(1835–1918)
Born in Attleboro, Massachusetts, Lemuel Everett Wilmarth was trained as a watchmaker during his teens. He later moved to Philadelphia, where he worked in this trade while taking drawing classes at night at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He exhibited at the Academy as early as 1857, and from 1859 to 1865 he studied in Europe, first at the Royal Academy in Munich, where he came under the personal instruction of Wilhelm von Kaulbach, and then in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts. He was apparently the first American to study in the atélier of Jean-Léon Gérôme. The classicism and meticulous realism of Kaulbach and Gérôme naturally shaped Wilmarth’s painting style. Upon his return to New York, he exhibited regularly at the National Academy of Design, where his paintings were well received by the public. Wilmarth’s academic skills, demonstrated by his superb draftsmanship, clear modeling, and moderate colors, made him a sought-after painter as well as art teacher. His success in establishing an art course at the Brooklyn Academy led to his appointment as the first paid Professor of Art at the National Academy of Design. In 1870 Wilmarth was elected Director of the Academy, a prestigious position he held until 1890. Wilmarth’s active involvement in teaching left him little time to devote to his own painting and may explain why his works are so rare.
Originally a genre artist, Wilmarth made a shift to painting still life in the early 1880s. In 1882 he purchased a farm with an orchard along the Hudson River. He and his wife spent each summer there, returning to their Brooklyn residence in the winter months. From this time on, Wilmarth concentrated on painting still-life subjects, primarily of fruit, no doubt gathered from his own orchard.
Wilmarth was an influential figure in the art community of New York, not only as a respected teacher, but also as a member of numerous art associations, including the National Academy of Design (he was elected Associate in 1871, and Academician in 1873), and the Artists’ Aid Society. In 1875 he led a group of art students to establish the Art Students League of New York, where he served as the principal instructor and president until 1877.
