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Joseph Pierre Birren (American, 1864-1933)
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Joseph Pierre Birren
Garlands of Springtime
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Biography |
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Joseph Pierre Birren, a generally forgotten painter, traveled a great deal and studied under numerous instructors in America and Europe. Birren attended the Art Institute of Chicago as well as schools in Philadelphia and New York. Later, he studied in Munich then worked under Benjamin Constant, Gustave Courtois, and Joseph Falguière in Paris. Birren’s academic background is related in his book The Art Student, published in 1916 by the Art Institute of Chicago. Birren painted beside such young rising artists as John H. Twachtman, Arthur B. Davies, Harry Aiken Vincent, and Oliver Dennett Grover -- who all contributed to a cyclorama that represented Christ before Pilate, executed in Chicago in 1886 (Wright, 1978, p. 8). Birren also may have contributed to the 1887 Battle of Gettysburg cyclorama whose sky was painted by Twachtman (Peters, 1999, p. 74). In 1888, Christ before Pilate went to Australia and Birren took the occasion to travel around the world sketching and drawing along the trip. He studied at the Julian and Colarossi Academies in 1889 and returned to America a year later. To replenish his savings, Birren landed a job from George Luks as a newspaper illustrator for Texas Siftings in New York in 1890 (Birren, 1924, n.p.). Returning to Chicago in 1892, Birren worked as art director for the Chicago Graphic during the World’s Columbian Exposition. His business associates included J.C. Leyendecker, Karl Anderson, and other rising artists during the 1890s. Having achieved financial prosperity with his own business of fashion design, Birren retired in 1916 and turned to full-time painting. From 1893 until his death, his work was exhibited regularly at the Art Institute of Chicago and sporadically at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 1903 and 1904, he served as president of the Palette and Chisel Club in Chicago and later (1912) founded the Art Institute Alumni Association. Besides painting regularly in Provincetown, Birren had one-artist shows in Los Angeles and San Francisco in 1925. Afterwards his work was exhibited at the Newhouse Galleries in St. Louis and at the Chicago Galleries Association. |
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During the first decade of the twentieth century, Birren mollified his conservative manner by employing certain features of impressionism; eventually, his work became typically impressionistic. Working en plein air, Birren rapidly executed well-planned compositions with broad strokes of high-keyed pigment. In some, he included figures, while in others, he concentrated on select portions of local scenery. Always an excellent technician, Birren was fascinated by the effects of light. Seldom is his impressionism overly decorative. Birren’s son, Faber Birren, who became a specialist on color. |
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