Biography from The Cooley Gallery:
| Born in Illinois, Wilson Henry Irvine showed an early talent for drawing, and by his late teens, he was using an airbrush. Early in his career he was involved in commercial art, and by 1895, he was enrolled in evening classes at The Art Institute of Chicago. By 1900, Irvine was exhibiting landscapes and becoming actively involved in the Chicago art community as one of the founding members of that city's Palette and Chisel Club and the Cliff Dwellers.
From 1914 to 1917, the artist spent his summers painting at Old Lyme, Connecticut, where he became affiliated with the art colony there, and in 1918, he purchased a home in neighboring Hamburg. In 1926, he was elected an associate of the National Academy of Design.
Described by one scholar as having "a keenly imaginative mind," Irvine experimented with his art throughout his career. His "prismatic paintings,"conceived by looking at his subject through a prism, were first exhibited in 1930 at the Grand Central Art Galleries. Around that same time, he also produced "aqua prints," which introduced naturalistic forms to marbleized paper.
Memberships
National Academy of Design, New York, NY
Lyme Art Association, Lyme, CT
Chicago Society of Artists, Chicago, IL
Salmagundi Club, New York, NY
National Arts Club, New York, NY
Awards
Art Institute of Chicago (prizes awarded in 1912, 1915, 1916, 1917)
Panama-Pacific Exposition, 1915 (silver medal)
Chicago Society of Artists, 1916 (medal)
Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts, 1929 (prize)
Lyme Art Association, 1934 (prize)
The following biography is from the Library of AskART.com:
Born in Byron, Illinois, Wilson Irvine became an Impressionist landscape painter, who exhibited for many years at the Art Institute of Chicago and then became a part of the Art Colony at Old Lyme, Connecticut. He also did monotypes called aqua prints that were abstract in style compared to his other paintings.
He enrolled in an art school run by Liberty Walkup, inventor of the airbrush. In 1893, he was employed by the Chicago Portrait Company and took classes at the Art Institute of Chicago between 1895 and 1903. By 1900, he began exhibiting at the Institute and also was close to the Hoosier Group, Indiana Impressionist artists.
He spent the summer of 1914 in Connecticut and became associated with the Old Lyme Colony. In 1918, he moved there permanently, but he maintained close ties to the Midwest. |
Biography from Art Cellar Exchange:
| Despite his fame as an American Impressionist painter, Wilson Henry Irvine spent the early part of his career as a commercial artist. Born in Illinois in 1869, Irvine worked commercially by day and by night took painting classes at The Art Institute of Chicago. All of his hard work paid off around the turn of the century when he began exhibiting his landscapes at Chicago's Palette and Chisel Club. Ever involved in the local art scene, Irvine was also one of the founding member of this club.
In 1914, Irvine joined the Old Lyme Art Colony. Named for a small village in Connecticut, painters living and working here hosted the first major art colony in America that encouraged Impressionism. Irvine was fascinated and inspired by the number of artist who actively worked here and remained to paint in the colony for the next several summers.
Neighboring Hamburg was where Irvine was inspired to paint permanently and also where he purchased a home in 1918. Irvine was always most devoted to landscape painting and Hamburg provided the perfect opportunity for this artist to combine his technical skill with the passion for 'plein air' painting that he developed in Old Lyme.
Submitted by Amy Kleppinger.
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Wilson Irvine is also mentioned in these AskART essays:
Old Lyme Colony Painters
San Francisco Panama-Pacific Exhibition 1915
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