Taylor, Henry Fitch, 1853-1925

Plainfield lies on the northern edge of the enclave known as the Cornish Art Colony, which existed between 1885 and 1930.

Henry Fitch Taylor (1853–1925) was an American painter who was to become the oldest among the generation of American artists who responded to and explored Cubism. Taylor served as the first president of the American Association of Artists and Painters (AAPS), the organization which mounted the 1913 Armory Show; he later stepped aside from that role in favor of Arthur B. Davies, but continued to serve as trustee and secretary of AAPS.[2][3]
Taylor was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1853. He studied at the Académie Julian, in Paris, and in 1885 went to Barbizon to paint.[2] He returned to America in either 1888 or in 1889, and established his studio in New York City.

Between 1898 and 1908 Taylor resided in Cos Cob, Connecticut. He was part of the Cos Cob Art Colony,[4] where he did some painting but did not show his work. Among his visitors there were John Twachtman, Childe Hassam, Willa Cather, Arthur B. Davies, George Luks, and Walt Kuhn; many of these acquaintances would come to play an important role in Taylor's life as an artist.[2]

Taylor married Clara Sidney Potter Davidge, the daughter of Bishop Henry Codman Potter, on March 20, 1913. They moved to her estate on Staten Island.[5]
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In 1921 Taylor's wife drowned. The New York Times headline read, "Bishop Potter's Daughter Drowns. Body of Mrs. Henry Fitch Taylor Discovered in Marsh Near Her Long Island Home. Had A Spinal Ailment. Belief Is That She Fell Into the Mud and Could Not Free Herself."[8]

Taylor died on September 10, 1925, in Plainfield, New Hampshire.[1]