Lawton S. Parker

A portrait and landscape painter, Lawton S. Parker was a member of the Giverny Group, Six relatively young American painters who, after study in Paris, fell under the spell of Claude Monet and lived and worked for a time near his studio home in Giverny, France.

A solid, academic painter to begin with, Parker adopted what some called a new kind of impressionism. Despite Monet's influence, he did not see nature the same way as did the major French impressionists, nor did he use broken colors to convey a sense of light as they did. His was a more conventional approach, with his colors matched as closely as possible to those of nature.

Parker was born in Fairfield, Michigan in 1868. He started his long training at the Art Institute of Chicago, then went to Paris in 1889 to study at the Academie Julien with Bouguereau and Tony-Fleury. Back in New York City, he enrolled at the Art Students League and studied with Mowbray and William Merritt Chase. Then it was back to Paris for training in mural painting with Besnard and finally, in 1897, a stint at the Escole des Beaux Arts under Gerome. He also studied for a time with Whistler.

In 1913, Parker was the first American to be awarded the coveted Gold Medal at the Paris Salon. He died in Pasadena in 1954.

MEMBERSHIPS:
Allied Artists of America
Chicago Society of Artists
National Academy of Design
National Arts Club

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:
Art Institute of Chicago
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
National Collection, France