George Hand Wright (1872–1951) was an American painter, illustrator and printmaker.

Life

Born in the Fox Chase section of

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 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 ...

, the son of a blacksmith, he attended the

Spring Garden Institute Spring Garden College—founded in 1851 as the Spring Garden Institute—was a private technical college in the Spring Garden section of Philadelphia. Its building at 523-25 North Broad Street (demolished) was designed by architect Steph ...

, a local technical school, and was apprenticed to a lithographer. He studied 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.

under

Robert Vonnoh Robert William Vonnoh (September 17, 1858 – 28 December 1933) was an American Impressionist painter known for his portraits and landscapes. He traveled extensively between the American East Coast and France, more specifically the artists c ...

, where his classmates included

Robert Henri Robert Henri (; June 24, 1865 – July 12, 1929) was an American painter and teacher. As a young man, he studied in Paris, where he identified strongly with the Impressionists, and determined to lead an even more dramatic revolt against A ...

John Sloan John French Sloan (August 2, 1871 – September 7, 1951) was an American painter and etcher. He is considered to be one of the founders of the Ashcan school of American art. He was also a member of the group known as The Eight. He is best known ...

and

William Glackens William James Glackens (March 13, 1870 – May 22, 1938) was an American realist painter and one of the founders of the Ashcan School, which rejected the formal boundaries of artistic beauty laid-down by the conservative National Academy of De ...

. He moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, and his first illustration appeared in ''

Scribner's Magazine ''Scribner's Magazine'' was an American periodical published by the publishing house of Charles Scribner's Sons from January 1887 to May 1939. ''Scribner's Magazine'' was the second magazine out of the Scribner's firm, after the publication of ' ...

'' in 1893. He illustrated a number of books, and his work soon appeared regularly in magazines such as ''Scribner's, Harper's, Collier's,

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...

'', and others. He married Anne Boylan, and in 1907 they settled in

Westport, Connecticut Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along the Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 27,141 according to the 2020 U.S. Census. History ...

. He became one of the founders of its artistic community. In mid-career, he turned from commercial illustration to watercolors, pastels and etchings. He exhibited 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.

, the Brooklyn Society of Etchers, the Society of American Etchers, and a number of New York galleries. He was a member of the Society of American Etchers, the

Society of Illustrators The Society of Illustrators is a professional society based in New York City. It was founded in 1901 to promote the art of illustration and, since 1959, has held an annual exhibition. History Founding The Society of Illustrators was founded on ...

, the

Salmagundi Club The Salmagundi Club, sometimes referred to as the Salmagundi Art Club, is a fine arts center founded in 1871 in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan, New York City. Since 1917, it has been located at 47 Fifth Avenue. , its membership roster ...

and the Westport Artists. In 1939, he was elected to the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...

. Wright died in Westport in 1951. The

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

has a collection of more than one hundred of his illustrations. A biography, ''George Hand Wright: An Artist's Life Examined'' by Kirsten M. Jensen, was published in 200

File:The binding of Fenrir by George Wright.jpg, "The binding of Fenrir," illustration from Hamilton Wright Mabie, ''Norse Stories Retold from the Eddas'' (1908). File:George Hand Wright 1914.jpg, U.S. Navy recruiting poster, circa 1914-18. File:A slicker.jpg, "A Slicker", illustration from Harper's Magazine, March 1918.

Other artists named George Wright

Works by similarly-named artists are often misattributed to George Hand Wright: *George Frederick Wright (1828-1881), American portrait painter. A large collection of his work is at the

Connecticut Historical Society The Connecticut Historical Society (CHS) is a private, non-profit organization that serves as the official statewide historical society of Connecticut. Established in Hartford in 1825, the CHS is one of the oldest historical societies in the US. ...

. *George W. Wright (1834-1934), American painter of Victorian genre scenes.George W. Wright
from SIRIS. Examples of his work are at the

Hudson River Museum The Hudson River Museum, located in Trevor Park in Yonkers, New York, is the largest museum in Westchester County. The Yonkers Museum, founded in 1919 at City Hall, became the Hudson River Museum in 1948. While often considered an art museum by th ...

. *George Wright (1860-1942), British equestrian painter.

References

Sources

*Kirsten M. Jensen, ''George Hand Wright: An Artist's Life Examined'', PEN Press, 2007,

External links

*
George Hand Wright at ArtNet.George Hand Wright at AskArt.George Hand Wright at 100 Years of IllustrationGeorge Hand Wright illustrations at the Library of Congress
* ttps://myndir.uvic.ca/GHWr01.html MyNDIR (My Norse Digital Image repository)illustrations by George Hand Wright from Norse Stories: Retold from the Eddas (1882). Clicking on the thumbnail will give you the full image and information concerning it. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, George Hand 1872 births 1951 deaths Artists from Connecticut American magazine illustrators Artists from Philadelphia National Academy of Design members Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni People from Westport, Connecticut Presidents of the Society of Illustrators