George Taylor Plowman

Background

He was born on October 19, 1869 in Le Sueur, Minnesota, United States, the son of George and Seline (Taylor) Plowman.

Education

He graduated from the University of Minnesota with the class of 1892, being one of the first students to pursue the newly established course in architecture. From 1911 to 1913 he studied in the Royal College of Art, London, under Sir Frank Short. For a period he was a pupil of Douglas Volk and of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Career

He began work under Daniel H. Burnham, chief of construction for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893. In that year he went to Paris to continue his architectural studies, and later made a sketching tour through France, England, and Italy. Returning to Paris, he had charge of an exhibit at the international exposition of 1900.

After his return to the United States, he became a draftsman in the office of Cass Gilbert in New York. He was connected with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis in 1904, and for five years was superintendent for J. G. Howard, supervising architect for the University of California at Berkeley.

Later he opened an office for himself at Berkeley. He did not take up etching until he was forty-two years old, but then became so thoroughly interested that he abandoned his architectural work. After that time he devoted himself almost exclusively to drawing and etching, for which his architectural training had been an excellent preparation. His etchings were shown in the Paris Salon, the Royal Academy, London, and in many exhibitions in the United States and England.

Many of his prints are published in sets; there are collections of French, London, Italian, and German views, besides etchings of scenes in Boston, New York, and Princeton.

During the World War he served in 1918 as divisional secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association in France, and the next year he organized and directed its art department at the University of Coblenz.

He died at his home in Cambridge, Massachussets.

Achievements

• George Taylor Plowman was co-supervising architect for the University of California. He also made many picturesque etchings of old covered bridges, in two that are especially interesting - one at Windsor, Vermont, and one at Hanover, New Hampshire, - using both drypoint and etching with most artistic effect. Besides, he was the author of two famous illustrated books, Etching and Other Graphic Arts and Manual of Etching, both of which are valuable reference works giving practical and helpful directions for making prints. He received the bronze medal at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, 1915.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Etching and Other Graphic Arts

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

Membership

He was a member of the leading art associations, the Boston and London authors' clubs, the Brooklyn Society of Etchers, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in London.

Connections

On December 25, 1895, he married Maude Houston Bell, who with three sons survived him.

Father:

George Plowman

Mother:

Seline (Taylor) Plowman

Spouse:

Maude Houston Bell

coworker:

J. G. Howard

teacher:

Frank Short