Ernest Hemingway and Henry Strater, Bahamas, 1935

Henry "Mike" Strater (1896–1987) was an American painter, and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

. He was a friend of

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...

and other figures of the Lost Generation. He was known for his portraiture, figurative, and landscape drawings and paintings. Strater founded the Ogunquit Museum of American Art in Ogunquit,

Maine Maine () is a U.S. state, state in the New England and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and territories of Canad ...

in either 1952 or 1953.

Early life and education

Henry Strater was born on January 21, 1896, in Louisville,

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virgini ...

. He attended

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

. While attending Princeton he befriend

F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...

. Strater was Fitzgerald's inspiration for the character "Burne Halliday" from the novel ''This Side of Paradise'' (1920). During 1917 and

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, Strater enlisted in the French Red Cross and drove ambulances. In 1919 he returned to the United States to studied at the Art Students League of New York and

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and Private university, private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

. He also took some classes at

Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (RABASF; ), located on the Calle de Alcalá in the heart of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery. A public law corporation, it is integrated together with other Spanish royal acad ...

in Madrid. In the 1920s, Strater studied at the

Académie de la Grande Chaumière The Académie de la Grande Chaumière is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. History The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the Académ ...

in the

Montparnasse Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. Montpar ...

district of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, under Edouard Vuillard. While in Paris, Strater met Hemingway in a bar, where they had a brawl. Later they became friends and Strater painted two portraits of Hemingway in late 1922 while still in Paris.

Career

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works includ ...

had Strater illustrate part of the book, ''

The Cantos ''The Cantos'' by Ezra Pound is a long, incomplete poem in 120 sections, each of which is a ''canto''. Most of it was written between 1915 and 1962, although much of the early work was abandoned and the early cantos, as finally published, date ...

''. His friendship with Hemingway ended in 1935, over a

Time magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on M ...

photo of Marlin fishing that incorrectly credited Hemingway with catching Strater's oversized fish. Hemingway did not correct the issue. In either 1952 or 1953, Strater founded the Ogunquit Museum of American Art in Ogunquit, Maine.

Death and legacy

He died at the age of 91 on December 21, 1987, in Palm Beach. He is buried at the First Parish Cemetery in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

, Maine. Strater's work can be found in museums including the Chrysler Museum of Art,

Harvard Art Museums The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

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 mil ...

, Detroit Institute of Arts, and Princeton University Art Museum.

References

External links

* , has photos {{DEFAULTSORT:Strater, Henry 1896 births 1987 deaths American male painters Artists from Louisville, Kentucky Princeton University alumni Art Students League of New York alumni Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni People from Palm Beach, Florida American illustrators