Portrait of Mr. Wiley
1894
Medium
Painting
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Ambrose Lansing
Accession Number
1983.114.7
Tags
About this artwork
Further research might establish the relationship between Mr. Wiley and Kenyon Cox. In the year he painted this portrait, Cox was under contract with Bowdoin College to create mural decorations for the new Walker Art Center, designed by prominent architect Charles F. McKim. Wiley sits in a library, which suggests that he might have been a member of Bowdoinâs academic community.
About the Artist
Kenyon Cox · 1856–1919
Kenyon Cox (1856–1919) was born on October 27 in Warren, Ohio, to General Jacob Dolson Cox, a prominent politician and Civil War veteran, and Helen Finney Cox. Despite fragile health, young Cox pursued art at the Art Academy of Cincinnati before advancing to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. In 1877, he traveled to Paris, studying first under Carolus-Duran, then at the Éco...