William H. Calfee (1909-1995), a native of Washington, D.C., was chair of American University's art department from 1946 to 1954. In the 1920s and 1930s he studied under the sculptor Carl Miles. It was there that he experienced the process of producing monumental work and the art of casting bronze. During the Great Depression, he produced murals for the Fine Arts Section of the Department of the Interior. The murals can be found today in a number of post offices in Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. During that time he developed an idiom that was both figurative and abstract. His first solo exhibition opened at the James Whyte Gallery (later known as the Franz Bader Gallery) on December 7, 1941.
In the early 1940s, Calfee became assistant to C. Law Watkins at the Phillips Memorial Gallery art school, which collaborated with American University in offering a program in fine arts, one of the first in the country. In 1945, he joined Watkins in teaching at the university and became chair of the art department for the next eight years. Calfee, who was soon joined by fellow-artists from the Phillips art school, Sarah Baker and Robert Gates, taught the universal principles of art that he discovered in Italian Renaissance fresco painting, but also encouraged innovative experimentation in his students. Classes were also taught by visiting artists such as Karl Knaths, Herman Mari, and Jack Tworkov. Some graduates of the program became faculty members at American University as well as other colleges and universities around the country ... Calfee, along with other members of American University's faculty, organized the Jefferson Place Gallery near Dupont Circle in 1957. Calfee received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from American University for his contributions to the university and the community.
In the late 1970s, Calfee moved from Washington to a large home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, where he lived and worked the rest of his life. During this period, Calfee and fellow-artist Patricia Friend organized the Kensington Workshop at which they taught their innovative approach to painting for a number of years. Calfee's works are found in numerous private and public collections, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Phillips Collection. His last major public commission was for a monumental abstract sculpture that he completed in 1980 for the Rockville Civic Center in Maryland. Calfee's art, as his life, was based on principles of excellence and quiet dignity.
(Article from the "William H. Calfee Foundation."
William was the son of Dr. Lee Price Calfee and Carrie Lavinia Whitehead. He married Maria Yolanda "Ariel" Peverini and June Dunn Davis.
William and Maria Yolanda were the parents of Adrianna Maria Calfee Sumner and Richard Howard Calfee. William and June were the parents of Helme P. Calfee, Alan E. Calfee, William W. Calfee, and Julia Calfee LePaul.
Obituary from "The Washington Post," 7 Dec 1995:
...He was a founder of the art department in 1945 and served as its chairman until 1954. After he retired as professor emeritus in 1977, he taught at the Kensington Workshop. He was a founder of Jefferson Place Gallery, one of the first galleries that exhibited works of the so-called Washington Color School of Painting.
Mr. Calfee's commissioned works included a massive abstract sculpture for the grounds of the F.Scott Fitzgerald Theatre in Rockville and murals for post offices in Bel Air, MD, Petersburg and Harrisonburg, WV, and Shelbyville, DE. His works were exhibited at the New York World's Fair in 1939, the Baltimore Museum and at private galleries in New York...
Mr. Calfee was a native of Washington and a graduate of Central High School. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, the Cranbrook Academy in Michigan, Catholic University and the Corcoran School of Art. He taught in Haiti and at the Phillips, the University of California at Berkeley, Hood College and at his own school in Washington.
According to "The Bluefield Daily Telegraph," Bluefield, WV, Calfee was paid $900 in 1940 for two oil on canvas murals for the Tazewell, VA post office. "Sheep-Mother and Child-Cow" is above the door to the postmasters office, and "Mining" can be found at the end of the lobby.
("Mural Depicts Depression Era in Coalfields," by Kate Coil, "Bluefield Daily Telegraph," June 13, 2011.)
In the early 1940s, Calfee became assistant to C. Law Watkins at the Phillips Memorial Gallery art school, which collaborated with American University in offering a program in fine arts, one of the first in the country. In 1945, he joined Watkins in teaching at the university and became chair of the art department for the next eight years. Calfee, who was soon joined by fellow-artists from the Phillips art school, Sarah Baker and Robert Gates, taught the universal principles of art that he discovered in Italian Renaissance fresco painting, but also encouraged innovative experimentation in his students. Classes were also taught by visiting artists such as Karl Knaths, Herman Mari, and Jack Tworkov. Some graduates of the program became faculty members at American University as well as other colleges and universities around the country ... Calfee, along with other members of American University's faculty, organized the Jefferson Place Gallery near Dupont Circle in 1957. Calfee received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from American University for his contributions to the university and the community.
