|
| William Holbrook Beard |
| 1823-1900 |
| American Artist |
| Beard was born in Painesville, Ohio. He began his career as portrait painter. In 1856, he traveled to Italy, Germany, and Switzerland with fellow artists Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Worthington Whittredge. In 1859, Beard moved to New York City and opened a studio in the renowned Tenth Street Studio Building, specially built in 1857 to house artists. Beard became an immensely popular animal painter. He painted a large variety of animals, favoring rabbits, cats, monkeys, squirrels, and especially bears. Beard was both lauded and criticized for his humorous satires in which he substituted animals for humans: He represented the condition of man and universal concerns by painting allegorical and fantasy subjects. |
|
