Ernest William Watson (January 14, 1884,

Conway, Massachusetts Conway is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,761 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Conway was first settled by English colonists ...

– January 23, 1969,

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...

) was an American painter, illustrator and writer.

Biography

He graduated from the Massachusetts Normal School of Art in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

in 1906, and received his teacher-education degree the following year from the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was founded in 1887 ...

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behi ...

, where he later taught, in 1907. In 1911, he married one of his students, Eva Auld. They had two sons, Lyn (Merlin) Auld Watson and painter Aldren Auld Watson (1917–2013). Watson married for a second time in New York City, in April 1949, to Eve Brian. In 1915, Watson co-founded the Berkshire Summer School of Art in

Monterey, Massachusetts Monterey is a small town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,095 at the 2020 census. History Prior to settlement by European-America ...

, where he remained active in teaching summer sessions until 1927. He was a member of the

Prairie Print Makers The Prairie Print Makers was a society of print artists and collectors headquartered in Wichita Kansas and active from 1930 to 1966. Formed by a group of Kansas artists, its objective was "to further the interest of both artists and laymen in pri ...

, the Rochester Print Club, the

National Sculpture Society Founded in 1893, the National Sculpture Society (NSS) was the first organization of professional sculptors formed in the United States. The purpose of the organization was to promote the welfare of American sculptors, although its founding members ...

, the

Society of Illustrators The Society of Illustrators is a professional society based in New York City. It was founded in 1901 to promote the art of illustration and, since 1959, has held an annual exhibition. History Founding The Society of Illustrators was founded on ...

, and the

Salmagundi Club The Salmagundi Club, sometimes referred to as the Salmagundi Art Club, is a fine arts center founded in 1871 in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan, New York City. Since 1917, it has been located at 47 Fifth Avenue. , its membership roster ...

. He was also editor of ''

American Artist A list by date of birth of historically recognized American fine artists known for the creation of artworks that are primarily visual in nature, including traditional media such as painting, sculpture, photography, and printmaking, as well as ...

'' and ''

Scholastic Magazine Scholastic may refer to: * a philosopher or theologian in the tradition of scholasticism * ''Scholastic'' (Notre Dame publication) * Scholastic Corporation, an American publishing company of educational materials * Scholastic Building, in New Yor ...

''. Watson was awarded a Gari Melchers Memorial Medal from the Artist's Fellowship in 1960. His work is in the collections of the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

, the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown ...

, the

Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United Stat ...

La Salle University Art Museum The La Salle University Art Museum is located in the basement of Olney Hall at La Salle University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The museum features six galleries. Collections include European and American art from the Renaissance to the present. ...

, the Memorial Art Gallery at the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants Undergraduate education, undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Doctorate, do ...

, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The librar ...

, the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of ch ...

, the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds ...

and the

Wichita Art Museum The Wichita Art Museum is an art museum located in Wichita, Kansas, United States. The museum was established in 1915, when Louise Caldwell Murdock’s Will which created a trust to start the Roland P. Murdock Collection of art in memory of her ...

Publications

*''Art of Pencil Drawing'' *''Composition in Landscape and Still Life'' *''Creative Perspective for Artists and Illustrators'' *''Linoleum Block Printing'' *''Color and Method in Painting'' *''Ernest W. Watson's Sketch Diary'' *''The Watson Drawing Book''

References

External links

Images of Watson’s works held in the Smithsonian Museum

Collection information, Ernest William Watson papers, 1949–1965Digital copies of works by Watson held by the Internet Archive
* http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2021/07/video-of-ernest-watson.html * https://ernestwwatson.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Ernest William 1884 births 1969 deaths 20th-century American educators 20th-century American illustrators 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American male artists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American printmakers 20th-century people from Massachusetts 20th-century people from New York (state) American art writers American founders American magazine editors American male journalists American male painters Artists from New Rochelle, New York Educators from Massachusetts Founders of American schools and colleges Massachusetts College of Art and Design alumni Monterey, Massachusetts Painters from Brooklyn Painters from Massachusetts People from Berkshire County, Massachusetts People from Conway, Massachusetts Pratt Institute alumni Pratt Institute faculty Writers from Brooklyn Writers from New Rochelle, New York Writers from Massachusetts

Biography

Publications

See also

References

External links