Especially known for his seascapes, he was also an illustrator and respected art teacher.
Draper was born in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, and studied art in New York City, graduating from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and studying illustration at the Grand Central School of Art with Harvey Dunn. He also studied with Edgar Whitney, Paul Strisik and John Pike.
Serving in the Army during World War II, he developed strategic maps, which were used in the invasion of Normandy. After the war he taught figure illustration at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art in New Jersey, moving to the Jacksonville, Florida area in 1953 as the art director of the Prudential Insurance Co's regional home office. He retired in 1972, devoting himself full-time to his painting and teaching at the Jacksonville Art Museum and in workshops throughout the country.
In the 1980s, he wrote and published to books, Putting People in Your Paintings, and the companion People Painting Scrapbook.
Memberships:
American Watercolor Society (elected in 1968)
Whiskey Painters of America
Salmagundi Club
Florida Watercolor Society (past president)
St. Augustine Art Association (past president)
Josiah Everett Draper died in October 2006, at his home in Ponte Vedra Beach.
Source:
Obituary, Jacksonville Times-Union Newspaper, October 26, 2006
|