Conger Metcalf (1914–1998) was an American painter. He was born in

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and northeast of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city. ...

and died in Boston, Massachusetts.AskArt biography
/ref> Metcalf began his art studies in 1932 at the Iowa

Stone City Art Colony The Stone City Art Colony was an art colony founded by Edward Rowan, Adrian Dornbush, and Grant Wood. The colony gathered on the John A. Green Estate in Stone City, Iowa during the summers of 1932 and 1933. History The colony was started b ...

, headed by American Regionalist painter

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'' (1930 ...

.Raine, K, (2003)
"Conger Metcalf biography" in ''When Tillage Begins: The Stone City Art Colony and School''
/ref> Metcalf continued his studies at

Coe College Coe College is a private liberal arts college in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was founded in 1851 and is historically affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). The college is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest and the Associat ...

in Cedar Rapids with Stone City co-founder Marvin Cone. Metcalf graduated from Coe in 1936, then attended the

School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (Museum School, SMFA at Tufts, or SMFA; formerly the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is the art school of Tufts University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusett ...

. He received an honorary doctorate degree from Coe in 1964. During his late twenties, and during his military service in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Metcalf studied European master painters in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

. This formal European influence affected his style, which differs from the earthy realism of his American Regionalist mentors. Metcalf was well-known and very active in the Boston, Massachusetts art community. Today, his works can be seen at the

Café Pamplona Café Pamplona was located at 12 Bow St. beside the intersection of Bow and Arrow Streets near Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. When it opened in 1959 it was the first café in the Square. The owner, Josefina Yanguas, ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most ...

Addison Gallery of American Art The Addison Gallery of American Art is an academic museum dedicated to collecting American art, organized as a department of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. History Directors of the gallery include Bartlett H. Hayes, Jr. (1940– ...

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in '' The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. An encyclopedia (American Engli ...

, and at the Conger Metcalf Gallery at Coe College in Cedar Rapids.

References

1914 births 1998 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters Artists from Cedar Rapids, Iowa 20th-century American male artists {{US-painter-1910s-stub