William Sergeant Kendall (born 1869 in Spuyten Duyvil, New York, died 1938 in

Hot Springs, Virginia Hot Springs is a census-designated place (CDP) in Bath County, Virginia, United States. The population as of the 2010 Census was 738. It is located about southwest of Warm Springs on U.S. Route 220. Hot Springs has several historic resorts, fo ...

), was an American painter, most famous for his evocative scenes of domestic life; his wife and three young daughters were frequent subjects in his early work.

Life

Kendall began his training at the Brooklyn Art Guild and 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.Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artists. For the length ...

. He returned to New York City in 1886 to study at the

Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school at American Fine Arts Society, 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 ...

. He moved to Europe in 1888 for further study, including a period at 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 ...

, and continued to paint, earning recognition at the

Paris Salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

in 1891. Like many American artists in France, Kendall spent his summers in Brittany and frequently painted the local peasantry. In 1892 he returned to New York and established his studio. Kendall and his family eventually moved to Newport, Rhode Island, and then to New Haven, Connecticut, where he was a professor and head of the

Yale School of Fine Arts The Yale School of Art is the art school of Yale University. Founded in 1869 as the first professional fine arts school in the United States, it grants Masters of Fine Arts degrees to students completing a two-year course in graphic design, painti ...

(now Yale School of Art) from 1913 to 1922. One of his students was

Adrien Voisin Adrien Alexandre Voisin (1890–1979), was an American sculptor. He was known for his bronze work, and had been one of the lead architectural sculptors at Hearst Castle. Early life and education Adrien Alexandre Voisin was born on May 8, 1979 i ...

. In 1901 Kendall was elected into 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 fin ...

as an Associate member and became a full Academician in 1905. He left Yale in 1922 and relocated to rural Bath County, Virginia, where he continued to paint until his death. Kendall was the recipient of numerous prizes and awards for his work; he was a member of the

National Institute of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

, and of the

U.S. Commission of Fine Arts The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States, and was established in 1910. The CFA has review (but not approval) authority over the "design and aesthetics" of all construction with ...

from 1920 to 1921. His papers from 1900 to 1936 are housed at the Smithsonian

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...

.'' Although mainly a painter, Kendall also modeled and carved sculptures throughout his career. His work is in the collection 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 ...

, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

, and the

Baltimore Museum of Art The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is an art museum that was founded in 1914. The BMA's collection of 95,000 objects encompasses more than 1,000 works by Henri Matisse anchored by the Cone Collection of ...

Personal

Kendall's first wife was painter Margaret Weston Stickney, with whom he had three daughters. They divorced in 1921. Kendall had a romantic relationship with Yale student Christine Herter, who he married in 1922, following his resignation from the university."Prof. Kendall Weds His One-Time Pupil," ''The New York Times'', August 3, 1922, p. 1

/ref> They settled in

, and built a country house named Garth Newel. It is home to the Garth Newel Music Center, and was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2013.

Gallery

File:William Sergeant Kendall - Portrait of William Howard Taft.png, William Sergeant Kendall portrait of

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

, 1914 File:Theophill Mitchell Prudden by William Sergeant Kendall.png, William Sergeant Kendall portrait of

Theophil Mitchell Prudden Theophil Mitchell Prudden (1849 – April 10, 1924) was an American pathologist, born in Middlebury, Connecticut. He graduated from the Sheffield Scientific School, Yale, in 1872 and received his M. D. from Yale School of Medicine in 1875. H ...

, 1909

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kendall, William Sergeant 1869 births 1938 deaths 19th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists American male painters 20th-century American painters Yale University faculty People from the Bronx Artists from the Bronx Painters from New York City People from Hot Springs, Virginia Painters from Virginia Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni Art Students League of New York alumni American alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts National Academy of Design members Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Students of Thomas Eakins 20th-century American male artists