Lot 1053: Cordray Simmons (NJ, 1888-1970), Cattle, synthetic

Cordray Simmons (NJ, 1888-1970), Cattle, synthetic resin on board, signed lower left "Cordray Simmons," cattle gather in front of a red roofed barn as two figures with pick and sack gesture above, attractive molded frame with gilt highlights; Cordray Simmons was one of the many fine American scene painters working during the 1920s through the 1940s. He was born in Jersey City, New Jersey where his parents were active in the arts as well - his father was a mural and scenic painter and his mother a dancer. Simmons received his first formal training at the Evening Technical High School, where he also taught clay modeling in 1905. Simmons took over his father's business as a scenic painter in 1909 and began spending the summers at the Art Students League in New York. While at the League, Simmons studied under William Merritt Chase, F. Luis Mora, George Bellos, and later, Robert Henri and Kenneth Hayes Miller. Simmons had fully settled into life in New York City by 1925. He was elected a member of the Allied Artists of America, Inc. in 1926 and departed later that year for independent study in England, France, and Germany. Upon his return in the spring of 1927, Simmons continued exhibiting in numerous galleries throughout the city. He opened an art supply store in Greenwich Village, where he met his colleague and future wife, Louise Osborne. His dabbling at the store, combined with a position as a technical artist at the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art, led to the development and use of synthetic media. Although neither Simmons nor Osburne commercially capitalized on their findings, they "laid the groundwork for the development of the most popular medium of today - acrylics." Included in the list of known works in Pamela Elizabeth Mayo's CORDRAY SIMMONS & LOU OSBORNE (Farmville, VA: Longwood College. 1980). SS 23.5" x 29.25"; DOA 29.25" x 35.25"