Charles Baskerville, Jr (16 April 1896 – 20 November 1994) was an American artist.
Charles Baskerville | |
|---|---|
_(14595576570).jpg) Charles Baskerville in World War I | |
| Born | 16 April 1896  |
| Died | 20 November 1994 (aged 98) New York City |
| Occupation | Painter, muralist |
Baskerville was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, the son of Charles Baskerville and Mary Boylan Snow.[1] He moved to New York with his family. He later studied at Cornell University, where he was the art director for the university yearbook and The Cornell University Widow, a satire magazine.[2] His studies were interrupted by World War I, in which he served as a lieutenant in the Rainbow Division and earned a Silver Star for gallantry.[3] While convalescing from a wound, he made sketches of his fellow soldiers; some of these sketches were published in Scribner's Magazine.[2]
After the war, he returned to Cornell, where he joined Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He graduated in 1919. He wrote a popular nightclub column for The New Yorker under the pseudonym of "Top Hat", while also working as a portrait painter.[2] His art career was again interrupted, this time by World War II, in which he served as a lieutenant colonel in the US Army Air Force; he was the Air Force's official portrait painter and was awarded the Legion of Merit by General Henry H. Arnold.[4]
He is described as "an old-school portrait painter... [who] never owned a camera in his life".[5] Among the subjects of his portraits were Jawaharlal Nehru, Bernard Baruch, William S. Paley, Wallis Simpson, Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, Paul Mellon, Richard Rodgers, and Helen Hayes.[3] He once trekked through the Himalayas, by foot and pony, to paint a portrait of the King of Nepal.[6] Apart from portraits, he also painted murals, one of which is in the conference room of the Joint Committee on Military Affairs of the United States Congress.[4] He died in 1994, at the age of 98, in Manhattan.[3]
Bibliography edit
- Tophat (April 18, 1925). "Around the clock". The New Yorker. Vol. 1, no. 9. p. 18.
- — (April 25, 1925). "When nights are bold". The New Yorker. Vol. 1, no. 10. p. 18.
- — (May 2, 1925). "When nights are bold". The New Yorker. Vol. 1, no. 11. p. 18.
- — (May 9, 1925). "When nights are bold". The New Yorker. Vol. 1, no. 12. p. 18.
- — (May 16, 1925). "When nights are bold". The New Yorker. Vol. 1, no. 13. p. 18.
- Top Hat (June 6, 1925). "When nights are bold". The New Yorker. Vol. 1, no. 16. p. 20.
References edit
- ^ NCPedia: Charles Baskerville
- ^ a b c The Johnson Collection: Charles Baskerville
- ^ a b c Gelder, Lawrence Van (23 November 1994). "Charles Baskerville, 98, Dies; Portrait Painter and Muralist (Published 1994)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2022-06-01.
- ^ a b Secretaries and Chiefs of Staff of the United States Air Force pg. 233
- ^ Bostic, Mary Burzlaff Inside the Art Studio: A Guided Tour of 37 Artists' Creative Spaces pg. 72
- ^ "South Plains College, Paintings in the Post Collection". Archived from the original on 2017-03-02. Retrieved 2017-03-01.