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Old Masters, 19th and Twentieth Century Art

Victor Joseph Harles

Chianti and Blossoms

Harles was born in 1894 and grew up on Cote Brilliante Avenue in St. Louis Missouri. His father was an amateur photographer, and he was raised in an artistic household. One of the earliest influences on him to become a painter was during the Saint Louis World’s Fair (Louisiana Purchase Exhibition) in 1904. Central in this World’s Fair was the St. Louis Art Museum. The museum hosted the Swedish painter Andres Zorn, who gave painting demonstrations to the public.

Those demonstrations are what gave ten-year-old Victor the determination to become a painter. He moved to New York City in 1914 and studied at the Art Students League. There his principal teachers in painting were Robert Henri, Frank Dumond, Charles Hawthorne, and he studied life drawing and anatomy with George Bridgman in whose class was a fellow student and friend, Norman Rockwell. He also spent time at the Art Students League extension.