Paul Cornoyer - part 1

This is the first of a two-part post on the works of American artist Paul Cornoyer. Cornoyer was born in 1864 in St Louis, Missouri. He attended the St. Louis School of Art, where the director noticed his talent and encouraged him to pursue his studies abroad. In 1889, with sufficient funds to study in Paris, Cornoyer entered the Académie Julian, where he studied under Jules Lefebvre, Benjamin Constant, and Louis Blanc.

Greatly influenced by the French Impressionists, Cornoyer painted street scenes in sun, fog, and snow; at sunrise and at sunset. In 1892 he was awarded the First Prize from the American Art Association of Paris. Inspired by his travels abroad, Cornoyer returned to his native city in 1894 and won the Gold Medal from the St. Louis Association of Painters and Sculptors. Immediately thereafter, he was given a commission to paint a mural for the Planter’s Hotel in St Louis.

St Louis mural study

American Impressionist William Merritt Chase purchased a painting by Cornoyer that was exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Chase befriended Cornoyer, and in his correspondence to the younger artist, urged him to come to New York. Accordingly, in 1898 Cornoyer made New York his home. He devoted himself to the representation of urban street scenes.

Cornoyer became a member of the prestigious Salmagundi Club in 1902. In 1906 he won the club’s coveted Inness Prize. He had a one-man show at the Albright Museum in Buffalo in 1908. The following year he was elected an Associate of the National Academy of Design.

Cornoyer had a summer home at East Gloucester, Massachusetts. There he taught and painted harbour and city scenes. He helped found the North Shore Art Association in nearby Gloucester in 1916. Cornoyer died at his summer home in 1923.

Note: Sizes are rounded up or down to the nearest centimetre:

1900 Dewey's Arch 
oil on canvas 41 x 31 cm

1901 Winter in New York 
oil on canvas 46 x 61 cm

1908c Late Afternoon, Washington Square 
oil on canvas 56 x 67 cm

1910 Afternoon, Madison Square 
oil on canvas 122 x 152 cm

c1910 Madison Square after the Rain 
oil on canvas 56 x 69 cm

c1915 Sidewalk Conversation, Gloucester 
oil on canvas 46 x 61 cm

c1915 The Street Beyond 
oil on canvas 56 x 69 cm

c1916 December, Gloucester 
oil on canvas 56 x 69 cm

c1920 Street in Gloucester 
oil on canvas 46 x 61 cm

A Boulevard in Paris 
oil on canvas

After the Rain, the Dewey Arch, Madison Square Park 
oil on canvas 56 x 69 cm

Afternoon Light, Venice 
oil on canvas 51 x 64 cm

Bryant Park 
oil on canvas 46 x 61 cm

Central Park West, New York 
oil on canvas 31 x 41 cm

Cheyne Walk and All Saint's Church, London 
oil on canvas 46 x 61 cm

Flat Iron Building 
oil on canvas 56 x 69 cm

Flatiron Building 
oil on canvas 56 x 69 cm

Gloucester 
oil on canvas 69 x 56

Madison Square 
oil on canvas 66 x 81 cm