Artist Info
Robert Gwathmey
From the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL.: Born in Richmond, VA, Gwathmey personally experienced the challenges faced by the working class at a formative age. His father, a railroad engineer, died in a terrible train accident before Gwathmey's birth, leaving his mother and later her children to work in low-paying jobs to make ends meet. Oddly enough, he developed a greater interest in art while working on a freighter during the 1920s. He drew to fill up his free time, often sketching other crew members, and when the ship stopped at European ports, he began to visit museums and galleries. When, at 22, he returned to the United States, he enrolled at the Maryland Institute of Design in Baltimore and later at the prestigious Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadephia. As a student and young artist, he recieved fellowships to study in Europe. See file for full citation.
