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John Lavalle (painter)

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John Lavalle
Lavalle serving with the RAF 33rd Wing in World War I
Born(1896-06-24)June 24, 1896
DiedNovember 13, 1971(1971-11-13) (aged 75)
EducationHarvard University
Académie Julian
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
OccupationPainter
Spouses
  • Ellen Tufts
  • Virginia Wilson
  • Martha Nicholson Doubleday Hoyt
Children1 son, 2 daughters
RelativesJuan Lavalle (paternal great-grandfather)

John Lavalle, Jr. (June 24, 1896 – November 13, 1971) was an American artist born in Nahant, Massachusetts on June 24, 1896.[1] He was the great‐grandson of Juan Lavalle one of the founders of the Argentine Republic.

John Lavelle attended St. Paul's School, New Hampshire before going on to Harvard. At the outbreak of World War I he served as a bomber pilot with the Second Oxford Detachment of the British Royal Air Force. In Paris, Lavalle studied at the Académie Julian as a pupil of Jean-Francis Aubertin. Upon returning to the US he enrolled at the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, going on to establish himself as a successful painter of society portraits throughout the 1920s and 30s.

When the US entered World War II Lavalle served as a camouflage artist for the 12th Air Force prior to the invasion of Sicily, and painted many portraits and combat scenes of its subsequent campaigns. Several of these appear in the volume 'Mediterranean Sweep' published in 1944. After World War II, Lavalle moved from Boston to New York where he painted numerous portraits of various eminent academics.

His watercolors and landscapes are held in the collections of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Brooklyn Museum, the Harvard Art Museums, and the Parrish Art Museum in New York, of which he became the first vice president. He was awarded a bronze medal by the National Arts Club in 1954.

John Lavalle died in Southampton, New York on November 13, 1971.[2]

References

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  1. ^ New England Aviators 1914-1918. Vol. 1. Houghton Mifflin. 1919. p. 280. Retrieved July 26, 2020 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ "Painter John Lavalle, 75; works hang throughout US". The Boston Globe. Southampton, New York. November 14, 1971. p. 78. Retrieved July 26, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.