William S. Horton was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1865. He was gifted as a child and at the age of seven he won his first prize at the Michigan State Fair with a small still life of roses. As a boy of twelve growing up in Lisbon, North Dakota, he is known to have given lessons in drawing and painting. Despite his parents' lack of encouragement, he remained determined to pursue an artistic career. He received his first formal instruction at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. By the age of fourteen, his technical ability as a draughtsman was already well-developed, enabling him to work as an illustrator for the Northwest Magazine. During this period, he lived at the North American Indian Cantonments for two years.
Intent on further developing his talent, Horton moved to New York City in 1885 where he attended classes at both the Art Students League and the National Academy of Design. Two years later he traveled to Paris, where he studied under Benjamin Constant's supervision, and where he also came under the influence of French Impressionism. He was particularly attracted to the work of Claude Monet, who would later become his friend and associate. During this period, Horton's distinctive approach to the Impressionist aesthetic began to emerge. Although most of his contemporaries relied on soft, muted tonalities to render their impressions of nature, Horton painted his favorite subjects, usually land, sea and cityscapes as well as winter scenes, utilizing bright, vivid colors and bold, highly visible brushstrokes.
Horton spent most of his working life in Europe, maintaining a permanent studio in Paris. From about 1898 to 1914, he was a regular exhibitor at the Salon des Independents; he also had one-man shows at Bernheim Jeune Galleries and George Petit. Around 1924, he returned to the United States, where he produced a series of studies of the New York skyline. After the death of his wife in 1930, he sought solace in his painting and through world travel. He died in London in 1936.
A prolific artist, Horton is recognized today as one of the more significant and talented of the many American expatriate painters who worked in the Impressionist mode. Examples of his work can be found in major public and private collections throughout Europe and the United States, Including the Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris, the National Museum, Stockholm and the National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.
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