John Willard "Will" Clawson was an American, Utah-based artist, in the late-19th and early 20th-century.
Background
Clawson was born to Hiram B. Clawson and his wife, the former Alice Young. Alice was a daughter of Brigham Young, and Clawson was born in the blue room of the Beehive House, which was built by Brigham Young for his wives and their families.
Education
Clawson studied at the University of Deseret, among his notable teachers there was George M. Ottinger. In 1891 Clawson went to Paris where he studied at the Académie Julian and then the Ecole de Beaux Arts.
Career
He then returned to Salt Lake City where he was primarily involved in portrait painting although he preferred doing landscapes. While at the later institution he received instruction from Claude Monet and Édouard Manet. He also spent nine months in Vienne studying under Julius Stewart.
He returned to Utah in 1896 where he established a studio and served as the first secretary of the Society of Utah Artists.
However he later moved to San Francisco. His studio and $80,000 worth of art were destroyed in the 1906 earthquake, after which he relocated his practice to Los Los Angeles
From 1909-1919 Clawson practiced art in New York City and then in the later year he returned to Los Los Angeles In Los Angeles Clawson mainly painted portraits of movie and theatre stars, the later often coming from New York City.
In 1933 Clawson retired to Utah.
He was able to then focus on landscape painting, and portraits of Latter-day Saint leaders, including a portrait of Joseph Smith, Junior. he worked on the day of his death.
Membership
Before returning to the United States he also traveled to Britain where he did portraits of several members of parliament.