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for Kerr Eby
American, 1889 - 1946
Eby was the grandson of the influential print dealer Frederick Keppel. His parents were Canadian Methodist missionaries working in Japan at his birth. Eby returned with his parents to the United States in 1907. He studied at Pratt Institute and at the Art Students League in New York. Around 1913 he began going to Cos Cob, Connecticut, where he maintained a studio in the summers. There he became acquainted with Childe Hassam, to whom he gave technical advice on etching. Eby was a popular member of the Holley House group in Cos Cob, and his first hand knowledge of Japan contributed to the fashion for japonisme there. Following service in the army during World War I, Eby settled in Westport, Connecticut.
The range of Eby's choice of subjects included landscape, outdoor sport, architecture, and picturesque townscapes of Europe. However, the Second World War presented him with an exceptional departure from confirmed subject interests--as it did many American artists who served as "combat artists" for the uniformed services. It was the private concern, the Abbott Laboratories that commissioned Eby. He recorded the landing of the marines at Tarawa in the Pacific, and jungle warfare in Bougainville. An exhibition of these works, Marines in Action, was held at the Associated American Artists Gallery, New York, in 1945.
Eby initially confirmed his election as an Associate of the Academy with a self-portrait in charcoal, which was accepted by the Council on October 6, 1930. In compliance with Academy regulations required ANA diploma portraits be oil paintings, the drawing was replaced with the Boyer portrait, however, Eby let the drawing remain in the Academy's collection.
The range of Eby's choice of subjects included landscape, outdoor sport, architecture, and picturesque townscapes of Europe. However, the Second World War presented him with an exceptional departure from confirmed subject interests--as it did many American artists who served as "combat artists" for the uniformed services. It was the private concern, the Abbott Laboratories that commissioned Eby. He recorded the landing of the marines at Tarawa in the Pacific, and jungle warfare in Bougainville. An exhibition of these works, Marines in Action, was held at the Associated American Artists Gallery, New York, in 1945.
Eby initially confirmed his election as an Associate of the Academy with a self-portrait in charcoal, which was accepted by the Council on October 6, 1930. In compliance with Academy regulations required ANA diploma portraits be oil paintings, the drawing was replaced with the Boyer portrait, however, Eby let the drawing remain in the Academy's collection.
