Molly Guion (23 September 1910 – 1982) was an American portrait painter. She taught at 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 ...

Early life and education

Molly Guion was born in

New Rochelle New Rochelle ( ; in ) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately from Midtown Manhattan. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the 7th-largest city and 2 ...

, New York on 23 September 1910. Her parents were Clarence Child and Georgia Palmer (Beardsley) Guion. She attended the

Sea Pines School of Charm and Personality for Young Women The Sea Pines School of Charm and Personality for Young Women was a coed boarding school located in Brewster, Massachusetts Brewster is a New England town, town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, Barnstable County being coex ...

in Brewster, Massachusetts and

Montgomery College Montgomery College (MC) is a Public college, public community college in Montgomery County, Maryland. The school was founded in 1946 as Montgomery Junior College. Four years later, it absorbed the 57-year-old Bliss Electrical School, which b ...

. She then studied at the

Grand Central School of Art The Grand Central School of Art was an American art school in New York City, founded in 1922 by the painters Edmund Greacen, Walter Leighton Clark and John Singer Sargent. It closed in 1944. History The school was established and run by the Gra ...

. She was taught by Dimitri Romanovsky.

Career

Guion was initially unsuccessful as a portrait painter in New York. She travelled to Britain to look for work, and was successful there in making contacts and having work commissioned by well-known people. She "spent several years “painting lords and dukes, staying in castles, having a marvelous time"". She painted

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

in 1946. She was commissioned to paint The Queen's Beasts at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

in 1953. An exhibition of twenty-three of her portraits, titled ''Tradition and Pageantry in Britain'', was held in

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

and then toured the United States in 1952. In 1977, her rate for portraits was $1,000 to $4,000, with her gallery retaining a third as commission. Guion taught at the

. Her work is held in the

Government Art Collection The Government Art Collection (GAC) is the collection of artworks owned by the UK government and administered by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The GAC's artworks are used to decorate major government buildings in the UK and ...

, at the Black Watch Museum at Balhousie Castle and at Orkney Museum. Her painting of

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

, completed in 1953, was bought by the Wardroom Officers of the Royal Naval Barracks at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

. One of her several portraits of

Thomas E. Dewey Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 47th Governor of New York from 1943 to 1954. He was the Republican Party's nominee for president of the United States in 1944 and ...

is at the Hall of Governors at the

New York State Capitol The New York State Capitol, the seat of the Government of New York State, New York state government, is located in Albany, New York, Albany, the List of U.S. state capitals, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The seat ...

Later life and death

She married John Borden Smyth, a naval officer, in 1957. They lived in

Rye, New York Rye is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, within the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area. It received its charter as a city in 1942, making it the most recent such charter in the state. Its area of ...

, in a house which Guion believed to be haunted. Guion died in 1982.

References

External links

Guion at ArtUK

Picture of Guion painting the Queen's Beasts in 1953
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guion, Molly 1910 births 1982 deaths 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women artists People from New Rochelle, New York People from Rye, New York Art Students League of New York faculty American women academics