Fairfield Porter Biography and Artwork

Fairfield Porter was an influential American painter, printmaker, and writer. Born in Winnetka, Illinois in 1907, he graduated from Harvard in 1928 and later studied under painter Thomas Hart Benton at the Art Students League of New York. Porter is recognized as one of America’s most significant 20th century painters for keeping Realism alive during the dominance of Abstract Expressionism.

Porter’s subjects varied from landscapes and still lifes to portraits of art world luminaries such as Warhol, Larry Rivers, and John Ashbery. His work became a representation of everyday life that showcased beauty in mundane scenes. He also worked as an art critic and published a book on the artist Thomas Eakins.

Ever since his first solo exhibition at Tibor de Nagy Gallery in 1949 to when he was honored with a retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1983 after his death; Fairfield Porter has been considered one of America’s most influential painters. The success didn’t stop even though he worked against the grain by producing representational pieces amidst abstract expressionism which had taken over other artists’ works at that time.

Overall, Porter left behind an impressive mark on American painting history through his realist paintings that showcase beauty even within seemingly ordinary surroundings.

All Fairfield Porter Artwork on Artchive

Artwork Name Year Medium
Wheat 1960 Oil On Canvas
Anne In A Striped Dress 1967 Oil On Canvas
Self-portrait 1972 Oil On Masonite
Red Cables c. 1940 Oil On Masonite
Laurence At The Piano 1953 Oil On Canvas
October Interior 1963 Oil On Canvas
Iced Coffee 1966 Oil On Canvas
Girl in a Landscape 1965 Oil on Canvas
July Interior 1964 Oil on Canvas
July 1971 Oil on Canvas
The Mirror 1966 Oil on Canvas
Long Island Landscape with Red Building 1962 Oil on Canvas
Amherst Campus, No. 1 1969 Oil on Canvas
Anne in Doorway 1974 Oil on Canvas
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