biography of Alexander HARRISON (1853-1930)

Birth place: Phila., PA

Death place: Paris, France

Addresses: Paris, France/NYC, Woodstock, NY

Profession: Marine and landscape painter

Studied: PAFA, c.1872; San Fran. Sch. Des., with Virgil Williams, Raymond Yelland, 1878-79; …cole des Beaux-Arts, Bastien-Lepage and Gérome, 1879; Acad. Julian, Paris, 1879.

Exhibited: Paris Salon, 1880-89 (prize, 1885); NAD, 1882-83; PAFA, 1882-88, 1891-1916 (med., 1887); Boston AC, 1883, 1896, 1902, 1903; Paris Expo., 1889 (gold); SNBA, 1890-97; AIC; Munich Salon, 1891 (med.); Brussels, 1892 (med.); Ghent, 1892 (med.); Vienna (med.); Berlin (med.); NAD, 1881-83, 1902-17; Corcoran Gal., 1907-08, 1910, 1912. Awards: Chevalier of Legion of Honor (1889), Officer (1901), Officer Public Instruction, by French Govt.

Member: Bohemian Club; SAA, 1885; ANA, 1898; NA, 1901; AC Phila.; Paris SAC; Century Assoc.; Phila. WCC; Cercle d'Union Artistique; Soc. Nat. des Beaux-Arts; Royal Inst. Painters in Oil Colours, London; Soc. Secessionist, Berlin and Munich; NIAL.

Work: MMA; PAFA; CGA; AIC; St. Louis Mus.; Quimper Mus., France; Royal Gal., Dresden; Wilstach Gal., Phila.; St. Paul Inst.; MusÈe d"Orsay, Paris

Comments: A leading expatriate painter in Paris, Harrison became well known for his scenes of breaking surf along the coast of Brittany. He also painted pastoral landscapes along the rivers of France, and beach scenes with figures.

Sources: WW29; Fink, American Art at the Nineteenth-Century Paris Salons, 351-52; Blaugrund, Paris 1889, 160-164; Falk, Exh. Record Series.