Kenyon Cox

Kenyon Cox (Oct 27, 1856 - Mar 17, 1919) was an American painter, illustrator, muralist, writer, and teacher Cox was an influential and important early instructor at the Art Students League of New York He was the designer of the League's logo, whose motto is Nulla Dies Sine Linea or No Day Without a Line

He was born in Warren, Ohio, the son of Jacob Dolson Cox and Helen Finney Cox As a young adult, Cox studied art at Cincinnati's Art Academy of Cincinnati (formerly known as the McMicken School of Art), but soon became aware of the lack of opportunity and artistic presence in Cincinnati After visiting the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Kenyon decided that Philadelphia and the art academy there had much more to offer him than Cincinnati did Kenyon enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts hoping to receive better instruction and eventually secure for himself a way to study in Europe

In 1877 Cox moved to Paris like many American artists of the day to be a part of what he believed to be a sort of second renaissance in art There he studied under Carolus-Duran and Jean-Léon Gérôme and then under Alexandre Cabanel at the École des Beaux-Arts Cox wrote of his initial impression of Paris saying that there was "so much artistic material here that one might almost be content to stay here and paint for years…One can’t dive down a crooked street or turn a sharp corner without finding more to paint than he could by hunting months for a subject in America If Paris is at all like this it must indeed be a paradise for artists"

Cox first studied under Carolus-Duran Soon after, Cox began to get irritated with Duran During the winter of 1877-78 Cox wrote to his father about Duran stating that, "I appreciate his strong color, breadth, etc, etc But I thought you would like to know just how he impressed me, and I must say that a predominating vulgarity grates on me"

Soon after writing this, Cox left the instruction of Carolus-Duran and enrolled in the École des Beaux-Arts His painting teachers at the school included Jean-Léon Gérôme, Alexandre Cabanel and Henri Lehmann

While in Europe, Cox took the opportunity to travel throughout France and Italy and see the works of the Renaissance Masters Later he wrote of his travels saying, "The trip, I think, did more to broaden and define my notions of art than anything that ever happened to me before"

In 1882 Cox left Paris and moved to New York where he continued to paint He also began to do many illustrations, mostly to pay the bills Kenyon became well established as a magazine illustrator His illustrations reached a much wider audience than did his paintings

Cox also began to write art criticisms (unsigned) for the New York Evening Post This and other writing jobs took Kenyon's time away from painting but also helped him make a living

Cox continued to live and work in New York for most of his life He became an influential and important teacher at the Art Students League of New York Cox designed the League's logo that reads Nulla Dies Sine Linea or No Day Without a Line In 1900 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate Academician, and became a full Academician in 1903

Cox was one of the founders and the secretary of the National Free Arts League, and was a member of the Society of American Artists, the National Academy of Design, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters and served as President of the National Society of Mural Painters from 1915 to 1919

Cox's art was very different from the cubist, neo-impressionist, fauvist, expressionist and modernist styles that emerged during his lifetime He advocated careful drawing and modulated color, and he frequently used allegory and symbolism to present his ideas Kenyon Cox painted in the realistic manner and earned a reputation for landscapes, portraits and genre studies His idealized nudes and traditional treatment of classical themes had little in common with the popular avant-garde art of the day Later, in 1912, Cox wrote an article for The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin called "Two Ways of Painting" In this article he describes the difference between the figurative art he was making and the more fashionable abstract art or representational art

Kenyon Cox began to focus more on mural painting after the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago Cox painted murals in the state capitol buildings of Des Moines, St Paul and Madison as well as other courthouses, libraries and college buildings In 1896-97 Cox painted murals in the Library of Congress in Washington, DC Cox also made numerous mosaics for places like the Wisconsin State Capitol building

In 1910 Kenyon Cox was awarded the Medal of Honor for mural painting by the Architectural League He also served as president of the National Society of Mural Painters from 1915 to 1919

While working in New York, Cox began to teach at the Art Student League One of his female students, Louise Howland King from San Francisco, caught Cox's eye and they began to correspond outside of class In an early letter to Louise, Cox tried to convince her to stick with her art writing: "We must work for the work's sake You say you almost forget why you paint at all; well, I have long since satisfied myself that I paint because I cannot help it—because I love the work itself and would rather be a miserably bad painter than a successful man in any other work—because the mere joy of trying and even the excitement of failure are the only true pleasures for me"

On June 30, 1892, thirty-six-year-old Cox married twenty-seven-year-old Louise Howland King The pair executed the murals that decorated the Liberal Arts Building at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago They had three children Leonard, born in 1894 and named after Leonard Opdycke, was a World War I war hero and had a career in city planning and architecture Son Allyn, born two years later, became an artist, particularly noted for his mural paintings, and an interior decorator Daughter Caroline born in 1898 was also a talented artist

Cox continued to paint, teach and write until his death on March 17, 1919 Kenyon Cox died in his New York home from pneumonia A significant body of Cox's personal and professional papers, including extensive correspondence, is held in the Department of Drawings & Archives at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University in New York City

Selected works:
After Boltraffio, "Sacre Conversazione", (oil on canvas) 1878-1882, owned by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Study for Mosaic, Wisconsin State Capital, "Justice", (oil on canvas) 1913, owned by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Mural at Oberlin College, "The Spirit of Self-Sacrificing Love", 1914
"The Sword is Drawn The Navy Uphold it!" United States Navy recruitment poster, 1917
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