Adam Emory Albright (August 15, 1862 – September 13, 1957) was a

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

of figures in

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

s. He was born in

Monroe, Wisconsin Monroe, known as "the Swiss Cheese Capital of the USA", is a city in and the county seat of Green County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 10,661 at the 2020 census. The city is bordered by the Town of Monroe to the north and the T ...

and spent his working life in Warrenville and the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

area.

Early years

Albright studied at the

Chicago Academy of Fine Arts The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

(later the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

) and under

Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artists. For the length ...

, but also in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

during the nineteenth century. Albright began as a landscape painter but moved to strongly foregrounding individuals in most of his paintings. A particular interest for his paintings was children. He painted in

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

s, using almost

pastel A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those use ...

tones and visible brush-strokes, creating realistic paintings that approached

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

in style. Themes portrayed by the man called the

James Whitcomb Riley James Whitcomb Riley (October 7, 1849 – July 22, 1916) was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the "Hoosier Poet" and "Children's Poet" for his dialect works and his children's poetry. His ...

of the brush include country children at quiet play, at rest, and walking. Many country scenes were from the town of Warrenville and then-rural areas of what is now Chicago. In the early part of the twentieth century, Albright was an established Chicago-area artist, commanding $1,500 for a canvas and often serving on the jury for the annual Chicago and vicinity exhibition at the

Chicago Art Institute The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and list of largest art museums, largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visit ...

Later life

Albright later married Clara Wilson Albright, and they had three sons, including twins Malvin, who became a sculptor, and

Ivan Ivan () is a Slavic languages, Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John (given name), John) from Hebrew language, Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. T ...

, who became the most prominent Chicago artist of the time. Ivan was commissioned by MGM to create the portrait from the film, ''

The Picture of Dorian Gray ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is a philosophical fiction, philosophical novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American periodical ''Lippincott's Monthly Magazine''.''Th ...

''. Malvin also submitted a painting that was not used for the film. In 1924, Albright acquired a vacant church building on Second Street in Warrenville. He and his two sons operated the Albright Gallery of Painting and Sculpture. In 1981, the building was acquired by the city and after extensive renovations, it was converted into th
Albright Studio museum
by the Warrenville Historical Society. As an elderly man, Albright decided to sell his paintings on monthly installments to be paid as long as he lived, so that he would have an insured retirement income. Many people thought they would get his paintings at a very low price since he was already an old man, but his longevity served him well. He died at age 95 at his home in Warrenville.

Bibliography

* ''My Land. My Country. My Home.''

Albany, N.Y. Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York Cit ...

C. F. Williams & son, 1915. * ''For Art’s Sake.'' Warrenville, Ill. Priv. printed, 1953. *
Albright Studio museum
'' Warrenville, Illinois. Retrieved 3/13/2012

References

External links

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20051216045944/http://www.rhlovegalleries.com/site/epage/23502_472.htm Albright, Adam, E at RHLovegalleries.com* http://cafe.daum.net/pathwithheart {{DEFAULTSORT:Albright, Adam Emory 1862 births 1957 deaths 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni People from Monroe, Wisconsin People from Warrenville, Illinois Albright family Painters from Wisconsin Painters from Illinois 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists