Artist. William was brought to America by his parents, James and Marion Robertson Hart, from Scotland in February, 1830. William began his career as a coach and ornamental painter in Troy, New York. For several years he traveled throughout Michigan as an itinerant painter doing portraits before going to Europe to study. From 1852 on he kept a studio in New York City, working out of the 10th Street Studio Building from 1859 to 1870. He became an associate member of the National Academy of Design in 1855 and a full member in 1858. He moved to Brooklyn and became the first president of the Brooklyn Academy of Design in 1865. He was also a founder of the American Watercolor Society. His mature landscape style embraced the mannerism of the late Hudson River School by emphasizing light and atmosphere. He became particularly adept at depicting angled sunlight and foreground shadow; the best examples of this are Seashore Morning (1866) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; After the Storm (1860s) in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Last Gleam (1865) in the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia; Sunset in the Valley (1870) in a private collection, featured on pp. 82–83 of All That is Glorious Around Us: Paintings from the Hudson River School by John Driscoll; and A Quiet Nook (1885) in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C. As strong as William's technical abilities were, he is also known for his prolific and occasionally formulaic paintings of cows. Cattle were a popular decorative in Hudson River School art, and nearly every artist included them in at least some of their landscapes as diminutive symbols of man's harmonious relationship with nature. The Albany Institute of History & Art has in its collection over 400 sketches, water colors, and sketch books which were retained en masse from the artist's studio after his death, by the family of the subsequent donor. Since each piece is signed, dated, and annoted with the location of its subject, many previously unsigned and unattributed paintings are now being associated with the artist. William died at Mount Vernon, New York, in June, 1894.
Artist. William was brought to America by his parents, James and Marion Robertson Hart, from Scotland in February, 1830. William began his career as a coach and ornamental painter in Troy, New York. For several years he traveled throughout Michigan as an itinerant painter doing portraits before going to Europe to study. From 1852 on he kept a studio in New York City, working out of the 10th Street Studio Building from 1859 to 1870. He became an associate member of the National Academy of Design in 1855 and a full member in 1858. He moved to Brooklyn and became the first president of the Brooklyn Academy of Design in 1865. He was also a founder of the American Watercolor Society. His mature landscape style embraced the mannerism of the late Hudson River School by emphasizing light and atmosphere. He became particularly adept at depicting angled sunlight and foreground shadow; the best examples of this are Seashore Morning (1866) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; After the Storm (1860s) in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Last Gleam (1865) in the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia; Sunset in the Valley (1870) in a private collection, featured on pp. 82–83 of All That is Glorious Around Us: Paintings from the Hudson River School by John Driscoll; and A Quiet Nook (1885) in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C. As strong as William's technical abilities were, he is also known for his prolific and occasionally formulaic paintings of cows. Cattle were a popular decorative in Hudson River School art, and nearly every artist included them in at least some of their landscapes as diminutive symbols of man's harmonious relationship with nature. The Albany Institute of History & Art has in its collection over 400 sketches, water colors, and sketch books which were retained en masse from the artist's studio after his death, by the family of the subsequent donor. Since each piece is signed, dated, and annoted with the location of its subject, many previously unsigned and unattributed paintings are now being associated with the artist. William died at Mount Vernon, New York, in June, 1894.
Bio by: Shock
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