Alphaeus Philemon Cole
American artist, engraver and etcher (1876–1988)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alphaeus Philemon Cole (July 12, 1876 – November 25, 1988) was an American artist, engraver, etcher and supercentenarian. He was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of noted wood-engraver Timothy Cole.[1] Until his death, at age 112 years and 136 days, Alphaeus had been the world's oldest verified living man and the oldest living person in the United States.
- Artist
- engraver
- etcher
- Portraits
- etchings
- still life paintings
- world's oldest living man
Alphaeus Philemon Cole | |
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Cole in 1920 | |
| Born | July 12, 1876 Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | (aged 112 years, 136 days) New York City, U.S. |
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Biography
Cole studied art first under Isaac Craig in Italy, then in Paris from 1892 to 1901 with Jean Paul Laurens and Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant at the Académie Julian,[2][3] and later at the École des Beaux-Arts.[1] In the mid-1890s, he began to produce many vibrant works, mostly various still lifes and portraits. His painting of Dante was exhibited in the 1900 Paris Salon,[2] and more artwork was displayed at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.
Cole moved to England and married sculptor Margaret Ward Walmsley in 1903.[2] He began to venture into the fields of wood/steel engraving and etching, but these works sold less than his portraits. He contributed several drawings to the Encyclopædia Britannica. They moved again, to the United States, in 1911.[2] In 1918, Cole became a member of the Salmagundi Club, the nation's oldest professional art club.[1] From 1924 to 1931, he taught portrait and still life classes at Cooper Union.[3] He was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1930.[1] He was the president of the New York Water Color Club from 1931 to 1941.[2] In the 1940s, Cole worked as a judge of paintings in Max Pochapin's Manhattan Hall of Art, a merchandising art gallery, which was a revolutionary idea at the time.[4] From 1952 to 1953, he was president of Allied Artists of America.[5] His first wife died in 1961, and Cole married Anita Rio (born 1873), a singer, and the widow of painter Eugene Higgins, in 1962.[2] She died in 1971.[1][6][7][8]
Cole actively painted and exhibited up to the age of 103.[3] He died at New York's Chelsea Hotel, where he had lived for 35 years.[9] Cole's work is in the permanent collections of London's National Portrait Gallery and the Brooklyn Museum,[1] and his papers are stored at the Smithsonian Institution.[2]
Cole was subsequently verified as having been the oldest living man following the death of 111-year-old Norwegian skier Herman Smith-Johannsen, on January 5, 1987.[10] He was also the oldest living person in the United States for seven months after the death of 112-year-old Elzona Maxey on April 25, 1988.
He died in New York City, aged 112 years and 136 days.