William Davenport Griffen (1894

Millbrook, New York Millbrook is a village in Dutchess County, New York, United States. Millbrook is located in the Hudson Valley, on the east side of the Hudson River, north of New York City. Millbrook is near the center of the town of Washington, of which it is a ...

– 1986

San Rafael, California San Rafael ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "Raphael (archangel), St. Raphael", ) is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), ...

) was an American artist and muralist.

Education

He graduated from

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

and 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 ...

and at 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 ...

. In 1928, he won the $750 John Quincy Adams scholarship to the Art Institute.

Career

He worked for the Illinois

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

. For the Treasury Department's

Section of Painting and Sculpture The Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture was a New Deal art project established on October 16, 1934, and administered by the Procurement Division of the United States Department of the Treasury. Commonly known as the Section, it was rena ...

, he painted a mural at the

Flora, Illinois Flora is a city in Clay County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,803 at the 2020 census. History Flora was founded by Samuel White. White was born September 10, 1831 in Warren County, Ohio. He and his family came to Clay County in 18 ...

post office, ''Good News and Bad'', in 1937. He painted a second post office mural in

Carmi, Illinois Carmi is a city in and the county seat of White County, Illinois, United States, along the Little Wabash River, where the population was 5,240 at the 2010 census. History Carmi post office has been in operation since 1817, and then a WPA oil on ...

titled ''Service to the Farmer'', in 1939. His works are displayed at the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

, and the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

. His work was exhibited at the Carnegie Institute, Corcoran gallery of art, Pennsylvania academy of the Fine arts and the Art Institute of Chicago and more

References

External links

* http://www.richardnortongallery.com/?loc=artists&id=670 * http://www.annexgalleries.com/artists/biography/874/Griffen/William * http://www.artic.edu/aic/libraries/research/specialcollections/aic/exhibitions/1930/1931.html
"Davenport Griffen Has Good Paintings in Current Show"
''Chicago Daily Tribune'', Eleanor Jewett, December 12, 1929 {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffen, Davenport 1894 births 1986 deaths Iowa State University alumni People from Millbrook, New York Artists from New York (state) School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni American muralists 20th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American male artists Section of Painting and Sculpture artists