Alonzo C. Webb (April 1, 1888 – 1975) was an American etcher, architect, painter and illustrator.

Birth and early life

Webb was born in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, United States, the son of Alonzo C. Webb, Sr. and Ellen Hanor. His father was supervisor of writing and drawing for the public schools in Nashville. From 1907 to 1909, he attended the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

. In 1911, he enrolled at The Stout Institute in Wisconsin, where he studied building trades in preparation for a course in architecture. From 1912 to 1913 he studied architecture at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

. During 1914 and 1915 he practised in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, winning several medals for architectural designs. He later attended the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

and worked with Dan Barber, a New York architect.

First World War and life in Europe

During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he served with the American Engineering Forces in France, first as a sergeant and then as a commissioned second Lieutenant. After the armistice in 1918 he remained in Europe, and from March to June 1919 attended the art school opened for American soldiers at the A.E.F. Art Training Center in Bellevue, France. In September 1919 he was demobilized from the army and study design in Italy and illustration in Spain and the United Kingdom. After which, he spent the next six months traveling in Europe and seeing as much art as possible until his money was exhausted. Determined to stay in France, he began looking for a way to make a living in Paris. Unable to work as an architect, he began making signs in English for the millinery shops along the

Rue de Rivoli The Rue de Rivoli (; English: "Rivoli Street") is a street in central Paris, France. It is a commercial street whose shops include leading fashionable brands. It bears the name of Napoleon's early victory against the Austrian army, at the Battle o ...

, which led in time to advertisements and designs for some of the fashionable houses along the

rue de la Paix The Rue de la Paix (English: Peace Street; ) is a fashionable shopping street in the centre of Paris. Located in the 2nd arrondissement, running north from the Place Vendôme and ending at the Opéra Garnier, it is best known for its jewellers ...

and the

Place Vendôme The Place Vendôme (), earlier known as the Place Louis-le-Grand, and also as the Place Internationale, is a square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France, located to the north of the Tuileries Gardens and east of the Église de la Madelein ...

. This led to work with a firm manufacturing heating apparatus and Webb applied his old architectural training to radiators and posters illustrating the installation of modern heating plants in Old World chateaux. About 1920, he started etching and his work began appearing frequently in the French weekly ''L’Illustration''. During the 1920s and 1930s, Webb lived and worked in both France and the United States. He etched many architectural images of France and Italian cities and American centers such as New York, Chicago, and Pittsburg. Many of Webb's European views were published and exhibited by the Marcel Guiot Gallery, Paris. In the late 1930s he moved to London, where he died in 1975.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Alonzo C. 1888 births 1975 deaths Artists from Nashville, Tennessee 20th-century American etchers Architects from Tennessee Painters from Tennessee American illustrators 20th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American male artists