Molly Guion (23 September 1910 – 1982) was an American portrait painter. She taught at the Art Students League of New York.
Molly Guion | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mary Guion September 23, 1910 |
| Died | 1982 |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | portraits |
| Spouse | John Borden Smyth[1][2] |
Early life and education
Molly Guion was born in New Rochelle, New York on 23 September 1910.[3] Her parents were Clarence Child and Georgia Palmer (Beardsley) Guion.[3]
She attended the Sea Pines School of Charm and Personality for Young Women in Brewster, Massachusetts and Montgomery College.[4] She then studied at the Grand Central School of Art.[4] She was taught by Dimitri Romanovsky.[1]
Career
Guion was initially unsuccessful as a portrait painter in New York.[1] She travelled to Britain to look for work, and was successful there in making contacts and having work commissioned by well-known people.[1] She "spent several years “painting lords and dukes, staying in castles, having a marvelous time"".[1] She painted Winston Churchill in 1946.[3] She was commissioned to paint The Queen's Beasts at Westminster Abbey in 1953.[3]
An exhibition of twenty-three of her portraits, titled Tradition and Pageantry in Britain, was held in Buckingham Palace and then toured the United States in 1952.[1][5]
In 1977, her rate for portraits was $1,000 to $4,000, with her gallery retaining a third as commission.[1]
Guion taught at the Art Students League of New York.[6]
Her work is held in the Government Art Collection, at the Black Watch Museum at Balhousie Castle and at Orkney Museum.[7] Her painting of Elizabeth II, completed in 1953, was bought by the Wardroom Officers of the Royal Naval Barracks at Portsmouth.[8][9] One of her several portraits of Thomas E. Dewey is at the Hall of Governors at the New York State Capitol.[10]
Later life and death
She married John Borden Smyth, a naval officer, in 1957.[2] They lived in Rye, New York, in a house which Guion believed to be haunted.[1][11][12]
Guion died in 1982.[7]