Born in 1938 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, William James Glackens is one of the few Americans that are known, around the world, for their superb murals, drawing, etching, and painting.

At an early age, this artist decided that he wanted to dedicate his entire life to what he loved doing the most, which was drawing and drafting. Right out of high school, before he became established as a painter, he began working as an artist-reporter for The Philadelphia Record. In 1892, Mr. Glackens decided to enroll at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. James was an evening student in this institution. After conducting his studies there, he decided to travel, with several fellow painters, in order to enrich his knowledge.

Mr. Glackens traveled throughout Europe and then opted to reside in Paris, France for a year. In Paris, he painted independently. In 1896, he moved to New York and began to work as an illustrator. He worked for the New York World, New York Herald, and McClure’s Magazine. Even though he was able to make a decent living from doing this type of work, he really wanted to paint; therefore, he decided to exhibit his painting creations at the Allen Gallery, which helped gain him meaningful popularity.

In 1904, he married Edith Dimock, who bare him two children. Even though most of his colleagues lived a very gypsy life, he never liked engaging in this type of lifestyle. William lived a pretty peaceful life until the time of his death in 1938.

Over his lifetime, he exhibited a lot of working in different exhibits, which made him very popular around the globe. William's mature works became and are still very well-known due to their very coloristic style, such as his Soda Fountain, Portsmouth Harbor, Nude with Apple, At Mouquin’s, and Bathers at Bellport paintings.

A lot of William James Glackens paintings can be found in the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale. In this particular museum, one can have a ball looking at over 500 Glackens paintings, which cover an entire wing of the building. The Whitney Museum of American Art and the Phillips Collection also have many of Mr. Glackens paintings.

Even though he is no longer among us, this great American painter still keeps captivating people with his one-of-a-kind paintings, which have been known to run for meaningful sums. The collector Albert C. Barnes purchased many of his paintings in order to exhibit them in the Barnes Foundation that’s located in Philadelphia (William’s hometown).

View John Atkinson Grimshaw Gallery