. Schwartz Collection, Chicago, IL - https://schwartzcollection.com/artwork/untitled-landscape-2/

The Eagle’s Nest Art Collection, Oregon Library, Oregon, Ilinois.





References

  1. ^ "Obituary". Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago. Vol. 4: 11. July 1910. {{cite journal}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
  2. ^ Bentley, Florence L. (January, 1906). "William A. Harper". The Voice of the Negro. Vol. 3: 117. {{cite journal}}: |volume= has extra text (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ American Art News. Vol. 3 (No. 68). February 25, 1903. {{cite journal}}: |issue= has extra text (help); |volume= has extra text (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ^ "Paintings of Note in Art Collection". Ogle County Reporter. Vol. LXVII (No. 38). July 10, 1918. {{cite journal}}: |issue= has extra text (help); |volume= has extra text (help)
  5. ^ Simeone, Beth Baker (2015). The Art of Oregon. pp. 54–55. ISBN 978-0-9894202-3-5.
  6. ^ "Obituary". Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago. Vol. 4: 11. July 1910. {{cite journal}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
  7. ^ "Increased Enrollement Necessitated the Subscription of Additional Teachers...". Houston Daily Post: 5. September 4, 1901.
  8. ^ Krehbiel, Albert. "Letters of Albert Krehbiel". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. ^ Krehbiel, Albert. "Letters of Albert Krehbiel". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. ^ American Art News. Vol. 3 (No. 68). February 25, 1905. {{cite journal}}: |issue= has extra text (help); |volume= has extra text (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. ^ American Art News. Vol. 3 (No. 68). February 25, 1905. {{cite journal}}: |issue= has extra text (help); |volume= has extra text (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  12. ^ "The Recent Exhibition of Chicago Artists". Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago. Vol. 1 (No. 3): 35–36. April 1908. {{cite journal}}: |issue= has extra text (help); |volume= has extra text (help)
  13. ^ "Obituary". The Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago. Vol. 4: 11. July 1910. {{cite journal}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
  14. ^ "Obituary". The Art Institute of Chicago. Vol. 4: 11. July 1910. {{cite journal}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
  15. ^ "Exhibition of Paintings of William A. Harper". The Art Institute of Chicago. July 26-August 28, 1910. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ Kennedy, Elizabeth (2004). Chicago Modern, 1893-1945. p. 43. ISBN 0-932171-41-9.
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