James Ormsbee Chapin (9 July 1887 – 12 July 1975) was an American painter and illustrator. He was the father of jazz musician

Jim Chapin James Forbes Chapin ( ) (July 23, 1919 – July 4, 2009) was an American jazz drummer and the author of books about jazz drumming. He was the author of several albums (later converted to CDs) on jazz drumming, as well as 2 CDs entitled ''Jim Cha ...

and grandfather of folk singer

Harry Chapin Harold Forster Chapin (; December 7, 1942 – July 16, 1981) was an American singer-songwriter, philanthropist, and hunger activist best known for his folk rock and pop rock songs. He achieved worldwide success in the 1970s. Chapin, a Grammy ...

Life

Chapin was born in

West Orange, New Jersey West Orange is a suburban township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 48,843, an increase of 2,636 (+5.7%) from the 46,207 counted in the 2010 Census.

, to James A. Chapin and Delia S. Ryder. He studied at

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

, the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

, and abroad at the Royal Academy of Antwerp, Belgium. Early in his career he won the Temple Gold Medal of the Pennsylvania Academy for his portrayals of the Marvin Family. Chapin executed numerous portraits of well-known public figures; at least five of his portraits were commissioned by ''

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' as cover art. Other illustrators of ''Time'' covers during the period from 1942 to 1966, which has been called the golden age of ''Time'' covers, included

Boris Artzybasheff Boris Mikhailovich Artzybasheff (russian: , 25 May 1899, Kharkiv, Russian Empire – 16 July 1965) was a Ukrainian illustrator active in the United States, notable for his strongly worked and often surreal designs. Life and career Artzybasheff wa ...

Robert Vickrey Robert Remsen Vickrey (August 26, 1926 – April 17, 2011) was a Massachusetts-based artist and author who specialized in the ancient medium of egg tempera. His paintings are surreal dreamlike visions of sunset shadows of bicycles, nuns in f ...

Bernard Safran Bernard Safran (June 3, 1924 – October 14, 1995) was an American painter known for his realistic portraits and scenes of everyday life in New York and in rural Canada. He created many portraits for Time magazine covers, with subjects that includ ...

and

Boris Chaliapin Boris Chaliapin (Russian: Борис Фёдорович Шаля́пин; September 22, 1904 – May 18, 1979) was an artist for ''Time'' magazine, for which he illustrated more than 400 covers, from 1942 (Jawaharlal Nehru) to Richard Nixon). Bac ...

. Chapin's works have been acquired by many private collectors and for the permanent collections of the many institutions such as The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (where he taught portraiture),

The Phillips Collection The Phillips Collection is an art museum founded by Duncan Phillips (art collector), Duncan Phillips and Marjorie Acker Phillips in 1921 as the Phillips Memorial Gallery located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Phillips was the ...

The Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

The Newark Museum The Newark Museum of Art (formerly known as the Newark Museum), in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, United States, is the state's largest museum. It holds major collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia, A ...

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

, The Dallas Museum of Art, Texas; The Asheville Art Museum, The Currier Gallery of Art, The Five College Museums Collections, The Harvard Art Museums, and The Indianapolis Museum of Art. Chapin had a significant impact on the early history of Regionalists Thomas Hart Benton,

John Steuart Curry John Steuart Curry (November 14, 1897 – August 29, 1946) was an American painter whose career spanned the years from 1924 until his death. He was noted for his paintings depicting rural life in his home state, Kansas. Along with Thomas Hart B ...

, and

Grant Wood Grant DeVolson Wood (February 13, 1891 February 12, 1942) was an American painter and representative of Regionalism, best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest. He is particularly well known for '' American Gothic'' (193 ...

with his 1920's series of portraits of the Marvin family. His work was also part of the painting event in the art competition at the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held duri ...

. Chapin married Abby Beal Forbes in New York in 1918. They had one son, James Forbes Chapin, who became a celebrated jazz drummer and was the father of singer-songwriter

. Chapin and Forbes later divorced. While teaching in California in the late 1930s, Chapin met Mary Fischer; they married in 1941. Largely due to his opposition to United States foreign policy in Southeast Asia, he moved to Canada in 1969, and died in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in 1975.Eldredge, Charles C. "Tales from the Easel: American Narrative Paintings from Southeastern Museums, circa 1800-1950" University of Georgia Press, 2004, pg. 96.

Legacy

The James Ormsbee Chapin Papers, which contain correspondence, sketches, articles, reproductions, and proofs, were donated to the

Delaware Art Museum The Delaware Art Museum is an art museum located on the Kentmere Parkway in Wilmington, Delaware, which holds a collection of more than 12,000 objects. The museum was founded in 1912 as the Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts in honor of the artis ...

in 1994.

References

Sources

* Chapin, James. "The Seven Ages of a Physician: A Series of Seven Paintings" Ciba Pharmaceutical Products, Inc, 1943. * Eldredge, Charles C. "Tales from the Easel: American Narrative Paintings from Southeastern Museums, circa 1800-1950" University of Georgia Press, 2004.

External links

James Chapin works at The Indianapolis Museum of ArtJames Chapin works at The Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield Museum ConsortiumJames Chapin works at The Currier Museum of ArtJames Chapin works at The Asheville Art MuseumJames Chapin works at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine ArtsJames Ormsbee Chapin page
at anyoldkindofday.com, Harry Chapin fan wiki *
James Ormsbee Chapin Papers, Helen Farr Sloan Library & Archives, Delaware Art Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapin, James Ormsbee People from West Orange, New Jersey 1887 births 1975 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters American illustrators Art Students League of New York alumni Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp) alumni Artists from New Jersey Olympic competitors in art competitions 20th-century American male artists