This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Painter Thomas Alexander Harrison was fortunate in receiving success both in sales to the public and at the hands of the critics. His choice of subject matter helped him greatly, painting women, bathing and clothed, in plein-air, pastoral landscapes, children on beaches, and seascapes. These latter pieces were no doubt inspired by an intrinsic love of the sea and the vastness of nature, space and the sky that was reinforced by his six year experience (1872-1877) surveying the shores of America for the United States Coastal and Geodetic Survey.
Harrison's study of art was delayed by this employment. Born in Philadelphia in 1853, Harrison had briefly studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1872 before joining the Survey.
In 1877, he arrived in San Francisco from Seattle to begin his artistic studies. Harrison left for Paris in 1879, where he would thereafter live, to study with Bastien-Lepage, as well as academic painter Jean Leon Gerome at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Harrison exhibited in the 1881 Paris Salon.
Harrison was a charter member in 1890 of a new Salon established by Meissonier, where he exhibited on a regular basis and served as a juror for their exhibitions. He also belonged to the Paris Society of Arts and Crafts, and maintained memberships in American arts organizations such as the National Academy of Design, Philadelphia Watercolor Club, Art Club of Philadelphia, Society of American Artists, and Century Association of New York City.
Harrison exhibited in the United States at the National Academy of Design, Carnegie Institute, Society of American Artists, and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Harrison's work is in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; Musee d'Orsay, Paris; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; and the Royal Gallery, Dresden.
Thomas Alexander Harrison died in 1930. The New York Times termed him the "dean of American painters in Paris."
Source:
Michael David Zellman, "300 Years of American Art"
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Born in Philadelphia, PA on Jan. 17, 1853. Harrison studied at the PAFA before joining the U.S. Coastal Survey in 1872 as a topographical draftsman. In that capacity he arrived in San Francisco about 1876. While there, he studied under Virgil Williams and Raymond Yelland at the School of Design where he was won a gold medal. By 1879 he had settled in Paris where he had further study at Ecole des Beaux Arts and in the atelier of Gérome. He returned often to San Francisco to exhibit and join the festivities at the Bohemian Club. Harrison became internationally famous for marine nocturnes. The French government made him a Chevalier of Legion of Honor and Officer of Public Instruction. He died in Paris on Oct. 13, 1930. Member: Cercle d'Union Artistique; Royal Inst. of Painters (London); ANA (1898); NA (1901); Century Ass'n (NYC); Bohemian Club; Philadelphia WC Club. Exh: Paris Salon, 1880-86 (prizes); PAFA, 1887 (medal), 1889 (gold medal); Paris Expo, 1889 (gold medal); Brussels, 1892 (medal); Calif. Midwinter Expo, 1894; Bohemian Club, 1898, 1902, 1904, 1909, 1913; Oakland Home Club, 1908. In: MM; PAFA; AIC; CGA; Royal Gallery (Dresden); St Louis Museum; Luxembourg Museum (Paris). | Source:
Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"
American Art Annual 1929; Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs (Bénézit, E); Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers (Fielding, Mantle); Who's Who in America; BSAA. | | Nearly 20,000 biographies can be found in Artists in California 1786-1940 by Edan Hughes and is available for sale ($150). For a full book description and order information please click here. |
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Alexander Harrison is also mentioned in these AskART essays:
San Francisco Panama-Pacific Exhibition 1915
Tonalism
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