Artist Bio
Wiles, Irving Ramsey
The son of artist Lemuel Maynard Wiles, Irving Ramsey Wiles (1861-1948)
became one of the most celebrated portrait painters of America's
"Gilded Age." Among his clients were Theodore Roosevelt and William
Jennings Bryant, as well as socialites and actresses. Born in Utica,
New York, and educated at Sedgwick Academy in Great Barrington,
Massachusetts, Wiles originally considered becoming a professional
violinist. He studied art as a teenager with his father and had his
first exhibition at the National Academy of Design at the age of
eighteen. He also studied at the Art Students' League with James
Carroll Beckwith and William Merritt Chase, with whom he developed an
enduring friendship. Chase chose Wiles to complete the portrait
commissions left unfinished at the time of his death, and Wiles was
widely considered to be Chase's successor. Wiles traveled to Paris for
additional studies with Carolus-Duran, Jules Lefebvre, and Gustave
Boulanger. On his return to New York in 1884, he made illustrations for
Century, Harper's and Scribner's magazines. He taught at his own studio
and at his father's Silver Lake Art School in New York. Wiles
participated in many exhibitions in America and at the Paris Salons, as
well as in several international expositions. At the National Academy
of Design he received the Hallgarten Prize and was elected a full
member in 1897. His paintings are in private collections and museums
throughout the United States and Europe.