Peonies

Signed lower right. Complemented by a gold leaf frame.

Hobson Pittman (1899-1972)

Hobson Pittman was raised in Tarboro, North Carolina, but spent most of his adult life teaching and painting in the Philadelphia area. He is most remembered for his paintings of domestic interiors recalling his experiences in the South, as well as for his striking impressionist still lifes. Pittman was highly skilled in oil, pastel and watercolor.

As well as being a fine artist, Pittman was an inspiring and beloved teacher. He taught for twenty years at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and for thirty years at Friends Central School and Pennsylvania State University. He was guest lecturer at universities nationwide.

He began his art studies in Tarboro at the Rouse Art School in 1916. He continued his studies at Pennsylvania State University and the Carnegie Institute. He then went to New York to attend Columbia University and the Woodstock Summer Art School, and finally to Europe in 1928.

Hobson Pittman exhibited extensively throughout his career at many prestigious institutions including the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts(1943 prize,1960 solo), the Salons of America, the Society of Independent Artists, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Corcoran Gallery Biennials(1947 prize,1953 Silver Medal), the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Worcester Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Water color Club, the Carnegie Institute(1949 prize), the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco(1939), the Butler Art Institute, the National Academy of Design(1953 Gold Medal) and Columbia University(1963 prize) among others

His work is included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Phillips Memorial Gallery in Washington, the Brooklyn Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Pennsylvania State University among others.

Sources: New Hope for American Art by James M. Alterman

-Philadelphia Inquirer, August 1, 1971. -Philadelphia Inquirer, January 7, 1973.