Edward Gay (1837-1928) American
Birthplace/Origin: Dublin, Ireland
Biography/Statement:
Edward B. Gay was born in Dublin, Ireland on 25 April 1837 and immigrated with his family to Albany, New York in 1848. Three local Albany artists, James and William Hart and George Boughton, recognized Gay’s talent when he was a child and encouraged him to pursue his talents.
Gay traveled to Europe and settled in Karlsruhe, Germany in 1862 where he studied with historical painters Johann Schirmer and Karl Friedrich Lessing. He returned to the United States in 1864, and began devoting his time to painting landscapes. Gay moved with his wife and children to Mount Vernon, New York and incorporated the magnificent landscapes into his work.
An active participant in the Albany art community, he was first influenced by the Hudson River School. However, during a trip to Europe he encountered the work of John Constable of the Barbizon School and was struck by the “new Progressive spirit” of Constable’s work. While traveling through England and France, he discovered “new approaches to color and light.”
He began spending time at the artist colony of Cragsmoor, New York where he bought a summer home in 1905. Despite his influences and training with artists of the Barbizon school and others, Gay identified with no particular school or category; rather, he “[painted] what he saw – no more, no less.”
He died in Mount Vernon in 1928.
Studied
In Albany James and William Hart and George Boughton
In Karlsruhe, Germany with Johann Schirmer and Karl Friedrich Lessing
MEMBER
National Academy of Design, (Associate, 1868; Full Academician, 1907)
New York Watercolor Club
Art Fund Society
Lotos Club
Century Association
Union League Club, NY
EXHIBITED
Brooklyn Art Association, 1868-1886, 1891
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1876, 1890, 1895-1898
American Artists Association, 1887 (prize)
Midwinter Exhibition, San Francisco, 1885 (medal)
New Orleans Exposition, 1885 (medal)
Art Institute of Chicago, 1888, 1889, 1895, 1898, 1900, 1902, 1904, 1908, 1910, 1916
Pan-America Exposition, Buffalo, 1901 (medal)
Society of American Artists, 1903 (Shaw Prize)
St. Louis Exposition, 1904 (medal)
National Academy of Design, 1867-1918, 1921, 1927, 1929 (1905, gold medal)
Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1908
WORK
Mount Vernon Public Library, Mount Vernon, NY
F. R Chambers Library, Bronxville, NY
Layton Museum, Milwaukee
Layton School of Art, Milwaukee
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Minneapolis Museum of Fine Arts
National Gallery of Art
Art Institute of Chicago
Montclair Art Museum
New York Historical Society
Smith College Museum of Art
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Mattatuck Historical Society
Minnesota Museum of Art, St. Paul
Union League Club, NY
George Walter Vincent Smith Museum, Springfield, MA
Canajoharie Library & Art Gallery, Canajoharie, NY
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City
New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, NY
Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute
Tewksberry Collection, NY
Governor’s Mansion, Albany, NY
Mount Vernon High School, Mount Vernon, NY
Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
Westchester Woman’s Club, Mount Vernon, NY