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Trent Tile Company was one of several tile manufacturers located in Trenton, New Jersey in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The company, which opened as Harris Manufacturing in 1882 and changed its name to Trent Tile in 1883, produced tiles featuring figures, plant and animal life, and patterns which were used to decorate everything from fireplace mantels to doorframes in private homes and businesses alike. At this time, ceramic tiles grew to be an integral component of the Arts and Crafts Movement in America, and companies like Trent Tile capitalized on customers’ desires to own finely made decorative items. Read More

Charles Hawthorne (1872-1930) grew up in Richmond, Maine, and moved to New York City in 1890 at the age of eighteen to pursue an art education. He attended classes at the Art Students League for several years, and in 1896, he enrolled in William Merritt Chase’s summer school at Shinnecock on Long Island, quickly becoming Chase’s favorite student and assistant. Hawthorne traveled abroad in 1898, and on his return to America in 1899, he founded his own summer art school in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Read More

Born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania to German immigrant parents, George Luks (1867-1933) was exposed to art at an early age by his mother, who was an amateur painter. Luks briefly studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia in 1884 before leaving the country to travel and study abroad in Berlin, London, and Paris. He did not return to the United States until the early 1890s, and in 1894, he began working as an illustrator for the Philadelphia Press, where he met fellow artists John Sloan, Robert Henri, and William Glackens. In 1896, Luks began working for the New York World in New York City, illustrating news stories as well as comic strips. Read More

Elisha Kent Kane Wetherill (1874-1929) was born into a wealthy and prominent Philadelphian family, descended from one of the founding members of the Free Quakers, a society formed by men expelled from the Quakers due to their involvement in the American Revolution. His father, Samuel Wetherill, was a successful industrialist and chemist who invented a method for producing zinc oxide from zinc ore, thereby drastically reducing costs associated with paint production and facilitating the development of ready-made paint. Read More

Visions of America, an exhibition currently on view at the Everson, explores how artists depict life in the United States, from idyllic scenes of the American landscape to critical studies of the country’s history. Surrounded by works in the exhibition that are bold and saturated with color, Lena Gurr’s Evening at Home provides an intimate commentary on modern living. Gurr’s scene is familiar and domestic, but the tone is heightened by the palpable intrigue of friendly competition. Lena Gurr (1897-1992) was an American painter and printmaker of Russian-Jewish descent. Originally trained as a teacher, Gurr turned her attention to art in 1919, when she began taking classes at Educational Alliance Art School. She studied under John Sloan at the Art Students League in the early 1920s, and for the next several decades split her time between teaching art classes in New York City public schools and advancing her own art career. Read More