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Waldo Peirce
Waldo Peirce
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Waldo Peirce

Painter, American, 1884 - 1970
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Place of DeathNewburyport, Massachusetts, United States
Place of BirthBangor, Maine, United States
Waldo Peirce (December 17, 1884, Bangor, Maine–March 8, 1970, Newburyport, Massachusetts) was, during his lifetime, a prominent American artist. He was also a well-known personality, as famous for his eccentricities as for his painting; this commingling for many years of his artistic career with his public persona may help explain why, upon his death at age 85, he then virtually vanished from the history of American art even though he is well represented in many of the major American museums such as the Metropolitan and the Whitney. Peirce never belonged to any well-defined school of art except, perhaps, for a time, the so-called Regionalists; his lack of association with other famous painters may also have diminished his long-term reputation. Peirce was born to wealth as the son of Maine timber barons who were interested in the arts and who encouraged as well as subsidized his artistic career. He spent many hours every day painting thousands of pictures of his beloved families, still lifes, and landscapes.

Waldo Pierce was the long time friend of Ernest Hemingway and was part of the "Lost Generation" of artist who spent time in Paris.