| The Cooley Gallery of Old Lyme, Connecticut: Born in Illinois, Wilson Henry Irvine showed an early talent for drawing, and by his late teens, he was using an airbrush. Early in his career he was involved in commercial art, and by 1895, he was enrolled in evening classes at The Art Institute of Chicago. By 1900, Irvine was exhibiting landscapes and becoming actively involved in the Chicago art community as one of the founding members of that city's Palette and Chisel Club and the Cliff Dwellers. From 1914 to 1917, the artist spent his summers painting at Old Lyme, Connecticut, where he became affiliated with the art colony there, and in 1918, he purchased a home in neighboring Hamburg. In 1926, he was elected an associate of the National Academy of Design. Described by one scholar as having "a keenly imaginative mind," Irvine experimented with his art throughout his career. His "prismatic paintings," conceived by looking at his subject through a prism, were first exhibited in 1930 at the Grand Central Art Galleries. Around that same time, he also produced "aqua prints," which introduced naturalistic forms to marbleized paper. Memberships National Academy of Design, New York, NY Lyme Art Association, Lyme, CT Chicago Society of Artists, Chicago, IL Salmagundi Club, New York, NY National Arts Club, New York, NY Awards Art Institute of Chicago (prizes awarded in 1912, 1915, 1916, 1917) Panama-Pacific Exposition, 1915 (silver medal) Chicago Society of Artists, 1916 (medal) Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts, 1929 (prize) Lyme Art Association, 1934 (prize) The following biography is from the Library of AskART.com: Born in Byron, Illinois, Wilson Irvine became an Impressionist landscape painter, who exhibited for many years at the Art Institute of Chicago and then became a part of the Art Colony at Old Lyme, Connecticut. He also did monotypes called aqua prints that were abstract in style compared to his other paintings. He enrolled in an art school run by Liberty Walkup, inventor of the airbrush. In 1893, he was employed by the Chicago Portrait Company and took classes at the Art Institute of Chicago between 1895 and 1903. By 1900, he began exhibiting at the Institute and also was close to the Hoosier Group, Indiana Impressionist artists. He spent the summer of 1914 in Connecticut and became associated with the Old Lyme Colony. In 1918, he moved there permanently, but he maintained close ties to the Midwest.
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