1884 – 1958

Biography/Description of Work

Born in Brooklyn, Pène du Bois showed a talent for drawing during high school and in 1899 enrolled in the New York School of Art, where his teacher was William Merritt Chase. He later trained with the realists Kenneth Hayes Miller and Robert Henri. Pène du Bois went to Paris to study in 1905, but returned to New York following his father’s death in 1906. It fell to him to support his family, so he found a job as an illustrator and as a music and art critic for the New York American, his father’s former employer. Pène du Bois advocated for the new movements in art, and promoted the 1913 Armory Show in a special issue of Arts and Decoration magazine, which he edited. Throughout his career, he both painted and wrote about art and was regarded as an astute critic. He was a member of the avant-garde Society of Independent Artists founded in 1916, where his work was frequently included in exhibitions, and the Whitney Studio Club, where he had his first one-person exhibition in 1918. To supplement his income, Pène du Bois began teaching in 1920 at the Art Students League, and from 1921 to 1924 he lived in Westport. He found it difficult to be productive in the raucous party scene there and moved to France until 1930, when he returned to the States. Looking for income, he taught once again at the Art Students League and in 1932 led a summer school in Stonington. In his art, he was a satirical social observer, and in his criticism a supporter of innovative art.

Sources view

https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1248.html https://www.phillipscollection.org/research/american_art/bios/penedubois-bio.htm https://www.americanheritage.com/guy-pene-du-bois ×

Associated Resource(s)

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