American, 1859 - 1932
Elliott Daingerfield was reared in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where his family had moved in 1861, when his father was appointed commander of the Confederate armory there. He studied with a local china painter, Mrs. William McKay, and later worked for a photographer. Daingerfield moved to New York in 1880 and exhibited at the Academy that year. Following a brief apprenticeship to Walter N. Satterlee, he became instructor in Satterlee's studio for the next four years. He also intermittently attended the Art Students League.
Having established his own studio in the Holbein Building in 1884, Daingerfield met the tonalist landscape painter George Inness. Daingerfield considered "the interest and influence of . . . Inness as of most importance in my work and art." [Cite source of quote] From his mentor, Daingerfield learned the techniques of complex glazing as well as the Barbizon-influenced attitude toward idealized landscapes, in which nature is painted from memory rather than by direct observation.
Daingerfield suffered a severe attack of diphtheria during the winter of 1885-86. The following summer of recuperation at Blowing Rock, North Carolina, was the first of many he spent in this region of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which often provided the setting for his landscapes. He built three summer homes at Blowing Rock; Westglow, the last and most famous, was constructed in 1916.
In the early 1890s Daingerfield turned toward the softly focused, glowing religious subjects for which he was most recognized. He received a mural commission for the Lady Chapel of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, New York, in 1902; completion of this cycle took him five years. In 1902 he was awarded the Thomas B. Clarke Prize in the Academy annual exhibition. He taught at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women in 1903 and had taught at the Art Students League, New York, in 1896. Between 1911 and 1915, Daingerfield made yearly visits to the Grand Canyon in relation to commissions from the Santa Fe Railway Company; thereafter, the canyon, envisioned in a highly imaginative and poetic fashion, was a principal subject in his work.
Late in his career, Daingerfield wrote critical essays on art theory and artists including Inness, Ralph Blakelock, and Albert Pinkham Ryder, whose poetic and mystical works recalled his own. He was also active in the National Academy, serving on the Council from 1916 to 1919.
Having established his own studio in the Holbein Building in 1884, Daingerfield met the tonalist landscape painter George Inness. Daingerfield considered "the interest and influence of . . . Inness as of most importance in my work and art." [Cite source of quote] From his mentor, Daingerfield learned the techniques of complex glazing as well as the Barbizon-influenced attitude toward idealized landscapes, in which nature is painted from memory rather than by direct observation.
Daingerfield suffered a severe attack of diphtheria during the winter of 1885-86. The following summer of recuperation at Blowing Rock, North Carolina, was the first of many he spent in this region of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which often provided the setting for his landscapes. He built three summer homes at Blowing Rock; Westglow, the last and most famous, was constructed in 1916.
In the early 1890s Daingerfield turned toward the softly focused, glowing religious subjects for which he was most recognized. He received a mural commission for the Lady Chapel of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, New York, in 1902; completion of this cycle took him five years. In 1902 he was awarded the Thomas B. Clarke Prize in the Academy annual exhibition. He taught at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women in 1903 and had taught at the Art Students League, New York, in 1896. Between 1911 and 1915, Daingerfield made yearly visits to the Grand Canyon in relation to commissions from the Santa Fe Railway Company; thereafter, the canyon, envisioned in a highly imaginative and poetic fashion, was a principal subject in his work.
Late in his career, Daingerfield wrote critical essays on art theory and artists including Inness, Ralph Blakelock, and Albert Pinkham Ryder, whose poetic and mystical works recalled his own. He was also active in the National Academy, serving on the Council from 1916 to 1919.
