Samuel Chatwood Burton (1881 - 1947)

 

Samuel Chatwood Burton was born in Manchester, England in 1881.  He was an etcher, sculptor, lithographer, and painter, studying under Jean Paul Laurens at the Academie Julian in Paris, and with Laterni, in London.  He left his native England for America shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, settling first in Chicago and later in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

 

In 1914 he became a Professor of Fine Art and Architecture at the University of Minnesota.  He also spent time abroad and while in Spain, he created numerous etchings and wrote and illustrated a book titled “Spain Poised, Etchings of Spain” in 1937.  He was a member of the American Federation of Arts, the Chicago Society of Etchers, the Art Masters of England, and the Minneapolis Art Association.

 

Examples of S. Chatwood Burton’s art are included in such major collections as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Smithsonian Institution. During the 1940's Burton assumed the post of Head Professor of Architecture and Fine Arts at the University of Minnesota.

 

Burton’s ability to render great detailing without diminishing perspective, distance, light, shade, and tone was quite remarkable.  

 

Tragically he ended his own life in 1947 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.