Nationality United States Spouse(s) Mary Orr | Known for Painting, etching | |
Born 1872 Quincy, Illinois Education St Louis School of Fine Arts - Académie Julian Awards Silver Medal St. Louis fair Died 1938, Tryon, North Carolina, United States Books Paris and Tryon: George C. Aid (1872-1938) and His Artistic Circles in France and North Carolina | ||
George Charles Aid or George Aid (1872 – 1938) born in Quincy, Illinois, was an American painter, etcher and teacher known for portrait, landscape and genre painting.Aid was active in France, the Netherlands and The Carolinas.
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Biography
George Charles Aid studied at the school of Fine Art in St. Louis and started working as an illustrator for various St. Louis newspapers. In 1899 he was granted a scholarship to travel and study in Paris, France. He registered at the Académie Julian and started working under Jean-Paul Laurens and Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant as well as with Lucien Simon and Charles Cottet at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. He exhibited his work in art venues in France and the USA and won a silver medal at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair .
In 1906 the Swedish government purchased Aid's painting shown at the Paris Salon, Aid was also invited to show his etching work along with Clarence Gagnon, Huc-Mazelet Luquiens, and Herman Armour Webster, his work was reviewed by art critics such as Charles DeKay.
Aid stayed in France for fifteen years, meeting other American artists like Richard E. Miller or Frederick Carl Frieseke but more importantly a young music student from South Carolina who became his wife in 1910. The couple moved to Italy.
World War I having started, they are back in the United States. In 1920, they settled in Tryon, North Carolina where, like in Europe, they were able to find both a vineyard and an artistic colony. During the 1920s, George Charles Aid became a reputable artist by teaching the art of etching and doing portraits of prominent people of the Carolinas. He was also commissioned to paint The Baptism of Virginia Dare commemorating early North Carolina history, the painting was later donated to the Mint Museum in Charlotte.
George Charles Aid died in Tryon in 1938 and rests in Silver Brook Cemetery in Anderson, South Carolina.