Gari Melchers

Julius Garibaldi Melchers (August 11 1860 - November 30, 1932) was an American artist. He was one of the leading American proponents of naturalism.

Biography

The son of German born American sculptor Julius Theodore Melchers, Gari Melchers was a native of Detroit, Michigan, who at seventeen studied art at Düsseldorf under von Gebhardt, and after three years went to Paris, where he worked at the Académie Julian and the Ecole des Beaux Arts where he studied under Lefebvre and Boulanger.Baulch, Vivian M. (January 31, 1998). [http://info.detnews.com/redesign/history/story/historytemplate.cfm?id=74&CFID=11407321&CFTOKEN=28665147 Detroit is fertile ground for art] . Michigan History, "The Detroit News". Retrieved on June 6, 2008.] Attracted by the pictorial side of Holland, he settled at Egmond. His first important Dutch picture, "The Sermon", brought him honorable mention at the Paris Salon of 1886.

He became a member of the National Academy of Design, New York; the Royal Academy of Berlin; Socit Nationale des Beaux Arts, Paris; International Society of Painters, Sculptors and Engravers, London, and the Secession Society, Munich; and, besides receiving a number of medals, his decorations include the Legion of Honor, France; the order of the Red Eagle, Germany; and knight of the Order of St Michael, Bavaria. In 1889, he and John Singer Sargent became the first American painters to win a Grand Prize at the Paris Universal Exposition. His paintings from the World Columbian Exposition (1893) held in Chicago are now in the Library at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.Columbia Encyclopedia Sixth Edition (2008). [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Melchers.html Melchers, Gari] . Retrieved on June 14, 2008.]

In 1909 he was appointed Professor of Art at the Grand Ducal Saxony School of Art in Weimar, Germany. In 1915 he returned to New York City to open a studio at the Beaux-Arts building at Bryant Park. From 1920 to 1928 he served as the president of the New Society of Artists. He spent his final years at Belmont Estate in Falmouth, Virginia, near Fredericksburg.

Besides portraits, his chief works are: "The Supper at Emmaus", in the Krupp collection at Essen; "The Family", National Gallery, Berlin; "Mother and Child", Luxembourg; and the decoration, at the Congressional Library, Washington, "Peace and War".

He died on November 30, 1932 in Virginia. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Gari Melchers, Artist, Dead. Succumbs Suddenly to Heart Attack at 72 at His Estate in Virginia. Widely Known Since 1887. Recipient of High Honors Here and in Europe, His Paintings Hang in Many Galleries. |url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60713FE345516738DDDA80894DA415B828FF1D3 |quote= |publisher=New York Times |date=December 1, 1932, Thursday |accessdate=2008-06-29 ]

Notes

References

*1911

External links

* [http://www.garimelchers.org Gari Melchers Home and Studio]