Abbott Fuller Graves (1859-1936)
Abbott Graves was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts. He developed an early interest in flowers after working in a greenhouse. He studied at MIT, and by 1884, he was studying floral painting in Paris, often working with his good friend Edmund Tarbell. He returned to Boston in 1885 and taught at the Cowles Art School in Boston where fellow faculty member Childe Hassam, became an influence on his work. In 1887, Graves returned to Paris where he enrolled at the Academie Julian to study figure painting with Jean Paul Laurens. He returned to Boston and opened his own art school there in 1891. He moved his school to Kennebunkport, but closed its doors in 1902.
He frequently traveled from his New England homes to Paris, and from 1902-1905, he worked as an illustrator for French magazines. Graves exhibited at the NAD (1892), PAFA (1895, 1913-1914), Paris Salon (1899), Boston AC (1895-1909), and the Expo des Beaux Arts, Paris (1905).
He is best known for his floral still lifes, but also produced impressionistic landscapes and wonderfully detailed genre paintings depicting scenes from rural life. From 1891 until his death in 1936 most of his paintings were of floral garden scenes, often with female figures in bright sunlight–showing the influence of European impressionism. Graves was a member of the National Academy, the Salmagundi Club, the American Art Association of Paris and the Boston Art Club. His work is represented at the National Arts Club, New York and the Portland Art Museum, Maine.
Biographical information courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions and Skinner Inc.