William Guy Wall
William Guy Wall
1792 - after 1864
American painter of Irish birth. He arrived in New York in 1812, already well-trained as an artist and soon became famous for his sensitive watercolour views of the Hudson River Valley and environs (see fig.). Some of these watercolours were published as engravings by John Hill and his son John William Hill in the Hudson River Portfolio (New York, 1821–5), the first book to make Americans aware of the beauty and sublimity of their own scenery. Wall is often seen as a forerunner or early member of the HUDSON RIVER SCHOOL. Good examples of his work are the Covered Bridge across the Sacandaga River, Hadley, New York (1820; New York, NY Hist. Soc.) and the View near Hudson (1822; Yonkers, NY, Hudson River Mus.). Wall was a founder-member of the NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN, New York, and exhibited frequently at such institutions as the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, and the Apollo Association, New York. He lived in America from 1812 to 1835 and again from 1856 to 1860; little is known of the years after his final return to Ireland. His son, William Archibald Wall (1820–75), was also a landscape painter. [Mark W. Sullivan. "Wall, William Guy." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed September 15, 2014, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T090488.]
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