DeWitt Lockman


The history of American Art is rich with the stories of artists of prodigious talent and recognized achievement whose reputations somehow did not manage to extend much beyond their particular lifetime. One of these gifted, yet currently under-appreciated, American artists is DeWitt McClellan Lockman, an extremely talented painter born in Brooklyn in 1870. The Museum has recently been given a major Lockman picture by one of the Midwest’s most aesthetically astute designers, Mr. Russ S. Sunday.

The picture, entitled Pandora’s Box, is a striking portrait of Ione Kimmell Grey (a cousin of Mr. Sunday) who was a very fashionable model at the turn of the 20th Century.

Lockman was at the height of his popularity when he executed this fine painting. Long considered a child prodigy, Lockman shocked everyone in the art world when, at age 10, the National Gallery selected one of his drawings for their annual exhibition. By the age of 19, he was exhibiting regularly in Paris and throughout Europe. Lockman’s work was so highly sought out that even at the height of the Depression, his portraits regularly sold for $3,000. DeWitt Lockman’s works are held by numerous institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Academy of Design.

We are extremely thankful for Mr. Sunday’s generosity and very proud to count a major work by this distinguished American artist
in our Museum’s collection.