James Ormsbee Chapin was an American painter and illustrator.

Chapin studied at Cooper Union, the Art Students League of New York

Art Students League of New York

The Art Students League of New York is an art school located on West 57th Street in New York City. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists, and has maintained for over 130 years a tradition of offering reasonably priced classes on a...

, and abroad at the Royal Academy of Antwerp, Belgium, where he received the First Award and Gold Medal.

Chapin executed numerous portraits of well-known public figures; at least five of his portraits were commissioned by TIME

Time

Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....

as cover art. His works have been acquired by many private collectors and for the permanent collections of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (where he taught portraiture), the Encyclopedia Britannica, Duncan Phillips Memorial Gallery, Art Institute of Chicago

Art Institute of Chicago

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...

, Newark Museum, Amherst College

Amherst College

Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...

, Dartmouth, and others.

He was the father of jazz musician Jim Chapin

Jim Chapin

James Forbes "Jim" Chapin was an American jazz drummer and the author of popular texts on jazz drumming, the first two volumes of which are Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer, Vol. I, and Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer, Vol...

 and grandfather of folk singer Harry Chapin

Harry Chapin

Harry Forster Chapin was an American singer-songwriter best known in particular for his folk rock songs including "Taxi", "W*O*L*D", and the number-one hit "Cat's in the Cradle". Chapin was also a dedicated humanitarian who fought to end world hunger; he was a key player in the creation of the...

.

External links

• James Chapin Online
• James Ormsbee Chapin page at anyoldkindofday.com, Harry Chapin fan wiki