Guy Pène du Bois
Guy Pène du Bois (January 4, 1884 – July 18, 1958) was a 20th-century American painter, art critic, and educator. Guy Pène du Bois was born in the U.S. to a French family, his work depicted the culture and society around him: cafes, theatres, and in the twenties, flappers.
Also recorded as Guy Pene du Bois · Guy Pene DuBois · Guylene Dubois · Guy Pène Du Bois
Guy Pène du Bois
Guy Pène du Bois · Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum · Public domain
- Name
- Guy Pène du Bois
- Born
- 4 January 1884
- Birthplace
- Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
- Died
- 18 July 1958
- Place of death
- Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
- Field
- Painting
- Training
- New York School of Art
- Nationality
- United States.
- Occupation
- painter, art critic, teacher, graphic artist and illustrator.
- Fields
- painting.
- Education
- Parsons School of Design.
- Teachers
- William Merritt Chase, Robert Henri and Théophile Steinlen.
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Documentary summary
Guy Pène du Bois (January 4, 1884 – July 18, 1958) was a 20th-century American painter, art critic, and educator. Guy Pène du Bois was born in the U.S. to a French family, his work depicted the culture and society around him: cafes, theatres, and in the twenties, flappers.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q5622550 · wikipedia · Guy Pène du Bois
In this article
Biography
Biography
Guy Pène du Bois studied at Parsons School of Design. Training under William Merritt Chase, Robert Henri and Théophile Steinlen is recorded. Raphael Soyer is recorded as having studied under Guy Pène du Bois. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is painting. Employment is recorded with Art Students League of New York, New York Journal-American and New York Post. Work by Guy Pène du Bois is recorded in the collections of Art Institute of Chicago, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Approaching Storm Racetrack, by Guy Pène du Bois
Walt Kuhn
Blonde and Brunette, by Guy Pène Du Bois
Guy Pène du Bois
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Guy Pène du Bois • Born — 4 January 1884 • Birthplace — Brooklyn, New York, U.S. • Died — 18 July 1958 • Place of death — Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. • Field — Painting • Training — New York School of Art
Artistic training
Artistic training
• Illustration — Supper Club, 1925 Pène du Bois began his artistic training in 1899, when he enrolled in the New York School of Art to study under the painter William Merritt Chase. In 1902 he enrolled in a painting class with Robert Henri, whose teachings lead Pène du Bois to focus more on everyday life in his own artwork. Pène du Bois traveled to Europe in 1905 to study under Théophile Steinlen, but returned to the U.S. upon his father's death the following year. He was a close friend to Edward Hopper and was his best man for his wedding to Josephine Hopper. They remained lifelong friends.
Artwork
Artwork
• Illustration — Approaching Storm, Racetrack, 1929 His work is in numerous museum collections, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Phillips Collection, the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, the Brooklyn Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the University of Virginia Art Museum. A mural by Pène du Bois titled "John Jay at His Home" was completed in 1938 and installed in the United States Post Office in Rye, NY during the WPA era. There is a mural by Guy Pène du Bois in the Saratoga Springs New York Post Office, "Saratoga in Racing Season" 1937, oil on canvas, two panels. His work was also part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics.
Identity and origins
Identity and origins
The authorities additionally record the headings Guy Pene du Bois, Guy Pene DuBois, Guylene Dubois, Guy Pène Du Bois and Guylene Du Bois.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1884
Guy Pène du Bois born at Brooklyn.
1958
Guy Pène du Bois died at Boston.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Brooklyn.
Birth place
Boston.
Death place
Illustrations and art criticism
Beginning in 1906, Pène du Bois worked as an illustrator and cartoonist for the New York American, and he began writing art criticism for the publication two years later. He became the editor of Arts and Decoration in 1913 and also wrote for the New York Post and the magazines The Arts and Arts Weekly. He was also one of the founders of the magazine Reality: A Journal of Artists' Opinions. In 1940, he published his autobiography, Artists Say the Silliest Things. His son was the French-American author and illustrator William Pène du Bois. His daughter was the painter Yvonne Pene du Bois. The American artist Jerome Myers recalled his close friendship with Pène du Bois in his 1940 autobiography Artist in Manhattan: "Guy Pene du Bois has long been the auditor of my thoughts on art and life. Our contacts were so pleasurable and profitable. So often in his charming home circle, over our coffee, we would spend hours together, analyzing art conditions, forecasting the careers of various artists then commanding the spotlight, as well as of others whose light shone less brightly. I regret that I made no notes of our talks, for to me they were always an inspiration. "Guy was then the noted art critic and painter; and even later, when he became the noted painter, he was still the art critic as well, coining his brief aphorisms with a dash of cosmopolitan cynicism, cool wisdom and dry humor. I regretted the intervention of his trips abroad; but our intimate conversations were resumed whenever opportunity afforded, Guy remaining as ever my real spiritual comrade. He was always a wise friend, a wise teacher, the possessor of an individual and rare skill in painting, his life a notable one, his contacts illustrious. I envy him only all that his history entails in names and places, covering so much of our present art history."
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Guy Pène du Bois”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q5622550: Guy Pène du Bois
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.James Graham & Sons. Guy Pene du Bois: Painter of Modern Life; Part II - The Mature Years. October 2017.
- 2.Life. Guy Pène du Bois. 1949-06-20.
- 3.Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. Guy Pène du Bois.
- 4.Merrell Publishers Limited. Life's Pleasures: The Ashcan Artists' Brush with Leisure, 1895-1925. 205. 2007.
- 5.Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Guy Pène du Bois.
- 6.Levin, Gail. Edward Hopper an intimate biography.
- 7.Slideshow AAA.duboguyp_ref38. edan.si.edu.
- 8.Life. The Du Bois Family. 1940-04-29.
- 9.Jerome Myers, Artist in Manhattan, New York: American Artists Group, Inc. 1940.
- 10.The Rye Chronicle. Visitors Admire Mural of John Jay in Rye Post Office. 4. January 28, 1938.
- 11.Guy Pène du Bois. Olympedia.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 1
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Guy Pène du Bois studied at Parsons School of Design. He trained under William Merritt Chase, Robert Henri and Théophile Steinlen. Each of those relationships is stated by the authority record rather than inferred from style.
Guy Pène du Bois worked in painting. He was employed by Art Students League of New York, New York Journal-American, New York Post and Works Progress Administration. He belonged to American Academy of Arts and Letters. Recorded with the occupation painter. Recorded as painter, art critic, teacher, graphic artist and illustrator.
Career and activity
Recognition and collections
Work by Guy Pène du Bois is
Art Institute of Chicago, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and Museum of Modern Art
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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