Henry Lee McFee
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Henry Lee McFee (April 14, 1886 – March 19, 1953) was a pioneer American
cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
painter and a prominent member of the Woodstock artists colony.


Biography

McFee was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1886. From 1902 to 1905, he attended
Kemper Military School Kemper Military School & College was a private military school located in Boonville, Missouri. Founded in 1844, Kemper filed for bankruptcy and closed in 2002. The school's motto was "Nunquam Non Paratus" (Never Not Prepared). The 46-acre camp ...
in Boonville, Missouri. In 1907, he inherited a large sum of money, allowing him to enroll in the Stevenson Art School and pursue painting full-time. He was heavily influenced by the two summers he spent attending classes at the Art Students League in
Woodstock, New York Woodstock is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, NY. It lies within the borders of the Catskill Park. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 census, down from 6,241 in 20 ...
, studying under
L. Birge Harrison Lovell Birge Harrison (October 28, 1854, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – 1929) was an American genre and landscape painter, teacher, and writer. He was a prominent practitioner and advocate of Tonalism. Life Born in Philadelphia, Birge Harrison w ...
. In November 1913, McFee exhibited six works at the MacDowell Club. In 1919, McFee was one of the founders of the Woodstock Artists’ Association, along with
Andrew Dasburg Andrew Michael Dasburg (4 May 1887 – 13 August 1979) was an American modernist painter and "one of America's leading early exponents of cubism". Biography Dasburg was born in 1887 in Paris. He emigrated from Germany to New York City wit ...
, Carl Eric Lindin, John Carlson, and Frank Swift Chase. In 1920, his work was shown at the Gallerie Georges Petit's International Art Exhibition in Paris. McFee's first one-man show was in 1927 at the Rehn Galler. In 1939 McFee was appointed Director at the Witte Museum School of Art, which was sponsored by the San Antonio Art League. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1940, and in 1940-1941 he held positions at
Claremont Graduate School The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges which includes five undergraduate ( Pomona College, Claremont McKenna C ...
and the
Chouinard Art Institute The Chouinard Art Institute was a professional art school founded in 1921 by Nelbert Murphy Chouinard (1879–1969) in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. In 1961, Walt and Roy Disney guided the merger of the Chouinard Art I ...
in
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. He works closely with fellow Los Angeles artist and teacher Bentley Schaad. McFee was married to Aileen Fletcher Jones from 1916 to 1936, when he eloped with her niece, Eleanor Brown Gutsell. McFee's synchromist and cubist influenced works were exhibited at many notable venues throughout his career, including the Carnegie Institute, the
Pennsylvania Academy The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and Private university, private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
, the
Corcoran Gallery The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Desi ...
, the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
, and the
Whitney Museum 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 (1875–194 ...
. McFee died in 1953 of
pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
at St. Luke Hospital in Pasadena, California.


References


Further reading

* Henry Lee McFee and Formalist Realism in American Still Life. 1923-1936. By John Baker. Center Gallery. Lewisburg. 1987. * Henry Lee McFee (American Artists Series). By Virgil Barker. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. 1931. * Henry Lee McFee. By Arthur Millier. Scripps College, Claremont, Calif., 1950.


External links


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{{DEFAULTSORT:McFee, Henry Lee 1886 births 1953 deaths 19th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists American male painters 20th-century American painters Artists from St. Louis Modern painters 20th-century American male artists