An Appreciation:
​John White Alexander

John White Alexander was a prominent American artist at the turn of the 20th century. During his lifetime, he was famed for his portrait paintings but is best known today for his unique paintings of women.

Alexander was born in 1856 in Alleghany, Pennsylvania, now part of Pittsburgh. Orphaned at age five, the boy went to work as an office boy in the local office of the Pacific and Atlantic Telegraph Company. A company vice president, Colonel Edward Jay Allen took an interest in the boy and brought him into his home. As Alexander's legal guardian, he ensured that the boy finished high school. While living with the Allens, Alexander painted several portraits of family members including Colonel Allen.

At 18, Alexander moved to New York City where he went to work in the art department of Harper's Weekly. This was a Golden Age of illustration and artists such as Howard Pile worked at Harper's. Despite such formidable competition, Alexander rose from office boy to illustrator. Impressed by young Alexander's abilities, two of his more senior colleagues urged Alexander to save his money in order to study art in Europe.

Heeding such advice, Alexander enrolled at the Royal Academy of Art in Munich, where he won a prize for drawing. However, Alexander soon moved to Polling, Germany where a colony of American artists was at its peak. There, he met William Merritt Chase and became friends with Frank Duverneck. After about a year, Alexander and Duverneck traveled to Venice where Alexander met James McNeill Whistler. Alexander became good friends with Whistler and was very influenced by both his style and philosophy of art for art's sake.

Returning to New York in 1881, Alexander resumed working for Harper's. At the same time, he started to receive portrait commissions. One such commission was for portraits of prominent authors and poets including Oliver Wendell Holmes, Thomas Hardy and Robert Louis Stevenson. Alexander's portrait of Walt Whitman was a breakthrough that projected Alexander to prominence and commissions rolled in from the rich and famous.

Around this time, he met Elizabeth Alexander. Although they had the same surname, they were not related. They married in 1887 and subsequently had one son.

In late 1889, Alexander became seriously ill and after his recovery, the Alexanders traveled to Paris, which it was believed had a better climate for his health. Alexander soon became a prominent part of the Paris art scene, exhibiting works at the Societe Nationale des Beaux Arts. In addition, Alexander exhibited with various groups across Europe that were rebelling against the art establishment including Gustave Klimt's Vienna Secession.

He became friends with Auguste Rodin and rekindled his friendship with Whistler. Although he still believed in Whistler's view that art need not tell a story or convey a moral, Alexander's style was evolving, influenced in part by the Art Noveau movement.

Like John Singer Sargent, Alexander's portraits were in great demand by the leading members of society. In addition, he painted pictures of middle and upper class women going about their daily lives. These were not meant as portraits or as social commentary but rather attempts to capture both the outer and inner the beauty of these women.

Alexander returned to the United States most summers while he was living in Paris. One of the projects that he worked on during these journeys was a series of murals for the Library of Congress building in Washington D.C.

The Alexanders returned to the United States permanently in 1900. Through their friendship with actress Maude Adams, both Alexanders became involved in the theater. John designed stage settings while Elizabeth designed costumes.

Commissions for portraits and murals, including one from the Carnegie Institute calling for 67 panels, continued to be plentiful.

At the same time, Alexander worked to promote the arts. He served as a trustee for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Public Library. In 1909, he became president of the National Academy of Design. He also worked with groups seeking to help American high school students who were interested in art and to help young American artists who wanted to exhibit in Europe.

Alexander died in 1915 at the age of 59. During his lifetime, he won numerous honors and medals including the Legion of Honor.

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Above: "Portrait of Walt Whitman."

Below: "Portrait of Elizabeth Alexander."

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Above: Alexander painted numerous studies of women.

Below: "Landscape, Cornish N.H."   

Above: Alexander's charcoal portrait of his friend James McNeill Whistler.

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Artist appreciation - John White Alexander