John White Alexander
John White Alexander (actually John White, born October 7, 1856 in Allegheny at Pittsburgh, † May 31, 1915 in New York ) was an American painter and illustrator.
Biography
Alexander lost his parents early and therefore grew up with his grandparents in Pittsburgh. The age of twelve, he worked as a telegraph boy, there his employer noticed his talent, which he promoted. In 1874 he moved to New York to work at the weekly newspaper Harper 's Weekly as an illustrator and political cartoonist. There he met the then -known illustrators such as Thomas Nast, Edwin Austin Abbey, Joseph Pennell and Howard Pyle. After his three -year apprenticeship Alexander traveled to Munich to study with Frank Duveneck. As a result of lack of money he had to stop his studies and instead worked for him. In 1879 he traveled with Duveneck and several companions, known as The Duveneck Boys, Venice and Florence and met here on James McNeill Whistler and Otto Bacher, from whom he learned the art of etching. Motivated by Whistler, Alexander continued his studies in the Netherlands and Paris continued.
In 1881, Alexander returned to New York and achieved great success with his portraits of Oliver Wendell Holmes, John Burroughs, Walt Whitman, Henry Gurdon Marquand, Robert Alan Mowbray Stevenson and the president of Princeton University, James McCosh. His first exhibition in the Paris Salon (1893 ) was such a huge success that he was elected on the first ballot in the Société Nationale des Beaux -Arts in. John White Alexander was with Elizabeth Alexander, daughter of James Waddell Alexander, President of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, married. The marriage was a son, James Waddell Alexander II (1888-1971), out. After his marriage he took the maiden name of his wife, to distinguish themselves from other artists with names White.
Works (selection)
Isabell and the basil pot, 1897
Woman with Wildflowers, 1912
Mrs. Daniels with Two of her Children, 1913