Peers, Gordon Franklin, 1909-1988

Gordon Franklin Peers was born March 17, 1909 to Sanford and May (Hallett) Peers in Easton, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Classical High in Providence (RI) in 1929, and then attended Rhode Island School of Design 1929-1933, receiving a diploma in 1933. He was a student at the John R. Frazier Summer School of Painting 1930-1935, and attended the Beaux Arts Academy and the Arts Students League in New York, 1933-1934. He exhibited his paintings at the 1939 New York World's Fair, the Golden Gate International Exposition, the Providence Art Club, and the Decordova Museum, among others. In 1947 he received his B.F.A. from RISD, and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws, L.L.D., by the Portland School of Art in 1982.

Peers joined the RISD staff as a drawing instructor in 1933, and taught there for over forty years, with brief interruptions in 1936-1937 to teach in the art department at Rockford College in Illinois, and from 1942-1945 to serve in the U.S. Army. He became a full professor in the Painting Department in 1960 and in 1961-1962 was chief critic in residence in Rome for the European Honors Program. An avid traveler, he also visited Japan, England, France, Denmark, Germany, Russia, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan, documenting his trips with slides and travel journals.

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