Question of the Week: Do you have any artists in your family tree?

+15 votes
1.8k views

imageDo you have any artists in your family tree? Tell us about them with an answer below. You can also use the question image to share your answer with friends and family on social media

in The Tree House by Eowyn Walker G2G Astronaut (2.5m points)

My husband's mother was a ceramicist - if that counts.  Some of her work is on display in various places, and is highly prized by some collectors.

My 3rd cousin X3R, Mabel Lesslie, was an artist, working mainly with "china painting".   Her work is on display in the the Australian National Gallery, and also the Technological Museum (now known as the Powerhouse Museum).

My Dutch side has alot of talented artists. My sister, my cousin in Arizona, my son, and myself. I learned a couple weeks ago on Wiki-tree that I was twenty some degrees from Toulouse Le Trec which made me laugh.  In the list above I am the only one who trained as a painter in college. here in Michigan

53 Answers

+7 votes
My great uncle, Count Arnaldo Casella Tamburini, was a painter for the King of Italy. He painted the Pope, Mussolini  and Will Rodgers for a few. He was married to my aunt. She was a painter of miniatures.
by Kathy Wunderlich G2G Crew (410 points)
+6 votes
My father’s sister, Mary Catherine Swisher, was a artist.  She also had an antique shop and sold many of her paintings through the shop in Plymouth, Indiana.  Many of her nieces and nephews have her paintings as well as people in Chicago.  I, too, am an artist but do not make my living at it.
by Carolyn Sichting G2G1 (1.9k points)
+7 votes
Several of my great uncles on my mother's side were amateur artists. Luckily some of their work has survived and is now in my custody.  I created a [[Space:Robinson Artwork| Space]] to share their artwork. There are a couple more watercolours I must photograph and add.
by Martin Honor G2G6 Mach 3 (37.6k points)
+7 votes
My grandmother's great-grandfather, Edward Herrlein, was a well-known 19th Century Philadelphia lithographer. He produced many beautiful works of art, but also color prints for books and atlases, and everyday items like stock certificates, checks, trading cards, and children's school awards. His shop was kind of the Kinkos of its time. The coolest part is that I've been able to purchase several if his works on eBay.

He came from a long line of German artists (all named Herrlein), but unfortunately my German research skills are lacking so I don't know much about them yet! Interestingly, they can be found in the German Wikipedia, but not the American version.
by David Randall G2G6 Pilot (352k points)
+6 votes

Marian Luce Burroughs, a.k.a. Molly Luce (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Luce-1756), a descendant of Corp. Orlando G. Clark of Co. G, 105th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was a widely recognized regional painter.

From the ”Lancaster Eagle-Gazette”, (Lancaster, Ohio), 1986-Apr-17, page 18, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49189801/lancaster-eagle-gazette/

Molly Burroughs

LITTLE COMPTON, R.I. (AP) — Molly Luce Burroughs, whose paintings of New England hang in some of the nation's most distinguished art museums, died Wednesday. She was 89. 

Her works are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. 

Mrs. Burroughs, widow of art historian Alan Burroughs, was born in Pittsburgh and studied at Wheaton College. Her first one-woman show was at the Whitney Museum in 1924. Her retrospective Molly Luce: Eight Decades of the American Scene," was shown in 13 museums between 1980 and 1983. 

Self Portrait

A self portrait.

by Cathryn Hondros G2G6 Mach 5 (53.2k points)
edited by Cathryn Hondros
+5 votes
Reubens Peale is the husband of the sister-in-law of my 2 cousin 4x removed.  And his father was Charles Willson Peale who painted the founding fathers.  I am also a cousin (don't know the degree) of Walter Emerson Baum, a Pennsylvanian artist.  It runs in the family because my sister and her daughters also love to paint.
by Susanna Yeakel G2G6 Mach 3 (35.7k points)
+5 votes
The Wyeth family are at least my 5th, 6th and 7th cousins. Our common ancestor is John Wyeth, born 15 Jul 1655 and died 13 Dec 1706 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts. This line is on my mother's side.
by Gail Hardy G2G6 (7.0k points)
+5 votes
I haven't found any "famous" artists yet. However, one of my great Grandfathers' brothers did a painting at one of the Catholic Churches in Omaha, Nebraska.

One of my sisters has had her artwork displayed in multiple galleries, etc. and one of my brothers and sister-in-laws has had one of her paintings hanging in their house for years and my Dad had one of her paintings hanging in his house.

My daughter likes to draw. She submitted her work for the Cairn Youth Program during her final year in the program (her senior year of High School) and her artwork was printed onto the t-shirts for their final project that year. She also does a lot of digital drawings and submits her work on YouTube and Instagram and Deviant Art and enters her work in various contests that she find out about.
by Carrie Pau G2G6 (8.4k points)
+4 votes
I am an artist myself and have some famous artist in my framily tree also...see below

John Trumbull             4th Cousin 7x removed
Edward Hopper                7th Cousin 2x removed
Norman Rockwell             7th Cousin 2x removed
John Singer Sargent         7th Cousin 3x removed
Winslow Homer                 8th Cousin 2x removed
James Abbott McNeill Whistler     8th Cousin 4x removed
Allyn Cox                         10th cousin 2x removed
Kenyon Cox                     9th cousin 3x removed
Thomas Waldo Story       7th cousin 3x removed
Louis Comfort Tiffany      7th cousin 5x removed
Grandma Moses             8th cousin 5x removed
Georgia O'Keeffe            8th cousin 2x removed
by Scott Wessel G2G6 Mach 1 (12.8k points)
+4 votes
I have 2 artists from the 19th century that I am aware of.  The first is Henry D. Couzens.  He gained his  notiriety through his many stories about the tribal life of the Hawaiians and the voyages of the South Seas.  He was also a prominent artist.  He studied in Paris and Los Angeles as well as New York.  His wife, Virginia Lucas Couzens was known for the many portraits of well known people.  She also studied in Paris and New York.
by Donna Couzens G2G Crew (320 points)
+4 votes
Yes. My mother's father was an artist. He worked as a furniture buyer for BYU in Provo UT for years, and painted nature scenes on the side, selling many paintings for up to $800. One of his sons painted and my aunt also painted, but in acrylics. She focused on portraits. I have two of her paintings and two of his on my walls right now.
by Susette Horspool G2G4 (4.3k points)
+3 votes
I am a artist myself and also in my family tree

have such notable and amazing artist

Edward Hopper (1882-1967)
Frederic Sackrider Remington (1861-1909)
Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (1887-1986)
Mary Stevenson Cassatt (1844-1926)
John Singer Sargent (1856-1925)
Nathaniel Bacon KB (bef.1585-1627)
Paul Jackson Pollock (1912-1956)
by Scott Wessel G2G6 Mach 1 (12.8k points)
+2 votes
What is an artist?  Someone who has qualifications, someone who creates things for the love of it, someone who is paid to make art?  Not sure how to answer the question except to say, Yes - I do.
by Judith Brooksbank G2G6 Mach 1 (16.9k points)

Related questions

+14 votes
58 answers
+25 votes
89 answers
+17 votes
29 answers
+24 votes
42 answers
+28 votes
71 answers
+21 votes
26 answers

WikiTree  ~  About  ~  Help Help  ~  Search Person Search  ~  Surname:

disclaimer - terms - copyright

...