Frank Weston Benson

(b. 1862; d 1951) Born in Salem, Massachusetts, Frank Weston Benson came from a long-line of sea captains. He studied art at the Museum School in Boston before enrolling at the Académie Julian in Paris in 1883. After returning to Salem, Benson set up a studio and began painting portraits, mostly of family and friends. He was appointed as an instructor of drawing at the Museum School in Boston in 1889, the beginning of a long and illustrious career as a teacher. In his own painting, he became very interested in capturing the effects of light and painted most of his portraits outside. Some of his best known paintings are informal portraits of his family, executed outside, which show the influence of the impressionist aesthetic. His work became wildly popular in America and he died one of the most successful artists of his generation.