John Whorf (1903-1959)
John Whorf was born in Massachusetts in 1903. His initial art training came from his father who was a commercial artist and graphic designer. When he was 14 he was enrolled to study painting at the Boston Museum School and with Sherman Kidd at the St. Botolph Studio. From there he went to Provincetown and studied with Charles Hawthorne at the Cape School. Later he went to France and took training at the Ecole Colarossi and the Academie des Beaux-Arts.
In 1924, John Whorf had his first solo exhibition at the Grace Horne Gallery. Fifty works were sold at this first exhibit and one was purchased by John Singer Sargent. Whorf claimed that following his successful debut, he received informal instruction from Sargent and that Sargent became a major influence on his painting. Whorf continued to have annual exhibitions at Grace Horne Gallery as well as Milch Gallery in New York. He also had some summer shows at Shore Galleries in Provincetown. Whorf earned membership in the National Academy and National Watercolor Society. Harvard College granted Whorf an Honorary Master of Fine Arts degree in 1938. Additionally, he received a medal in 1938 and a prize in 1939 from the Art Institute of Chicago.
His work is held in private collections as well as the Metropolitan Museum and Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Whorf spent the last years of his life in the Provincetown he loved so well and was part of its art colony for many years. He died there in 1959.