EncyclopediaGwathmey, Robert
Gwathmey, Robert (gwăth'mē) [key], 1903–88, American painter, b. Richmond, Va. Gwathmey taught at Cooper Union from 1942 to 1968. Among the first white artists to portray African Americans with dignity, he created paintings with flat areas of color that combine empathy for impoverished Southern blacks with intense atmospheric effects of harsh sun and parched earth. Representative of his works, which are found in many museums, is Sowing (Whitney Mus., New York City).
See his biography by M. Kammen (1999).
His son, Charles Gwathmey,. 1938–, b. Charlotte, N.C., is an American architect. He is particularly known for residential structures, such as the classic small modernist Hamptons, Long Island, house he designed for his parents (1965) and the signature mansions he created later in his career. Gwathmey's more recent buildings include an addition to New York's Guggenheim Museum (1992) and the New York Public Library system's Science, Industry, and Business Library (1995).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
