Painstaking, the Secret of a Celebrated Painter’s Success.
UNDOUBTEDLY the best-known American artist is Edwin Austin Abbey. He
has done more than any other man to spread the fame of American art
in Europe. He has proceeded, step by step, from his early youth, when
he earned fifteen dollars a week as a “hack-artist,” until he ranks
as the greatest living decorative painter. The history of his life
is an inspiration to students, as it furnishes striking evidence of
what hard work and self-confidence can accomplish in the field of art.
Mr. Abbey advanced gradually from water-colors and pen-sketching to
oil-painting, pastel and fine decorative work. Although he is a very
prolific artist, he has maintained a surprising degree of excellence.
His work breathes forth his personality, and shows the character of the
man; there is confidence in every line. His taste is as fine, as his
art and execution are perfect, and he has an extraordinary degree of
comprehension and receptivity, due to his American blood.
Mr. Abbey has scholarly ability and intense application, but they
would have availed him little if they had not seconded a talent of
the most unusual order, and an individuality which is so personal
that it may be said of him that he resembles no other living painter.
It is only natural that he should have gained success in his chosen
line of work, for his heart has been in it from his boyhood days.
His earnest efforts have always been appreciated both in Europe and
America. Only two seasons after he went to live in England, he was
elected a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colors. In
1889, he received a first-class medal at the Paris Exposition, and, in
1896, he was honored by an associate membership in the Royal Academy.
Two years later he was received into full membership, though John R.
Sargent, his fellow-countryman, had to wait three years. Mr. Abbey was
honored by King Edward VII with a commission to paint the coronation
scene in Westminster Abbey, and by the Pennsylvania legislature with a
commission to decorate the new state capitol at Harrisburg.