Artists

William McGregor Paxton

American, 1869-1941

One of Boston’s better known figure and portrait painters, William Paxton and his colleagues Edmund Tarbell and Frank Benson were prominent members of the Boston School of painting, which flourished during the first quarter of the 20th century. Known for his lovely paintings of the leisure class, Paxton placed his graceful figures in settings rich in texture and color and approached them with the gifts of a true draftsman and instinctive colorist. His canvases were a unique combination of his acute sense of design and an impressionist’s sensitivity to light. This dual gift set Paxton apart from  all other painters.

At a time when drawing was emphasized in art training, Paxton was extremely well taught. A native of the Boston area, he studied initially at the Cowles Art School with Dennis Bunker, and then traveled to Paris in 1889, where he spent four years studying at the Academie Julian, the École de Beaux Arts and in the atelier of Jean Leon Gérome. This formal training, combined with his remarkable gift for drawing, enabled Paxton to retain a sure grasp of form while pursuing the most subtle effects of color.

Paxton became devoted to the ideals of the impressionist painters. Seeing was a tremendously exciting experience for Paxton, and he believed that the primary function of the painter was to interpret this sort of experience for others to share. He strove to render his impression of reality, not to create a facsimile of it. He insisted on truth of form, value, definition and color coupled with superb composition. 

His taste in color was singular, very much his own, and developed by much thought and observation. In his own words, Paxton described, “I let the surfaces flow into one another in a supple envelope of light and paint.” He delighted in blues and lavenders, orchid pinks and citron yellows. His deliberate use of color produced the most tactile and supple depictions of flesh both in his portraits and especially in his nudes.

William Paxton’s unique artistic talents combined with his sound academic training, and an incredible sensitivity to light and color, enabled him to carry the principles evolved by the 19th century impressionists further than any other painter, and secured him a prominent place in the history of art.