James Daugherty (1887 -1974) was an important American modernist whose canvases hang in the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney & the Smithsonian. Born June 1, 1887 in Asheville, North Carolina and began his formal study of art, at the Corcoran Art School in Washington D.C. Later he studied
at the Philadelphia Art Academy and abroad. In London he read Walt Whitman and became excited
about catching in visual images the poet's dynamic concept of America. About 1915 began Daugherty's
long absorption in color abstraction. He was a pivotal member of the Sychromist movement in American
modernism and as such, had a retrospective show at the Schoelkopf Gallery in NYC in 1971. After
1920 and into the 1930's Daugherty turned to mural paintings portraying vibrant themes from American history. He then turned to illustrating children's books and has more than 50 to his credit and the
authorship of a dozen. James Daugherty died on February 21, 1974 in Boston.
