Featured 19th Century Painter: Edgar Spier Cameron (American 1862 – 1944) - Bedford Fine Art Gallery Blog from ArtfixDaily.com

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Featured 19th Century Painter: Edgar Spier Cameron (American 1862 – 1944)

August 23, 2021 08:12

Edgar Spier Cameron (American 1862 – 1944): Autumnal Gloaming - Oil on canvas, 39.38 x 31.38 inches/Signed lower left

Born in Ottawa, Illinois, his stepmother, a school teacher, encouraged Edgar Spier Cameron to take an interest in art and allowed him to use the blackboard to hone his skills; however, his “practical” father got him a job in a local glass factory so as to discourage his artistic bent. Eventually, Cameron and art won out—and during the summers of 1880 and 1881, he took art instruction at the Chicago Academy of Design (now the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts). With the money he saved working at the glass factory and a machine shop, he traveled to New York City in 1882 and enrolled at the Art Students League and took study with plein air artist William Merritt Chase and portraitist Thomas Wilmer Dewing. To further his education, in 1884 Cameron traveled to Paris, France to study at the Académie Julian and Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He returned to Chicago in 1886 and in 1900, applied for, and got, the job as art critic on the Chicago Tribune. In 1892 while working at the Tribune Cameron, along with other Chicago artists, was hired to work on cyclorama, “The Chicago Fire” installed in the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building for the World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago World’s Fair, 1893). After the fair closed, Cameron became one of the most successful muralists in the Mid-West--theaters, banks, courthouses and public buildings in Chicago and other Mid-west towns sported Cameron’s murals. In 1900 he left the Chicago Tribune to concentrate on his painting. Cameron was equally adept in oil, water color and pastel painting and, circa 1901, became one of the founders of the Municipal Art League of Chicago. During the 1920s he revisited Europe from which he produced a number of landscape paintings. In addition to the Municipal Art League, Cameron was a member of the Illinois Academy of Fine Arts. He exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago, 1893); Trans-Mississippi & International Exposition (Omaha, 1898); 1900 Paris Exposition; Pan-American Exposition (Buffalo, 1901); Kansas City Art Institute (1921); Century of Progress and Romany Club (1927), as well as local exhibitions in the Chicago area.

Call now to talk about your interest in this Edgar Spier Cameron painting: 724-459-0612

Jerry Hawk, Bedford Fine Art Gallery

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Bedford Fine Art Gallery

Welcome to Bedford Fine Art Gallery. Located in historic Bedford, Pennsylvania, the gallery offers a wide variety of works from some of the greatest and most well-known 19th century artists, early 20th century artists, and contemporary realism artists. You can see all of our available 19th century artwork on our Gallery page. Our current inventory boasts a wide diversity of subject matter from landscape, marine, still life, genre, American historical/political, sporting art, and animal themes. Our gallery features both American and European 19th century painters such as John Henry Dolph, George Hetzel, William Bromley III, and Barton Stone Hays, to name a few. To see more of our 19th century artists, please visit our Artists page. Good art is timeless and only you know what "wows" you. You know it when you see it and we hope you make that connection with a stunning painting from Bedford Fine Art Gallery. Thank you.