Edwin Megargee
{{short description|American painter}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Edwin Megargee
| image =
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1883
| birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| death_date = March 13, 1958
| death_place = New York City, U.S.
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| education = Georgetown University
Drexel University
Art Students League of New York
| employer =
| occupation = Painter
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| spouse = {{plainlist|
- Jean Inglee
- Esther Kimball
}}
| children = 1 son
| parents =
| relatives = Lon Megargee (cousin)
}}
File:Soemmerring's Copper Pheasant by Edwin Megargee.png
S. Edwin Megargee (1883 - March 13, 1958) was an American animal painter, illustrator and author. He did portraits of dogs, horses and cattle, and he authored several books.
Early life
Megargee was born in 1883 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.{{cite news |title=Edwin Megargee, 75, Animal Painter, Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/177969863/?terms=%22edwin%2Bmegargee%22 |accessdate=December 8, 2018 |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=March 14, 1958|page=15|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }}{{cite news |title=Edwin Megargee Dies; Famed Animal Painter |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/221678373/?terms=%22edwin%2Bmegargee%22 |accessdate=December 9, 2018 |work=The Courier-News|location=Bridgewater, New Jersey |date=March 14, 1958|page=17|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }} His father was the Greek and Russian Consul for the city of Philadelphia.{{Cite news |last=TIAES |first=Special 'co THE i%V YORK |date=1936-04-26 |title=MISS JEAN INGLEE WED IN PLAINFIELD; Home of Bride's Parents Scene of Her Marriage to S. Edwin Megargee Jr. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/04/26/archives/miss-jean-inglee-wed-in-plainfield-home-of-brides-parents-scene-of.html |access-date=2022-08-13 |issn=0362-4331}} He attended Georgetown University, Drexel University, and the Art Students League of New York.
Career
Megargee was an animal painter. He specialized in portraits of award-winning dogs and thoroughbred horses. He also did paintings of cattle.
Megargee authored and illustrated books about dogs.{{cite news |title=Edwin Megargee |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/456321642/?terms=%22edwin%2Bmegargee%22 |accessdate=December 9, 2018 |work=Daily News|location=New York City |date=March 14, 1958|page=51|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }} He was the chairman of the library committee and a judge for the American Kennel Club (AKC).
Personal life and death
In 1931, Megargee was engaged to Dorothy Harper Graves.{{Cite news |date=1931-03-29 |title=Marriage Announcement 1 -- No Title |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1931/03/29/archives/marriage-announcement-1-no-title.html |access-date=2022-08-13 |issn=0362-4331}} While the outcome of their relationship is unknown, Graves was still using her maiden name when she was engaged again in 1945.{{Cite news |date=1945-06-02 |title=Murray--Russo; Graves--Hunter |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1945/06/02/archives/murrayrusso-graveshunter.html |access-date=2022-08-13 |issn=0362-4331}}
On April 25, 1936, Megargee married Jean Inglee, whose father was the executive vice president of the AKC,{{Cite news |last= |first= |last2= |first2= |date=1936-01-24 |title=MISS JEAN INSLEE ENGAGED TO ARTIST; Member of Prominent New England Families Will Be Wed to S. E. Megargee Jr. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/01/24/archives/miss-jean-in6lee-en6aged-to-artist-member-of-prominent-new-england.html |access-date=2022-08-13 |issn=0362-4331}} in Dunellen, New Jersey. They had a son together, Edwin Inglee Megargee.
After their divorce, he married Esther Kimball Hartshorne on October 28, 1951.{{Cite news |date=1951-10-28 |title=Mrs. Hartshorne Wed to Artist |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1951/10/28/archives/mrs-hartshorne-wed-to-artist.html |access-date=2022-08-13 |issn=0362-4331}} Esther was a writer, known for a book of poems about dogs titled DOG-GEREL, a play on the word doggerel.{{Cite news |date=1934-05-27 |title=DOG-ORREL. By Esther Kimball Hartshorne. Illustrated by Cleanthe. Unpaged. Red Bank, N.J.: Stone's Throw Press. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1934/05/27/archives/dogorrel-by-esther-kimball-hartshorne-illustrated-by-cleanthe.html |access-date=2022-08-13 |issn=0362-4331}} It was apparently a happy relationship; in his book The Sixties, her cousin Edmund Wilson wrote, "One of her friends said she had married a swell guy, but then he died and left her stuck with that name [Megargee]."{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Edmund |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n-23DwAAQBAJ&dq=esther+kimball+megargee&pg=PT224 |title=The Sixties: The Last Journal, 1960–1972 |date=2019-11-12 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=978-1-4668-9969-8 |language=en}}
Before his marriage to Jean Inglee, Megargee was allegedly involved in an affair with Starr Faithfull, at the request of her mother and stepfather. According to the Faithfulls, they had approached Megargee after Dr. William Van Pelt Garretson, a psychiatrist treating Starr, had recommended that she "experience a normal sexual relationship" after being sexually abused by an older man, assumed to be Andrew James Peters.{{Cite book |last=Goodman |first=Jonathan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zq6N6gbd6EEC&q=megargee |title=The Passing of Starr Faithfull |date=1996 |publisher=Kent State University Press |isbn=978-0-87338-541-1 |language=en}}
Megargee resided at 159 East 37th Street in Manhattan, New York City.{{Cite news |date=1958-03-14 |title=EDWIN MEGARGEE, PORTRAITIST, DIES; Painter of Noted Dogs and Horses Illustrated and Wrote Animal Books |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1958/03/14/archives/edwin-eggee-portraitist-dies-painter-of-noted-dogs-and-horses.html |access-date=2022-08-13 |issn=0362-4331}} He died on March 13, 1958, at age 75.
Selected works
- {{cite book |last1=Megargee |first1=Edwin |title=Dogs |date=1942 |publisher=Harper |location=New York|oclc=368078}}
- {{cite book |last1=Megargee |first1=Edwin |title=Horses |date=1946 |publisher=J. Messner |location=New York|oclc=2831614}}
- {{cite book |last1=Megargee |first1=Edwin |title=The Dog Dictionary |date=1954 |publisher=Grosset & Dunlap |location=New York|oclc=1867356}}
References
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Category:Painters from Philadelphia
Category:Painters from New York City
Category:People from Murray Hill, Manhattan
Category:Georgetown University alumni
Category:Drexel University alumni
Category:Art Students League of New York alumni
Category:American painters of animals
Category:American male painters
Category:20th-century American painters