HARRY WILLSON WATROUS

Harry W. Watrous was born in San Francisco in 1857, but grew up in New York City. He studied in Spain in 1881, and from 1882-86, he studied at the Académie Julian in Paris with Boulanger and Lefebvre, and later with Bonnât. While in Paris, he exhibited at the Salon in 1884 and 1885.

In 1886, Watrous returned to New York and began a long career in academic portrait, genre, figure, landscape and still-life painting. He became the National Academy of Design’s president in 1933, where he won medals in the years 1894, 1929, 1931, and 1934.

After 1904, Watrous’ work became more innovative as his eyesight began to fail, and yet it is after this time that his most detailed and decorative still-lifes, with their unusual combinations of Asian objects, were produced. He continued to exhibit his work up until his death in New York City in 1940.