Background
He was born at Woodbury, N.J., on May 25, 1876.
He was born at Woodbury, N.J., on May 25, 1876.
He graduated from Germantown Academy in 1891, and studied at Drexel Institute in Philadelphia in 1894 and 1895. Further study was made possible by the award of the Cresson Traveling Scholarship by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1896. In 1899, Addams entered the AcadémieAcademie Carmen, Paris, of James Abbott McNeill Whistler.
In 1901 Whistler appointed him an apprentice, and until 1906 Addams assisted young pupils of Whistler. The influence of this master appeared in Addams' oils, water colors, and pastels. After leaving Whistler's academy, he continued his painting in Belgium, Holland, Spain, Italy, and England. He served in the Royal Navy between 1914 and 1919. Portrait of the Artist's Wife and Decoration, in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, and Washington Square are his best-known canvases. Addams executed the murals in the City Hall council chamber, Asheville, N.C. He won a bronze medal at the Panama Pacific International Exposition (1915) and many other awards. His works hang in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, in Chicago galleries, and in the Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. He died in New York, Nov. 7, 1942.