The Archers by Bryson Burroughs - Renwick Gallery - DSC08383

Henry Bryson Burroughs (8 September 1869 – November 1934) was an American artist and employee of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

. He began there as an assistant to Curator of Paintings

Roger Fry Roger Eliot Fry (14 December 1866 – 9 September 1934) was an English painter and critic, and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Establishing his reputation as a scholar of the Old Masters, he became an advocate of more recent developme ...

, and when Fry left in 1909, Burroughs assumed the role. His purchase of '' View of the Domaine Saint-Joseph'' for the museum became the first of

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...

's paintings to enter a public collection. He also purchased the ''

Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych The ''Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych'' (or ''Diptych with Calvary and Last Judgement'')Vermij et al., 362 consists of two small painted panels attributed to the Early Netherlandish artist Jan van Eyck, with areas finished by unidentifi ...

'' and '' The Harvesters'' for the Met. Before dedicating himself to painting, Burroughs was a successful racing cyclist who seriously contemplated turning professional in that discipline.

Early life

Bryson Burroughs was born in 1869 in

Hyde Park, Massachusetts Hyde Park is the southernmost neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Situated 7.9 miles south of downtown Boston, it is home to a diverse range of people, housing types and social groups. It is an urban location with suburban chara ...

; then an independent suburb of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. He grew up in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, Ohio. After high school, he began to pursue painting, and attended the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

and won a scholarship to learn in academies in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. There he worked under

Luc-Olivier Merson Luc-Olivier Merson (21 May 1846 – 13 November 1920) was a French academic painter and illustrator also known for his postage stamp and currency designs. Biography Born Nicolas Luc-Olivier Merson in Paris, France, he grew up in an artist ...

and met noted painter

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (14 December 1824 – 24 October 1898) was a French people, French Painting, painter known for his mural painting, who came to be known as "the painter for France". He became the co-founder and president of the Soci ...

and would bring him his work for advice. In 1895, Burroughs and his wife lived for several months in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, Italy. In 1909, he became the Curator of Paintings of the

Personal life

In England in 1893, Burroughs married the sculptor Edith Woodman; they remained together until her death in January 1916. His daughter Betty was married to painter Reginald Marsh from 1923 to 1933.

References

External link

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burroughs, Bryson 1869 births 1934 deaths People associated with the Metropolitan Museum of Art American male painters 19th-century American painters 20th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists