Wellington J. Reynolds
Encyclopedia
Wellington J. Reynolds was a well-known Chicago portrait painter and art instructor at the Art Institute of Chicago. Educated in Chicago and Paris, he and was an award winning painter who was awarded medals for his work at the Paris Salon as well as in juried exhibitions in the United States.
which relied on the French Beaux-Arts curriculum. He was awarded first prize by the Antiques Department of the school in 1887 and a scholarship for the following term. However, before accepting his award, he married and he and his wife Frances departed for Munich where a number of the American artists studied. The couple had a boy named Ralph Reynolds. Reynolds entered the Royal Academy in Munich and studied privately with an artist named Simon Hollosy. When Frances Reynolds became ill, the family returned to the Midwest where she died in 1889. Soon afterward, Reynolds returned to Munich and records indicate that he had his young son with him. Reynolds met a young Chicago miniature painter named Virginia R. Keeney and sources indicate the pair were married in Munich shortly before the two artists left for Paris to further their studies. Wellington J. Reynolds studied at the Académie Julian where he studied under Jean-Paul Laurens
and Benjamin Constant
. Reynolds passed the difficult concours for admittance to the Ecole de Beaux Arts, the official French national academy.
Early Life and Studies
Reynolds was born on the family farm in New Lennox, Illinois, the youngest of eight children, only three of whom survived childhood. He was an artistically gifted young man and overcame hardship in order to study art. In 1885 he enrolled in the Chicago Academy of Design, which eventually became the Art Institute of ChicagoArt 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...
which relied on the French Beaux-Arts curriculum. He was awarded first prize by the Antiques Department of the school in 1887 and a scholarship for the following term. However, before accepting his award, he married and he and his wife Frances departed for Munich where a number of the American artists studied. The couple had a boy named Ralph Reynolds. Reynolds entered the Royal Academy in Munich and studied privately with an artist named Simon Hollosy. When Frances Reynolds became ill, the family returned to the Midwest where she died in 1889. Soon afterward, Reynolds returned to Munich and records indicate that he had his young son with him. Reynolds met a young Chicago miniature painter named Virginia R. Keeney and sources indicate the pair were married in Munich shortly before the two artists left for Paris to further their studies. Wellington J. Reynolds studied at the Académie Julian where he studied under Jean-Paul Laurens
Jean-Paul Laurens
Jean-Paul Laurens , was a French painter and sculptor, and one of the last major exponents of the French Academic style.Born in Fourquevaux, he was a pupil of Léon Cogniet and Alexandre Bida...
and Benjamin Constant
Benjamin Constant
Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque was a Swiss-born French nobleman, thinker, writer and politician.-Biography:...
. Reynolds passed the difficult concours for admittance to the Ecole de Beaux Arts, the official French national academy.
See also
- Art Institute of ChicagoArt Institute of ChicagoThe 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...
- Decorative ImpressionismDecorative ImpressionismDecorative Impressionism is an art historical term that is credited to the art writer Christian Brinton, who first used it in 1911. Brinton titled an article on the American expatriate painter Frederick Frieseke, one of the members of the famous Giverny Colony of American Impressionists, "The...
- American ImpressionismAmerican ImpressionismImpressionism, a style of painting characterized by loose brushwork and vivid colors, was practiced widely among American artists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.-An emerging artistic style from Paris:...
- Carl WerntzCarl WerntzCarl Newland Werntz was a well known Chicago painter, fine arts photographer, illustrator, cartoonist and educator who founded the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. Werntz was a world traveler who was a proponent of Asian art and Japonisme. Carl Werntz was born in Sterling Illinois and dies on a...