Arthur Watson Sparks (1870/71,

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

- 6 August 1919,

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

) was an American

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 ...

and art teacher.

Biography

He was born to Mary and Frederick Sparks, a federal government clerk. He was apprenticed to an architect but also took private painting lessons from Howard Helmick. His progress there encouraged him to enroll at the Corcoran Art School. After some time at Corcoran the Director, E. F. Andrews, appointed him to the sensitive position of monitor in the "painting from life" (nude) art classes. In 1898 he won a design competition, along with his collaborator

J. Elfreth Watkins J. Elfreth Watkins Sr. John Elfreth Watkins Sr. (1852–1903) was Curator of Mechanical Technology at the United States National Museum (Smithsonian Institution). He received his education at Lafayette College, graduating in 1871, and worked first ...

, chief of buildings for the

United States National Museum The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, for a proposed "Hall of American Inventions" to be built at the

Exposition Universelle (1900) The Exposition Universelle of 1900, better known in English as the 1900 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate developmen ...

. As a result, he was given a place on the installation committee and went to Paris. While there, he took employment that provided him the means to study at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

with

Jean-Paul Laurens Jean-Paul Laurens (; 28 March 1838 – 23 March 1921) was a French painter and sculptor, and one of the last major exponents of the French Academic style. Biography Laurens was born in Fourquevaux and was a pupil of Léon Cogniet and Alexand ...

. After two years there, he transferred to the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

, where he studied with

Fernand Cormon Fernand Cormon (24 December 1845 – 20 March 1924) was a French painter born in Paris. He became a pupil of Alexandre Cabanel, Eugène Fromentin, and Jean-François Portaels, and one of the leading historical painters of modern France. Biograph ...

and

William Bouguereau William-Adolphe Bouguereau (; 30 November 1825 – 19 August 1905) was a French academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings, he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female ...

. He remained in Paris for ten years altogether; taking numerous trips to the Mediterranean coast and North Africa. He returned to the United States in 1908, when

Arthur Hamerschlag Arthur Arton Hamerschlag (November 25, 1872 – July 20, 1927) was an American electrical and mechanical engineer who served as the first President of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Early life He was born ...

, head of

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

's new

Carnegie Technical Schools Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

, in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, hired him to be the founding head of the Department of Painting and Illustration. Very early on, he encountered resistance to his plans for the "painting from life" class, being told that using "a cow, a dog, or a calf" would be more decent, despite the fact that Carnegie himself had no objection to nudes. He eventually prevailed, and used human models throughout his tenure there. While teaching, he continued to paint and participated in numerous exhibitions in Philadelphia, Chicago and New York. He resigned his post in 1919, intending to live at the

art colony An art colony, also known as an artists' colony, can be defined two ways. Its most liberal description refers to the organic congregation of artists in towns, villages and rural areas, often drawn by areas of natural beauty, the prior existence o ...

in New Hope, Pennsylvania; where he would join his old friend,

Edward Redfield Edward Willis Redfield (December 18, 1869 – October 19, 1965) was an American Impressionist landscape painter and member of the art colony at New Hope, Pennsylvania. He is best known today for his impressionist scenes of the New Hope area ...

. Before he got there, however, he contracted the "

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

" and died in

. His works remained little known until the 1960s, when interest in them was revived.

Selected paintings

File:Sparks-Pigs.jpg, The Pigs' Meal File:Sparks-Martigues2.jpg, A Bright Day at Martigues File:Sparks-Mills2.jpg, Steel Mills File:Sparks-Mill.jpg, The Mill at

Carversville Carversville is an unincorporated community and geographically isolated area in Solebury Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States, approximately 45 miles north of Philadelphia. It was originally a Lenape gathering placed called Aqueto ...

Sources

* * * Patricia Lowry (2007)
''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'': The Story of Rankin
Retrieved December 27, 2007. * Gerdts, William H., ''Art across America: Two Centuries of Regional Painting 1710-1920''. New York: Abbeville Press, 1990, vol. 1, pp. 295–297

External links

Arthur Watson Sparks webpage

Biography
@ The Worlds Artist {{DEFAULTSORT:Sparks, Arthur Watson 1870s births 1919 deaths Deaths from the Spanish flu pandemic in Pennsylvania 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters Carnegie Mellon University faculty Painters from Pittsburgh Académie Julian alumni Painters from Washington, D.C. American alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts Corcoran School of the Arts and Design alumni