In the late 1970s, Calfee moved from Washington to a large home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, where he lived and worked the rest of his life. During this period, Calfee and fellow-artist Patricia Friend organized the Kensington Workshop at which they taught their innovative approach to painting for a number of years. Calfee's works are found in numerous private and public collections, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Phillips Collection. His last major public commission was for a monumental abstract sculpture that he completed in 1980 for the Rockville Civic Center in Maryland. Calfee's art, as his life, was based on principles of excellence and quiet dignity.
(Article from the "William H. Calfee Foundation."
William was the son of Dr. Lee Price Calfee and Carrie Lavinia Whitehead. He married Maria Yolanda "Ariel" Peverini and June Dunn Davis.
William and Maria Yolanda were the parents of Adrianna Maria Calfee Sumner and Richard Howard Calfee. William and June were the parents of Helme P. Calfee, Alan E. Calfee, William W. Calfee, and Julia Calfee LePaul.
Obituary from "The Washington Post," 7 Dec 1995:
...He was a founder of the art department in 1945 and served as its chairman until 1954. After he retired as professor emeritus in 1977, he taught at the Kensington Workshop. He was a founder of Jefferson Place Gallery, one of the first galleries that exhibited works of the so-called Washington Color School of Painting.
Mr. Calfee's commissioned works included a massive abstract sculpture for the grounds of the F.Scott Fitzgerald Theatre in Rockville and murals for post offices in Bel Air, MD, Petersburg and Harrisonburg, WV, and Shelbyville, DE. His works were exhibited at the New York World's Fair in 1939, the Baltimore Museum and at private galleries in New York...
Mr. Calfee was a native of Washington and a graduate of Central High School. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, the Cranbrook Academy in Michigan, Catholic University and the Corcoran School of Art. He taught in Haiti and at the Phillips, the University of California at Berkeley, Hood College and at his own school in Washington.
According to "The Bluefield Daily Telegraph," Bluefield, WV, Calfee was paid $900 in 1940 for two oil on canvas murals for the Tazewell, VA post office. "Sheep-Mother and Child-Cow" is above the door to the postmasters office, and "Mining" can be found at the end of the lobby.
("Mural Depicts Depression Era in Coalfields," by Kate Coil, "Bluefield Daily Telegraph," June 13, 2011.)
William H. Calfee (1909-1995), a native of Washington, D.C., was chair of American University's art department from 1946 to 1954. In the 1920s and 1930s he studied under the sculptor Carl Miles. It was there that he experienced the process of producing monumental work and the art of casting bronze. During the Great Depression, he produced murals for the Fine Arts Section of the Department of the Interior. The murals can be found today in a number of post offices in Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. During that time he developed an idiom that was both figurative and abstract. His first solo exhibition opened at the James Whyte Gallery (later known as the Franz Bader Gallery) on December 7, 1941.
In the early 1940s, Calfee became assistant to C. Law Watkins at the Phillips Memorial Gallery art school, which collaborated with American University in offering a program in fine arts, one of the first in the country. In 1945, he joined Watkins in teaching at the university and became chair of the art department for the next eight years. Calfee, who was soon joined by fellow-artists from the Phillips art school, Sarah Baker and Robert Gates, taught the universal principles of art that he discovered in Italian Renaissance fresco painting, but also encouraged innovative experimentation in his students. Classes were also taught by visiting artists such as Karl Knaths, Herman Mari, and Jack Tworkov. Some graduates of the program became faculty members at American University as well as other colleges and universities around the country ... Calfee, along with other members of American University's faculty, organized the Jefferson Place Gallery near Dupont Circle in 1957. Calfee received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from American University for his contributions to the university and the community.
In the late 1970s, Calfee moved from Washington to a large home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, where he lived and worked the rest of his life. During this period, Calfee and fellow-artist Patricia Friend organized the Kensington Workshop at which they taught their innovative approach to painting for a number of years. Calfee's works are found in numerous private and public collections, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Phillips Collection. His last major public commission was for a monumental abstract sculpture that he completed in 1980 for the Rockville Civic Center in Maryland. Calfee's art, as his life, was based on principles of excellence and quiet dignity.
(Article from the "William H. Calfee Foundation."
William was the son of Dr. Lee Price Calfee and Carrie Lavinia Whitehead. He married Maria Yolanda "Ariel" Peverini and June Dunn Davis.
William and Maria Yolanda were the parents of Adrianna Maria Calfee Sumner and Richard Howard Calfee. William and June were the parents of Helme P. Calfee, Alan E. Calfee, William W. Calfee, and Julia Calfee LePaul.
