Irving Ramsey Wiles (1861-1948)

Aliases: Irving Ramsay Wiles

Professions: Painter; Illustrator

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  Interior of William Merritt Chase's Tenth Street Studio

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  Property from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection IRVING RAMSEY WILES (1861-1948) Sunshine and Shadow

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  Irving Ramsey Wiles (1861-1948)

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  Irving Ramsey Wiles (American/New York, 1861-1948) "Shelter Island", oil on board, 12-1/2" x 16", signed lower left "Irving R. Wiles", inscribed en verso "Shelter Island/Irving R. Wiles/106 West 55th Street", retains gallery label en verso

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Irving Ramsey Wiles Biography

(b.1861; d.1948) American painter. In 1879, at the age of eighteen Irving Wiles met William Merritt Chase, the important American Impressionist painter, who would become his teacher, mentor and friend. Wiles enrolled in the New York Art Students League and studied there for two years. In 1882 he trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. After he returned to New York he assumed a teaching post at the Art Students League; opened a studio in 1887, where he gave painting lessons; and assisted his father’s art school in upstate New York. Wiles painted in a painterly impressionist style. His figures appear to be lost in contemplation, within a well-defined, solitary space. Wiles focused on developing light and shadow within his work. He once said that “Color is whatever light makes it, and light changes and transforms everything—color, line, everything. Light is beauty.” (The Art of Irving Ramsey Wiles, p.18).* This fascination with light can be seen in his paintings and created enigmatic and emotionally charged moments within a single painting. The majority of his works are portraits. Wiles’ skill with portraiture made him famous and in 1910 Knoedler Gallery gave Wiles his first solo exhibition. Towards the end of his life he spent more time in Peconic, NY, on Long Island, and produced more landscape scenes, although his focus was always in portraiture. (Credit: *Christie’s, New York, American Paintings, December 1, 2005, lot 49)

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