Alphaeus Philemon Cole
Alphaeus Philemon Cole | |
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Cole in 1920 | |
Born | Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S. | July 12, 1876
Died | (aged 112 years, 136 days) New York City, U.S. | November 25, 1988
Occupations |
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Alphaeus Philemon Cole (July 12, 1876 – November 25, 1988) was an American artist, engraver, etcher and supercentenarian. He was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of noted wood-engraver Timothy Cole.[1] Until his death, at age 112 years and 136 days, Alphaeus had been the world's oldest verified living man and the oldest living person in the United States.
Biography
[edit]Cole studied art first under Isaac Craig, in Italy, then in Paris from 1892 to 1901 with Jean Paul Laurens and Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant at the Académie Julian,[2][3] and later at the École des Beaux-Arts.[1] In the mid-1890s, he began to produce many vibrant works, mostly various still lifes and portraits. His painting of Dante was exhibited in the 1900 Paris Salon,[2] and more artwork was displayed at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.
Cole moved to England and married sculptor Margaret Ward Walmsley in 1903.[2] He began to venture into the fields of wood/steel engraving and etching, but these works sold less than his portraits. He contributed several drawings to the Encyclopædia Britannica. They moved again, to the United States, in 1911.[2] In 1918, Cole became a member of the Salmagundi Club, the nation's oldest professional art club.[1] From 1924 to 1931, he taught portrait and still life classes at Cooper Union.[3] He was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1930.[1] He was the president of the New York Water Color Club from 1931 to 1941.[2] In the 1940s, Cole worked as a judge of paintings in Max Pochapin's Manhattan Hall of Art, a merchandising art gallery, which was a revolutionary idea at the time.[4] From 1952 to 1953, he was president of Allied Artists of America.[5] His first wife died in 1961, and Cole married Anita Rio (1873–1971), a singer, and the widow of painter Eugene Higgins, in 1962.[2] She died in 1971.[1][6][7][8]
Cole actively painted and exhibited up to the age of 103.[3] He died at New York's Chelsea Hotel, where he had lived for 35 years.[9] Cole's work is in the permanent collections of London's National Portrait Gallery and the Brooklyn Museum,[1] and his papers are stored at the Smithsonian Institution.[2]
Cole was subsequently verified as having been the oldest living man following the death of 111-year-old Norwegian skier Herman Smith-Johannsen, on January 5, 1987.[10] He was also the oldest living person in the United States for eight months after the death of 112-year-old Elzona Maxey on April 25, 1988.
He died in New York City, aged 112 years and 136 days.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f Alphaeus Cole, a Portraitist, 112, obituary by Michel Kimmelman, November 26, 1988, The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-11-15. (The NY Times obituary for Cole erroneously gives the year of death of Anita Rio as 1973 — the correct year of death is 1971.)
- ^ a b c d e f g "Archives of American Art - Alphaeus P. Cole papers, 1885-1988 (collection summary)", Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- ^ a b c "Alphaeus Philemon Cole" Archived 2008-02-15 at the Wayback Machine, Salmagundi Club. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- ^ "Cut-Rate Art", Time magazine, September 6, 1943. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- ^ "Presidents Of Allied Artists Of America, Inc." Archived 2007-11-22 at the Wayback Machine, Allied Artists of America. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- ^ "Obituary. Anita Rio, 98, Soprano in Opera and Concerts". NY Times. August 27, 1971.
- ^ "reprint of Introduction to Eugene Higgins, 1874–1958: Artist of Honor by Vincenza Uccello". Saint Joseph College Gallery.
- ^ Arkelyan, Ashot (February 3, 2014). "Anita Rio (Soprano) (Alameda, California 1873 — Old Saybrook, Connecticut 1971)". Forgotten Opera Singers.
- ^ Reid, Graham (2 April 2005). "Every room can tell you a good story". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
- ^ "Table M - World's Oldest Men (WOM) Titleholders Since 1973". Gerontology Research Group. 2018-04-10. Retrieved 2022-08-31.