The art guys biography of william hill
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He began exhibiting at the National Academy of Design in 1828 and in 1833 he traveled to London to study old master paintings. He made extensive trips throughout New England and upstate New York. During one of these trips around 1855, he read John Ruskin’s Modern Painters, which advised “the earnest loving study of God’s work of nature” as the basis of the reform of painting.
In 1833, by the age of 21, he was elected an associate of the National Academy of Design.
(1812–1879)
John William Hill was born in London, England, the son of the engraver John Hill. He became involved with the Pre-Raphaelite movement in America and came to be considered one of its leading exponents.
From this point on he devoted himself to working directly from nature. Hill executed detailed pictures of birds’ nests and animals, as well as closely observed paintings of wildflowers, gardens, and landscapes, executed with a keen focus on minutiae.
An active member of the art community, Hill was one of the founding members of the New York Watercolor Society. By 1860, he was a close friend of Pre-Raphaelite painter Thomas C.
Farrer; by 1863, Hill was elected President of the Association for the Advancement of Truth in Art, a group dedicated to Ruskinian and Pre-Raphaelite ideals. His later paintings were completed around West Nyack, New York where he lived with his father from 1838, and where he remained until his death in 1879.
Early in his career he was a topographical artist employed by the New York State Geological Survey and later by Smith Brothers of New York City, for whom he made watercolor views of many American cities. His family immigrated to the United States in 1819 when John was seven. By 1855, Hill read John Ruskin’s Modern Painters and became deeply influenced by his aesthetic philosophy.
He immigrated with his family to the United States in 1819, and was apprenticed to his father in 1822 when his family moved from Philadelphia to New York City.
In 1833, by the age of twenty-one, Hill was elected an associate of the National Academy of Design, New York City. His family immigrated to America in 1819, initially settling in Philadelphia.
He exhibited at the National Academy of Design from 1829 until his death and also at the Brooklyn Art Association, New York from 1862 until his death.
http://whitemountainart.com/Biographies/bio_jwh.htm
Born in London, John William Hill was the son of the engraver, John Hill. He was apprenticed to his father in 1822 when his family moved from Philadelphia to New York City.
In 1888, he was posthumously honored in a work titled An Artists Memorial, written and illustrated by his artist-son, John Henry Hill.
Hill exhibited extensively at the National Academy of Design between 1829 and 1879, and at the Brooklyn Art Association between 1862 and 1884. His work can be found in prestigious collections and institutions, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts; New-York Historical Society, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, and the Thyssen-Bornamisza Collection.
John William Hill was the son of the British aquatint engraver John Hill and the father of landscape painter and engraver, John Henry Hill.
Four years later, they moved to New York where Hill began his artistic training as apprentice under his father for the next seven years. About 1855, Hill read John Ruskin’s Modern Painters and became interested in the American Pre-Raphaelite Movement, of which he came to be considered the leading spirit in America.
A versatile artist, he worked in lithography, aquatint, and watercolor.
A versatile artist, Hill worked in lithography, aquatint, and watercolor. That same year he was elected an associate of the National Academy of Design, where he exhibited regularly.
From 1836 to 1841, Hill was a topographical artist for the New York State Geological Survey and created many images for two of their natural history publications. He was later employed by the New York firm of Smith Brothers for whom he painted watercolor views of many American cities to be published as lithographs.
He made detailed pictures directly from nature, many in watercolor and executed in a stipple technique with tiny brushes normally employed for miniatures. He exhibited at the National Academy of Design from 1829 until his death and also at the Brooklyn Art Association from 1862 until his death.
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During this time, Hill worked on aquatint prints for William Guy Wall’s Hudson River Portfolio (1820-1825) and his work from this period greatly resembled Wall’s style.