Seymour Guy

January 16, 1824 (age 86)

Greenwich, United Kingdom

In 1854, at the age of thirty, emigrated to New York, where he made something of a reputation as a portrait painter at first but eventually determined to devote himself to genre work. Three of his paintings, ‘ Evening, “Solitaire, ” and “Supplication, " were exhibited at the Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia, 1876. To the Paris Exposition of 1878 he sent “Baby's Bed-Time” and “Learning the Gamut”. Two of his works, “Rest” and “Preparing for Tomorrow, ” were at the Paris Exposition of 1900. “Out of His Element” went into the Thomas B. Clarke collection and his “Making a Train” into the collection of Mrs. George W. Elkins of Philadelphia. His portrait of his colleague, Charles Loring Elliott, the portrait painter, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Guy’s pictures of children have been called trite and over-elaborated, but the best examples are so genuine in sentiment and so fully in sympathy with the human motive that their merits should far outweigh their defects. They are excellently drawn, and in a number of instances lamp-light or candle-light effects are rendered with striking success. His thorough English training is shown in his exact draftsmanship and choice of subjects; it is also perhaps responsible for his lack of values. For while his color is not unpleasant, it is, in common with most of the British genre painting of the period, quite innocent of those last refinements of relativity which give the greatest distinction to the work of the Dutch “little masters. ” One of the most characteristic examples of his work is "Making a Train, ” in the Elkins collection. Few more intelligent or more original pictures of child life by an American hand exist. In the attic bedroom a little girl is trying on a garment that sweeps the floor behind her. The action, posture, and expression of this ingenuous young maiden are full of natural childish grace and charm. The artificial lighting of the interior is cleverly rendered, and the accessories, especially the cross- legged cot-bed in the background, with its patchwork quilt, are triumphs of still-life work.

Seymour Joseph Guy

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painter

Background

Seymour Joseph Guy was a native of Greenwich, a parliamentary borough of London. He was born on January 16, 1824.

Education

Seymour Joseph Guy became the pupil of Buttersworth and Ambrose Jerome, London painters.

Career

In 1854, at the age of thirty, emigrated to New York, where he made something of a reputation as a portrait painter at first but eventually determined to devote himself to genre work.

Three of his paintings, ‘ Evening, “Solitaire, ” and “Supplication, " were exhibited at the Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia, 1876. To the Paris Exposition of 1878 he sent “Baby's Bed-Time” and “Learning the Gamut”. Two of his works, “Rest” and “Preparing for Tomorrow, ” were at the Paris Exposition of 1900.

“Out of His Element” went into the Thomas B. Clarke collection and his “Making a Train” into the collection of Mrs. George W. Elkins of Philadelphia.

His portrait of his colleague, Charles Loring Elliott, the portrait painter, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Guy’s pictures of children have been called trite and over-elaborated, but the best examples are so genuine in sentiment and so fully in sympathy with the human motive that their merits should far outweigh their defects.

They are excellently drawn, and in a number of instances lamp-light or candle-light effects are rendered with striking success. His thorough English training is shown in his exact draftsmanship and choice of subjects; it is also perhaps responsible for his lack of values.

For while his color is not unpleasant, it is, in common with most of the British genre painting of the period, quite innocent of those last refinements of relativity which give the greatest distinction to the work of the Dutch “little masters. ”

One of the most characteristic examples of his work is "Making a Train, ” in the Elkins collection. Few more intelligent or more original pictures of child life by an American hand exist.

In the attic bedroom a little girl is trying on a garment that sweeps the floor behind her. The action, posture, and expression of this ingenuous young maiden are full of natural childish grace and charm.

The artificial lighting of the interior is cleverly rendered, and the accessories, especially the cross- legged cot-bed in the background, with its patchwork quilt, are triumphs of still-life work.

Achievements

“Out of His Element” went into the Thomas B. Clarke collection and his “Making a Train” into the collection of Mrs. George W. Elkins of Philadelphia. His portrait of his colleague, Charles Loring Elliott, the portrait painter, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. For his four genre pictures at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St Louis, 1904 he received a gold medal; he also received a medal at the Buffalo Exposition of 1901. His pictures of child life, exhibited from time to time at the National Academy of Design between 1860 and 1900, became deservedly popular.

Membership

Seymour Joseph Guy was also a member of the American Society for Painters in Water-colors, the Artists’ Fund Society, and the Century Association.

Seymour Joseph Guy was elected associate of the Academy in 1861 and was made an academician in 1865.

Connections

Seymour Joseph Guy married Anna M. Barber, daughter of W. W. Barber, an engraver in the United States Mint at Philadelphia.

Wife:: Anna M. Barber

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Seymour Joseph Guy

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