biography of William Holdbrook BEARD (1824-1900)

Birth place: Painesville, OH

Death place: NYC

Addresses: NYC, from 1860

Profession: Portrait, landscape and animal painter

Studied: Possibly with Frederick Franks, Cincinnati, OH; and his older brother, James Henry Beard.

Exhibited: NAD, 1858-99; PAFA, 1860-83; Brooklyn AA, 1861-80, 1891

Member: NA, 1862; Century Assoc.,1866-1900

Work: AIC; New York Hist. Soc.; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; RISD

Comments: He worked for short time as an itinerant portrait painter throughout Ohio before moving to NYC in 1845. He opened a studio in Buffalo, NY, in 1850, remaining there until 1856 when he went to Europe. He returned in 1858, living in Buffalo until 1860 when he settled in NYC at the Tenth Street Studio Building. He was best known for his animal subject pictures, which were often satirical and meant to poke fun at human behavior. Unlike his brother's animal paintings, William"s were usually set outdoors. He made a trip across the Plains to Colorado in 1866. He was of the large Beard family of artists, and his wife was the daughter of artist Thomas LeClear (see entry).

Sources: G&W; DAB; Buffalo BD 1855-5+, 1858-60; Cowdrey, AA & AAu; Cowdrey, NAD; Rutledge, PA; Rutledge, MHS; CAB; Clement and Hutton; Portfolio (Jan. 1954), 120, repro.; WW98. More recently, see Gerdts, Art Across America, vol. 1: 166, 208-10 (repro.); Campbell, New Hampshire Scenery, 6; P&H Samuels, 29-30; Baigell, Dictionary.