William Samuel Horton

William Samuel Horton (November 16, 1865, Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States – October 1, 1936, Paris, France) was an American Impressionist painter who mostly painted landscapes and water scenes.

He is considered by art critics, gallerists and museums to be one of the major members of American Impressionism, following on painters such as Mary Cassatt and Childe Hassam, but with a production mostly centered on European motives.

[citation needed] In 1892, Horton married ‘debutante’ Carlotta Lorrie Gray, a well-to-do member of New York City society, daughter of a shipowner.

[citation needed] In 1895, Horton joined the Académie Julian art school in Paris where he studied with teachers such as Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant and Jean-Paul Laurens.

[citation needed] Both William Samuel Horton and his wife Carlotta 'Lottie' are buried in a double-width grave in the churchyard of St Margaret's in the parish of Angmering, West Sussex, England.

[6] According to art critics and galleries, Horton's total work is estimated to exceed one thousand oil paintings, drawings, pastels, illustrations, etc, most of it was initially inherited by his son William 'Gray' in 1936.

[8] After his death, a retrospective exhibition was organized by his son in May 1939, held by Galerie Charpentier in Paris; the catalog of this show included a seven-page 'Appreciation' text by the French art critic Louis Vauxcelles.

[12][13][14][15][5][11][16][17] In 2021, the southwestern French city of Bayonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, announced that it had accepted on behalf of its fine art museum Musée Bonnat-Helleu a donation by William Samuel Horton’s granddaughter, Mrs Carlotta Edwina Gray Hadley.