Clifford Prevost Grayson

Clifford Prevost Grayson (July 14, 1857 – November 11, 1951) was an American painter and teacher.

Biography He was born in Philadelphia, the youngest of the three sons of lawyer and newspaper editor Frederick William Grayson and Mary Mallett Prevost. Grayson graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1878,

Drexel Institute Grayson returned to Philadelphia in 1890. Grayson taught portraiture and life classes, and Charles Grafly taught clay modeling and sculpture.

Thomas Eakins had been forced to resign from PAFA in 1886, after using a fully nude male model before female students. Grayson hired him to lecture in anatomy in January 1895, and dismissed him two months later, after Eakins again used a nude male model before a class that included female students.

Grafly took a one-year sabbatical in 1895, and Grayson hired Cyrus Dallin to teach the sculpture classes. The Art Department seemed to flourish under Grayson, attracting students such as Maxfield Parrish, Elizabeth Shippen Green, Jessie Willcox Smith, Violet Oakley and Frank Schoonover.

Honors and awards Grayson received Honorable Mentions at the Paris Salon of 1883 and 1885. He exhibited semi-regularly in PAFA's annual exhibitions, from 1876 to 1905. PAFA awarded him the 1887 Temple Gold Medal for The Fisherman's Family, and purchased the painting for its collection.

Grayson was a member of the Art Club of Philadelphia, They retired to Old Lyme, Connecticut.

Robert Vonnoh painted a three-quarter-length portrait of Grayson. It was exhibited at the inaugural exhibition of The National Association of Portrait Painters in March-April 1912, and praised by critic G. Mortimer Marke.

Selected works A Breton Idyl, exhibited at Salon of 1882, unlocated Village Spring, Pont Aven (1882), private collection Rainy Day at Pont Aven (1882), ex collection: Art Institute of Chicago, private collection. Honorable mention: Salon of 1883 Boat, Ahoy! (1884), exhibited at Salon of 1884 The Fisherman's Family (1885), ex collection: PAFA. Honorable mention: Salon of 1885; Temple Gold Medal, PAFA, 1887 Mid-day Dreams (1886), ex collection: Corcoran Gallery of Art. $2,000 Purchase Prize, American Art Association, 1886