Sheridan Lord installation at The Drawing Room, 2018
Biography
Sheridan Norton Lord was born September 22, 1926 in New York City to William Galey Lord and Frances Victoria Norton, and primarily raised in Old Westbury, Long Island.
As a boy he loved baseball, and played the position of catcher. He attended Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, CT, from 1940-1944, where he demonstrated interest in being a cartoonist. He began to summer in East Hampton and Amagansett, Long Island with his parents.
After high school at the age of 18, Lord volunteered and served in the U.S. Army as a radio operator. He spent two years in the military, including being stationed in Bavaria during occupation. After his service, he attended Yale University from 1946-1950, acting as features editor for the Yale Daily News, to which he contributed cartoons. His roommates were Peter Mattheissen, Tom Guinzberg, William Buckley, and George Plimpton. He majored in English, with a minor in history, and received his B.A. in 1950.
Lord completed college at the age of 24 and moved to Seattle, where he spent nine months struggling to write fiction. He began to draw in March of 1951, first from a photograph of his niece, then an armchair. Soon after, he drove from Seattle back east. En route to New York, he visited poet Paul Engle (1908-1991), the Director of the Writer’s Workshop at the University of Iowa. He spent summers in Amagansett while working at John Drew Theater at Guild Hall in East Hampton.
At age 25, in September of 1951, Lord moved to Iowa City to study writing and painting at the University of Iowa’s Writer’s Workshop and School of Art. He withdrew from the Writer’s Workshop in January of 1952 to focus exclusively on painting. Notable classes from that period include: Still-life painting with Stuart Edie (1908-1974), a Woodstock artist trained at the Art Student League, and painting with Byron Burford (1920-2011), whose technical instruction remained useful throughout Lord’s career. He experimented with printmaking under Mauricio Lasansky (1914-2012), but abandoned it, preferring the directness of drawing and painting. He also worked in the library, educating himself in art history. In December of 1952, at age 26, Lord married art student Francile Downs. In the summer of 1953 and 1954, together they visited her family in Waco, Texas, and his own in Amagansett. During this time, he drew landscapes on the Gulf of Mexico near Corpus Christi, Texas, and continued drawing landscapes in Amagansett.
In 1954, the couple left the University of Iowa after only three years without receiving their degrees. They moved to Springs, Long Island, and rented a cottage from the sculptor Wilfrid Zogbaum. Lord painted still-lifes and a group of small beach vistas in Zogbaum’s studio. In October of 1954, Peter Matthiessen introduced him to Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock, with whom a close friendship developed. Other friends from that era include James Brooks and his wife, Charlotte Park Brooks, Conrad and Antia Marca-Relli, and other artists and writers living on the east end of Long Island.
Lord bought land in Springs and dedicated most of his time to building a house, as well as helping with construction projects at Jackson Pollock’s home. After Pollock’s death in 1956, Lord helped Lee Krasner compile an inventory of the work in Pollock’s studio.
For much of his 30s, Lord spent his time making drawings, some with pen and ink wash. He moved to Manhattan in 1962, and in the fall of 1963, he joined an artists’ group that met regularly at 14th Street and Sixth Avenue to draw from live models. During this time, he was also hired at the Brooklyn Museum Art School as an administrative assistant to the museum director, and taught some classes. He continued drawing intensively— sometimes more than five nights a week—and at the of age 43, he exhibited his art for the first time: a landscape painting and a charcoal drawing of his were featured in the 17th Annual Fine Arts Festival at The Parrish Art Museum in 1969. That same year, he became the Interim Director at Brooklyn Museum Art School for the spring and summer, and worked on the school’s faculty for a total of 12 years until 1975. While he was there, he developed an important friendship with Francis Cunningham, who became a mentor and lifelong friend.
Lord’s personal life during this time was unsettled. In 1963, he separated from Francile, and they divorced in 1965. Two years later, at age 41, he married Gertrude-Mercer (Gipsy) Altemus Hutten-Czapski. In 1968, Lord bought his house on Parsonage Lane in Sagaponack, and his marriage to Gipsy lasted until 1970.
From 1969-1972, Lord began to regularly submit his artwork to exhibitions, and started selling paintings and drawings privately. Some of his early collectors included Joe Fox (senior editor at Random House), Tom Guinzberg (managing editor of The Paris Review), Jason Epstein (founder of The New York Review of Books), poet Elizabeth Vreeland, photographer Hans Namuth, and authors William Styron and Peter Matthiessen.
In 1972, Lord met Pamela Silver Maynard, and they married in 1975. Throughout the ‘70s, he exhibited many of his landscape paintings in a variety of exhibitions in the East Hampton area and beyond. On October 17, 1976, his stepson Thomas Maynard tragically drowned in a sailing accident at the age of eight.
Lord’s artistic focus returned to still-life paintings in 1982, though he also continued to paint landscapes. A few years later in 1985, he began focusing his landscapes exclusively on views painted on his own property. From the late 1980s on, Lord increasingly dedicated his attention to still-lifes, painting landscapes only occasionally. He continued exhibiting his paintings at esteemed galleries and museums around Long Island throughout this period.
