William Merritt Post

River Landscape, Autumn

William Merritt Post was born in 1856 in Brooklyn, New York. As the son of a commodities merchant, his parents separated after 16 years of marriage and four children. Post developed his eye for composition, his technical knowledge of the craft of painting and his deft draftsmanship in the artistic community of New York. At the age of 24, he began taking drawing lessons from Samuel Frost Johnson and by 1880, Post had already begun painting Hudson River pictures on academic boards and signing them W. Post. By 1881–82, he moved on to the Art Students League, where he worked with J. Carroll Beckwith. Paintings during this phase were signed W. M. Post and by the age of 28 in 1884, Post had launched his career as a landscapist. That same year, the National Academy of Design accepted for its autumn exhibition one of his paintings signed W. Merritt Post. This remained his signature for the rest of his professional life. It was in these years that he became greatly influenced by the landscape painter, Hugh Bolton Jones. Both of them were attracted to tightly focused landscape scenes, particularly streams amid trees and meadows, and their primary goal was to capture light at different times of the day and in different seasons. This predilection, in turn, drove both artists to excursions outside of New York into the countryside of the marsh towns in New Jersey and on Long Island, especially in the marsh areas of Milburn, South Orange and Nutley. By the 1890s, Post perfected the country stream motif and the evident profitability of these paintings so he became financially independent of his father, being this of great significance for the artist that kept the interpretation of this theme for the rest of his life. Post exhibited continually at the National Academy of Design, the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts as well as the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. He also exhibited in Buffalo, Chicago, St. Louis and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC, receiving many awards. As an American artist that was making a living from his art, in 1906 at the age of 49, Post married his wife, Katherine Van Nest, who was 36 at that time. The Post’s summered in Bethlehem, Connecticut around 1908 becoming noted for his landscape paintings done there. Also, he was an active member of the two watercolor clubs that had been established in New York City. Post was later elected an associate member of the National Academy of Design in 1910. In 1912, they purchased a farm in West Morris (Bantam) 15 miles northwest of Waterbury. With the help of New York architects, the Posts completely remodeled the place adding a studio addition in the process. The Bantam River ran westerly at the back of the property. After settling in his West Morris studio, Post began painting Plein-air landscapes, and traveled throughout the northeast, collecting landscape motifs in his sketchbooks. He became fascinated with country streams and reflections on water, and concentrated on these themes all of his professional life, showing a steady exploration of this country stream theme. Remaining committed to tonalist hues and the rich greens that also appealed to his mentor, Hugh Bolton Jones. Post moved back with his wife to Manhattan at the age of 70 to be close to their daughter. About 1930, Post's started to offer two paintings at the National Academy of Design annual exhibitions, and this was later reduced to one painting per year. Post died in 1935 in New York City at the age of 78. The contents of his studio in West Morris were auctioned off in 1937, and the estate holder donated many items to the Mattatuck Museum, including drawings, sketchbooks, small oil paintings, documents, and artists' materials.