Paul Cornoyer

Paul Cornoyer (1864–1923) was an American painter, currently best known for his popularly reproduced painting in an Impressionist, tonalist, and sometimes pointillist style.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Cornoyer began painting in Barbizon style, trained at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts, and first exhibited in 1887. In 1889, he continued his studies in Paris at the Académie Julien later Jules Lefebvre, Louis Blanc and Benjamin Constant. While Cornoyer was in Paris, he as well as traveled to London and Venice. This epoch exposed him to French Impressionism, which was reflected in a more fluid, tonal and lyrical style in his complex landscapes and cityscapes. Cornoyer's explanation of impressionism was more conservative than his French counterparts, leaving his put on an act with a distinctly American sensibility.

He returned to his house in St. Louis in 1894 and that same year painted a mural at the Planters Hotel which depicted the birth of St. Louis., Cornoyer was heavily influenced by the American tonalists. William Merritt Chase maxim examples of Paul Cornoyer's deed in Paris during their get older there in 1889. Chase far ahead encouraged Cornoyer to leave St. Louis and to travel to New York City. New York City proved an ideal place for Cornoyer to fabricate his aesthetic. It was there that Cornoyer painted the urban cityscapes for which he is best known. His canvases were tonal depictions of street scenes, especially after a rainfall. Building off his training in the Parisian streets, he was dexterous to seize the essence of city life like its stark pavements, horse-drawn carriages once drivers and passengers, as capably as tree lined streets, and high buildings. Examples of Cornoyer's street scenes include Plaza After the Rain and A Rainy Day in the City.

In 1908, the Albright–Knox Art Gallery (formerly the Albright Gallery) hosted a play a role of his work. In 1909, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate Academician. He taught at Mechanics Institute of New York and in 1917, he moved to Massachusetts, where he continued to teach and paint.

Cornoyer established a retrospective exhibition entitled Paul Cornoyer: American Impressionist at the Lakeview Center for the Arts and Sciences in Peoria, Illinois in 1973. The exhibit drew heavily from the accretion of Dr. and Mrs. Lawrence Ashby, who loaned combination paintings to the exhibit, as capably as exceeding 20 works on paper.