In the summer of 1993, the Parrish Museum agreed to produce a solo exhibition of Lord’s artwork. The show was scheduled for summer of 1995, with John Walsh joining as guest curator with help from Emily Goldstein. Walsh and Lord immediately began work together with great excitement. The two men had been close friends for years; Walsh’s work as an art historian had a particular focus in Dutch painting, and he appreciated hearing Lord’s perspective on painting techniques and composition. It was a busy time for both men, as Walsh had just begun his tenure as the head of the Getty Museum. For him, the solo exhibition and the accompanying catalog presented an opportunity to pay tribute to his friend’s body of work.
In December of 1993, Lord was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a fatal type of lung cancer. He was only 68 years old, and the diagnosis came as a complete shock—not just to Lord, but to his wife Pam and to their tight circle of friends. During the next six months, Lord and his family were supported by friends and family until his death in July of 1994. Tributes at his memorial service were offered by Peter Mathiessen, Jim Salter, and many others. Lord’s planned solo exhibition at the Parrish Museum opened in June of 1995, and was both a popular and critical success. A concurrent exhibit of Lord’s drawings was held at the Glenn Horowitz Fine Books in East Hampton. Pam Lord remained at the house on Parsonage Lane for a year before relocating to the town of East Hampton.
Sheridan Lord’s legacy continues: today, his paintings are most often seen in shows at The Drawing Room in East Hampton, while this website is updated regularly as a resource for collectors and admirers, and as a living document that invites new audiences to discover his artwork.
Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
Things in Place: Landscapes and Still Lifes by Sheridan Lord
The Parrish Art Museum,
Southampton, June 4 – July 9, 1995,
Sheridan Lord
1926 -1994 Drawings
Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, 87 Newtown Lane, East Hampton, June 4 – July 9, 1995,
Sheridan Lord Paintings
Peter Findlay Gallery, 41 East 57th St, NYC, NY. November 6 – 25, 1997
in association with Leslie Feeley Fine Arts
Sheridan Lord
The Drawing Room, East Hampton, October 7 – November 25, 2018
Group Exhibitions
17th Annual Fine Arts Festival
The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, August 30 – September 21,1969
18th Annual Fine Arts Festival
The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, September 6 – October 4, 1970
19th Annual Fine Arts Festival
The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, August 29 – October 3, 1971
Long Island Painters Awards Exhibition
Guild Hall Museum,
East Hampton, April 15–May 6, 1972
A Sense of Place: The Artist and the American Land
Joslyn Art Museum,
Omaha, Nebraska,
September 23 – October 28, 1973
Artist of the Region Invitational Exhibition #27
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, July 17– August 17, 1976
The Parrish Invitational ‘83
The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, September 11 – October 30, 1983
Drawing on the East End, 1940-1988
The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, September 18– November 13, 1988
Long Island Landscape Painting: The Twentieth Century
The Heckscher Museum, Huntington, NY, June 30-August 26, 1990.
54th Annual Artist Members’ Exhibition
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton,
Feb 29–April 11, 1992
Artist as Native: Reinventing Regionalism
Babcock Galleries,
New York City,
October 30–November, 1993
American Landscapes: Treasures from the Parrish Art Museum
Permanent Collection Exhibition
The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, September 27, 2009 – November 29, 2009
American Still Life: Treasures from the Parrish Art Museum
Permanent Collection Exhibition
The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, October 10, 2010 – 28, 2010
Still Life in the Studio
Permanent Collection Exhibition
The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, November 8, 2014 – October 25, 2015
Sheridan Lord & Racelle Strick
The Drawing Room, East Hampton, October 6 – November 19, 2023
Chronology
This chronology was compiled by Emily Goldstein in 1995, the year after he died.
1926 Born September 22 in New York City to William Galey Lord and Frances Victoria Norton.
1926-1940 Raised in Old Westbury, Long Island.
1940-1944 Attends Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, CT. Demonstrates interest in being a cartoonist. Begins to summer in East Hampton and Amagansett, Long Island.
1944-1946 Volunteers and serves in the U.S. Army as radio operator. Stationed in Bavaria during occupation.
1946-1950 Attends Yale University. Acts as features editor or the Yale Daily News to which he contributes cartoons. Majors in English, with a minor in history. Awarded B.A., 1950.
1950-1951 Lives nine months in Seattle, struggling to write fiction. Begins to draw in March 1951, first from a photograph of a niece, then an armchair. En route to New York, visits poet Paul Engle (1908-1991), the Director of the Writer’s Workshop at the University of Iowa. Summers in Amagansett. Works at John Drew Theater at Guild Hall in East Hampton.
