Background
Coffin, William Anderson was born on January 31, 1855 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States. Son of James Gardiner and Isabella Catharine (Anderson) Coffin.
Coffin, William Anderson was born on January 31, 1855 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States. Son of James Gardiner and Isabella Catharine (Anderson) Coffin.
He graduated with a degree in fine art from Yale University in 1874.
He also was an art critic, working for the New York Post and Harper"s Weekly. In 1917 he would be awarded the French Legion of Honor. Three years later he would move to Paris, France where he would study under Léon Bonnat.
In 1882 he moved to New York City.
The Coffin family had a farm in Jennerstown, Pennsylvania, which would appear in many of his landscape paintings. He died on October 26, 1925 in New York City.
While in Paris Coffin would exhibit his work at the Paris Salon in 1879, 1880 and 1882. Upon moving to New York, he would exhibit at the National Academy of Design and write as an art critic for Harper"s Weekly, Scribner"s Magazine, New York Post, and served as art editor for the New York Sun.
In Buffalo, New York he directed the Fine Arts Division for the Pan-American Exposition.
He served as president of the American Artists" Committee of One Hundred, which established a relief fund for families of French artists that served in World War I. In 1917 he was awarded the French Legion of Honor for his charitable work. Legacy
In 1970 his papers were donated to the Archives of American Art by Stewart Klonis, who was gifted the papers by Mistress DeWitt M. Lockman of Manorville, New New York
Notable collections
Kenyon Cox.
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Saturday Night in August – Eighth Avenue, ca. 1900; Brooklyn Museum
Gallery.
Coffin served as a member of the New York Advisory Board for the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in 1915. He was also a member of the Architectural League of New York, the Lotos Club and the National Academy of Design.