Obituary from "The Washington Post," 7 Dec 1995:
...He was a founder of the art department in 1945 and served as its chairman until 1954. After he retired as professor emeritus in 1977, he taught at the Kensington Workshop. He was a founder of Jefferson Place Gallery, one of the first galleries that exhibited works of the so-called Washington Color School of Painting.
Mr. Calfee's commissioned works included a massive abstract sculpture for the grounds of the F.Scott Fitzgerald Theatre in Rockville and murals for post offices in Bel Air, MD, Petersburg and Harrisonburg, WV, and Shelbyville, DE. His works were exhibited at the New York World's Fair in 1939, the Baltimore Museum and at private galleries in New York...
Mr. Calfee was a native of Washington and a graduate of Central High School. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, the Cranbrook Academy in Michigan, Catholic University and the Corcoran School of Art. He taught in Haiti and at the Phillips, the University of California at Berkeley, Hood College and at his own school in Washington.
According to "The Bluefield Daily Telegraph," Bluefield, WV, Calfee was paid $900 in 1940 for two oil on canvas murals for the Tazewell, VA post office. "Sheep-Mother and Child-Cow" is above the door to the postmasters office, and "Mining" can be found at the end of the lobby.
("Mural Depicts Depression Era in Coalfields," by Kate Coil, "Bluefield Daily Telegraph," June 13, 2011.)
In the early 1940s, Calfee became assistant to C. Law Watkins at the Phillips Memorial Gallery art school, which collaborated with American University in offering a program in fine arts, one of the first in the country. In 1945, he joined Watkins in teaching at the university and became chair of the art department for the next eight years. Calfee, who was soon joined by fellow-artists from the Phillips art school, Sarah Baker and Robert Gates, taught the universal principles of art that he discovered in Italian Renaissance fresco painting, but also encouraged innovative experimentation in his students. Classes were also taught by visiting artists such as Karl Knaths, Herman Mari, and Jack Tworkov. Some graduates of the program became faculty members at American University as well as other colleges and universities around the country ... Calfee, along with other members of American University's faculty, organized the Jefferson Place Gallery near Dupont Circle in 1957. Calfee received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from American University for his contributions to the university and the community.
In the late 1970s, Calfee moved from Washington to a large home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, where he lived and worked the rest of his life. During this period, Calfee and fellow-artist Patricia Friend organized the Kensington Workshop at which they taught their innovative approach to painting for a number of years. Calfee's works are found in numerous private and public collections, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Phillips Collection. His last major public commission was for a monumental abstract sculpture that he completed in 1980 for the Rockville Civic Center in Maryland. Calfee's art, as his life, was based on principles of excellence and quiet dignity.
(Article from the "William H. Calfee Foundation."
William was the son of Dr. Lee Price Calfee and Carrie Lavinia Whitehead. He married Maria Yolanda "Ariel" Peverini and June Dunn Davis.
William and Maria Yolanda were the parents of Adrianna Maria Calfee Sumner and Richard Howard Calfee. William and June were the parents of Helme P. Calfee, Alan E. Calfee, William W. Calfee, and Julia Calfee LePaul.
Obituary from "The Washington Post," 7 Dec 1995:
...He was a founder of the art department in 1945 and served as its chairman until 1954. After he retired as professor emeritus in 1977, he taught at the Kensington Workshop. He was a founder of Jefferson Place Gallery, one of the first galleries that exhibited works of the so-called Washington Color School of Painting.
Mr. Calfee's commissioned works included a massive abstract sculpture for the grounds of the F.Scott Fitzgerald Theatre in Rockville and murals for post offices in Bel Air, MD, Petersburg and Harrisonburg, WV, and Shelbyville, DE. His works were exhibited at the New York World's Fair in 1939, the Baltimore Museum and at private galleries in New York...
Mr. Calfee was a native of Washington and a graduate of Central High School. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, the Cranbrook Academy in Michigan, Catholic University and the Corcoran School of Art. He taught in Haiti and at the Phillips, the University of California at Berkeley, Hood College and at his own school in Washington.
According to "The Bluefield Daily Telegraph," Bluefield, WV, Calfee was paid $900 in 1940 for two oil on canvas murals for the Tazewell, VA post office. "Sheep-Mother and Child-Cow" is above the door to the postmasters office, and "Mining" can be found at the end of the lobby.
("Mural Depicts Depression Era in Coalfields," by Kate Coil, "Bluefield Daily Telegraph," June 13, 2011.)
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