1951-1954Moves to Iowa City in September to study writing and painting at the University of Iowa’s Writer’s Workshop and School of Art. Withdraws from the Writer’s Workshop in January 1952 to focus exclusively on painting. Memorable classes include: still-life painting with Stuart Edie (1908-1974), a Woodstock artist trained at the Art Student League, and painting with Byron Burford (b. 1912), whose technical remarks remain useful throughout Lord’s career. Experiments in printmaking under Mauricio Lasansky (b.1914); abandons it preferring the directness of drawing and painting. Works in library, educating himself in art history. Marries art student Francile Downs in December 1952. During the summer of 1953 and 1954 visits her family in Waco, Texas, and his own in Amagansett. Draws landscape on the Gulf of Mexico, near Corpus Christi, Texas. Continues to draw in Amagansett, where he also paints landscapes.
1954-1960 Leaves University of Iowa after three years without taking a degree. Moves to Springs, Long Island, and rents a cottage from the sculptor Wilfrid Zogbaum. Paints still lifes and a group of small beach vistas in Zogbaum’s studio. Peter Matthiessen introduces him in October 1954 to Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock with whom a close friendship develops. Friends include James Brooks and his wife, Charlotte Park Brooks, Conrad and Antia Marca-Relli and other artists and writers living on the east end of Long Island. Buys land in Springs and dedicates most of his time to building a house. Helps with construction projects at Pollock’s home. After Pollock’s death in 1956, helps Lee Krasner inventory the work in Pollock’s studio.
1960-1962 Resumes working, making mostly drawings, some with pen and ink wash.
1962 Moves to Manhattan. In the fall, joins an artists’ group that meets regularly at 14th street and Sixth Avenue to draw from live models. Continues drawing intensively, sometimes more then five nights a week, until 1969.
1963 Takes a position at the Brooklyn Museum Art School, which he holds until 1969, as administrative assistant to the director. Teaches there until 1975, part-time at first. Meets teaching colleague, Francis Cunningham, who becomes a mentor and lifelong friend. Separates from Francile.
1965 Divorced from Francile.
1967 Marries Gertrude Mercer (Gipsey) Altemus Hutten-Czapski.
1968 Buys house in Sagaponack, where, beginning in 1969, he lives and works for the rest of his life.
1969 Serves as Interim Director at Brooklyn Museum Art School during the spring and summer. Spends August in Sagaponack and resumes landscape painting. Executes twenty-four paintings that month, first using small canvases, then larger. Exhibits a landscape and a charcoal drawing in 17th Annual Fine Arts Festival, The Parrish Art Museum, August 30-September 21,1969 Returns to New York in September to teach several courses at the Brooklyn Museum Art School.
1970 Exhibits two landscapes in 18th Annual Fine Arts Festival, The Parrish Art Museum, September 6- October 4, 1970. Joins Francis Cunningham, August Mosca, and Chris Beels once a week in Cunningham’s New York apartment to draw from live models; continues through 1972. Divorced from Gipsey.
1971 Exhibits two landscapes in 19th Annual Fine Arts Festival, The Parrish Art Museum, August 29- October 3, 1971.
1972 Exhibits thirteen paintings in Long Island Painter Awards Exhibition (juried by Robert Gwathmey and George T. Griffin), Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, April 15-May 6, 1972. Exhibits two landscapes in 20th Annual Fine Arts Festival, The Parrish Art Museum, September 17- October 15, 1972. Meets Pamela Silver Maynard.
1973 Two paintings included in exhibition A Sense of Place: The Artist and the American Land, curated by Alan Gussow, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NB, September 23-October 28, 1973. A version of the exhibition was circulated by the Mid-America Arts Alliance to twenty locations in five states during 1973 and 1974 and occasioned Gussow’s book of the same title (San Francisco: Friends of the Earth, 1973).
1975 Marries Pamela Silver Maynard.
1976 Exhibits in Artist of the Region Invitational Exhibition #27, Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, July 17-August 17, 1976.
1982 Resumes still life while continuing to paint landscapes.
1983 Exhibits four paintings in The Parrish Invitational ’83, The Parrish Art Museum, September 11-October 30, 1983.
1985 Stops painting away from his own house and turns to views painted on his property. From the late 1980s, increasingly dedicates attention to still life, painting landscapes only occasionally.
1988 Exhibits in Drawing on the East End, 1940-1988, The Parish Art Museum, September 18- November 13, 1988.
1990 Ronald G. Pisano selects one of Lord’s paintings (no. 17) for the exhibition Long Island Landscape Painting: The Twentieth Century, The Heckscher Museum, Huntington, NY, June 30-August 26, 1990. The same painting is reproduced in volume 2 of Pisano’s Long Island Landscape Painting (Boston: Little, Brown, 1990) , pp.128-129
1992 Exhibits in 54th Annual Artist Members’ Exhibition, Guild Hall Museum, February 29- April 11, 1992. Awarded best representational painting (for no. 41) by judge Barbra Haskell.
1993 Included in The Artist as Native: Reinventing Regionalism, a group exhibition curated by Alan Gussow, Babcock Galleries, New York City, October 30- November 27, 1993.
1994 Dies, July 27, in New York City.