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Image Not Available for Harry Townsend
Harry Townsend
Image Not Available for Harry Townsend

Harry Townsend

American, 1879 - 1941
Birth LocationWyoming, Illinois, United States
Death LocationNorwalk, Connecticut, United States
BiographyThis biography was submitted by Whistler House Museum of Art
The following is from Peter Kostoulakos, ISA ˜ Fine Art Consultant
www.pkart.com

Harry Everett Townsend
1879-1941

Harry Everett Townsend — painter, illustrator, printmaker, designer, and craftsman — was born on March 10, 1879 in Wyoming, IL and died on July 25, 1941 probably in Norwalk, CT. In 1933, Townsend's address was 5 Stevens Street in Norwalk. Townsend created compositions in various media such as oils, block prints, etching, and engraving with a specialty in war genre, historical scenes, and landscapes.

During WWI, Townsend was an official artist with the American Expeditionary Forces (A. E. F.) and some of his paintings and drawings are at the War College. This small group of artists was selected as artist-correspondents to serve the United States between 1918 and 1919.

Townsend studied with Howard Pyle (1853-1911) and at the Art Institute of Chicago; the National Academy of Design in New York City; and in Paris and London. His memberships include the Connecticut Art Association; the Society of Illustrators in New York City,1911; the Allied Artists of America in New York City; the Society of American Etchers in Brooklyn, NY; the Westport Artists; the Salmagundi Club in New York City; the Silvermine Guild of Artists; and the Artists Guild of the Authors League of America.

Townsend's work is represented in the collections of the Whistler House Museum of Art in Lowell, MA; the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC; the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; the New York Public Library; and the Norwalk City Hall.

References: Who Was Who in American Art, vol. I, page 628; Davenport's Art Reference 2001/2002, page 1844; Mantle Fielding,1986, page 945; Mallett, page 441; Dealer's Choice Biographical Encyclopedia of American Painters... page 1383; Whistler House Museum of Art files.
;Prints and PostersArmy Art of World War IHarry Everett Townsend
(1879-1941)

Harry Everett Townsend was born in Wyoming into the family of a prosperous farmer and merchant. Early in life he displayed his talent for art by earning money as a sign painter for local businessmen. After graduation from high school he went to Chicago to study at the Art Institute. During the summers he serviced farm equipment for the McCormick Harvester Company and. traveled to the American Southwest. Both the Rock Island and Santa Fe railroads used his scenic paintings for advertising.

In 1900 Townsend began to work with Howard Pyle, after which he studied briefly in Paris and in London. He returned to Chicago in 1904 to teach for a short time at the Academy of Fine Arts, after which he moved to Leonia, New Jersey, to begin a successful career illustrating magazines such as Harper's, Century, Everybody's, and McClure's as well as a number of books. In 1912 he established a studio in northern France so that he could be close to both Paris and London. The onset of war forced Townsend to return to the United States, where he resumed his work as an illustrator.

He began his war service drawing posters before receiving his captain's commission in 1918. Much of Townsend's work during the war focuses on the human element. He produced a number of images showing how the rigors of combat eventually leave little to distinguish between winners and losers in war. After the war Townsend returned to illustrating. His experiences with the AEF, War Diary of a Combat Artist, were published in 1991.

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