Edward Henry POTTHAST (1857-1927) ✿

Edward Henry Potthast (1857-1927) was an American Impressionist painter. He is known for his paintings of people at leisure in Central Park, and on the beaches of New York and New England.

Potthast was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to Henry Ignatz Potthast and Bernadine Scheiffers. Starting in 1870 he studied art at the McMicken School in Cincinnati and in 1873 he started working at the Strobridge Lithography Company.

Later studied at the Royal Academy in Munich with the American-born instructor Carl Marr. After returning to Cincinnati in 1885 he resumed his studies with Noble. In 1886, he departed for Paris, where he studied with Fernand Cormon.

His paintings retained the subdued colors and strong contrasts of the Munich school until he adopted the Impressionist palette late in his career. After his arrival in New York Potthast worked as a magazine illustrator, and exhibited regularly at the National Academy of Design, the Society of American Artists and the Salmagundi Club, winning numerous prizes.

His work is included in many major museums in the United States, including the Orlando Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum,  the Cape Ann Museum,  the Delaware Art Museum, the University of Michigan Museum of Art,  the Phoenix Art Museum, the Nasher Museum of Art, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.