American, 1855 - 1941
Before he reached the age of one, Brush was brought from his birthplace to Danbury, Connnecticut, where he was raised and educated at home. His mother, an artist, served as his teacher, and he also had some instruction in photography from a local practitioner, Virgil Buel. In 1870, he began commuting to New York to attend the antique class of the National Academy school. Two years later, he was admitted to the life class. One of his fellow students, Abbott Thayer, became a lifelong friend.
An anonymous benefactor made it possible for the nineteen-year-old Brush to begin study in Paris in 1874. He enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in March and became a student of Jean L‚on G‚r"me. With J. Carroll Beckwith, he took a room at 12 rue Jacob. Brush remained in France until 1880, although he returned home once in 1875 following his mother's death. During that visit, he enrolled again in the Academy life school.
In 1881, Brush and his brother Alfred made a trip west, camping in Wyoming, Montana, and California. Time spent with the Arapahoe, Shoshone, and Crow tribes provided him with the material for a series of idealized Indian paintings which occupied him for the next decade. By April 1882, he was back in New York teaching at the Cooper Union Women's Art School. Three years later, he was appointed to the faculty of the Art Students League. There he met his future wife, sculptor Mary Taylor Whelpley. In 1886, the two eloped and moved to Quebec.
After a year and a half of hardship living in a remote Canadian cabin, the couple returned to New York, and following a summer in Cornish, New Hamshire, Brush regained his post at the Art Students League. His work was beginning to be noticed, and in 1888 he received an Academy Hallgarten Prize for The Sculptor and the King, prompting his election as an Associate. In the annual exhibition of 1909 the Academy again recognized his work with the Saltus medal.
Brush made his first European trip with his young family in late 1889. They traveled to Morocco and France, returning in 1892. For the next six years, he remained in New York, teaching, painting portraits, and exploring a new mother-and-child theme which had replaced his interest in Native American subjects. In 1898, he left the Art Students League and embarked on a series of extended European visits which continued until World War I, although for the season of 1910-11 he was teaching at the Academy school. His growing family provided him with models, and though it was sometimes difficult to move the large household back and forth between Europe (mostly Paris and Florence) and the United States, Brush always kept his wife and children with him.
Although his social views were progressive, Brush was an artistic conservative. His exposure to the Renaissance art of Italy sparked an interest in traditional technique. The Academy library register indicates that Brush checked out several books dealing with the painting methods of the past. He began to paint on panel and explore monochrome underpainting and glazing.
In 1901, the artist purchased a farm in Dublin, New Hampshire, near the property of his friend, Thayer. This became the Brush "home" when the family wasn't living in Europe or in New York. After World War I, he spent more time in the United States. In the 1920s, a new demand developed for his work. The Century Association held the first Brush retrospective in 1922, and one-man shows followed in 1930 at the Grand Central Art Galleries, and at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, 1933-34. In 1937, his Dublin studio and many paintings and drawings inside were destroyed by fire. He felt the loss profoundly and painted less frequently thereafter. Brush's last works were small portraits of his grandchildren.
An anonymous benefactor made it possible for the nineteen-year-old Brush to begin study in Paris in 1874. He enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in March and became a student of Jean L‚on G‚r"me. With J. Carroll Beckwith, he took a room at 12 rue Jacob. Brush remained in France until 1880, although he returned home once in 1875 following his mother's death. During that visit, he enrolled again in the Academy life school.
In 1881, Brush and his brother Alfred made a trip west, camping in Wyoming, Montana, and California. Time spent with the Arapahoe, Shoshone, and Crow tribes provided him with the material for a series of idealized Indian paintings which occupied him for the next decade. By April 1882, he was back in New York teaching at the Cooper Union Women's Art School. Three years later, he was appointed to the faculty of the Art Students League. There he met his future wife, sculptor Mary Taylor Whelpley. In 1886, the two eloped and moved to Quebec.
After a year and a half of hardship living in a remote Canadian cabin, the couple returned to New York, and following a summer in Cornish, New Hamshire, Brush regained his post at the Art Students League. His work was beginning to be noticed, and in 1888 he received an Academy Hallgarten Prize for The Sculptor and the King, prompting his election as an Associate. In the annual exhibition of 1909 the Academy again recognized his work with the Saltus medal.
Brush made his first European trip with his young family in late 1889. They traveled to Morocco and France, returning in 1892. For the next six years, he remained in New York, teaching, painting portraits, and exploring a new mother-and-child theme which had replaced his interest in Native American subjects. In 1898, he left the Art Students League and embarked on a series of extended European visits which continued until World War I, although for the season of 1910-11 he was teaching at the Academy school. His growing family provided him with models, and though it was sometimes difficult to move the large household back and forth between Europe (mostly Paris and Florence) and the United States, Brush always kept his wife and children with him.
Although his social views were progressive, Brush was an artistic conservative. His exposure to the Renaissance art of Italy sparked an interest in traditional technique. The Academy library register indicates that Brush checked out several books dealing with the painting methods of the past. He began to paint on panel and explore monochrome underpainting and glazing.
In 1901, the artist purchased a farm in Dublin, New Hampshire, near the property of his friend, Thayer. This became the Brush "home" when the family wasn't living in Europe or in New York. After World War I, he spent more time in the United States. In the 1920s, a new demand developed for his work. The Century Association held the first Brush retrospective in 1922, and one-man shows followed in 1930 at the Grand Central Art Galleries, and at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, 1933-34. In 1937, his Dublin studio and many paintings and drawings inside were destroyed by fire. He felt the loss profoundly and painted less frequently thereafter. Brush's last works were small portraits of his grandchildren.
