George Lawrence Nelson

George Lawrence Nelson was born in New Rochelle, New York in 1887. He started his long art career by working
diligently. He studied in New York City at the National Academy of Design School and the Art Student League.
Then he went to Paris and studied at the Academy Julian and in 1911 worked in the studios of Jean Paul Laurens
and Benjamin Constant. The training was rigorous and typically academic. When Nelson returned to the United States,
he became an active exhibitor and excelled as a painter of portraits, receiving many prestigious portrait
commissions. He also painted still lifes, excelling at floral pieces, and was commissioned to paint various murals.

Nelson was noted for his use of color and did not use the somber pallets of his previous instructors. There is no
doubt that the impressionists influenced his colors, but he still retained the dependency on outlined forms, a
method learned at the Academy. After much experimentation Nelson was successful at combining the two elements
of line and color that would result in forming a creative personal style.

Nelson exhibited at The Pennsylvania Academy (1921) where he was the recipient of major awards medals and
citations. He also became a popular teacher. He was elected Associate of the National Academy of Design in 1929,
and a full member in 1942. From 1941-1943 Nelson served as president of the Allied Artists of America, and from
1954 to 1968, he was president of the Kent Art Association.

Nelson lived a good part of his life in Kent, Connecticut, maintaining a studio there throughout his career. He loved
capturing the unspoiled beauty of North West Connecticut's Litchfield Hills, such as this vibrant scene of cascading
falls in Kent, CT.

Nelson's paintings are included in the collections of National Academy of Design, the National Arts Club,
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, the New York Public Library, the New Britain Art Museum, CT, and the
American Academy of Arts and Letters, to name a few.