Joseph Dwight Strong

Joseph Dwight Strong, Jr. (September 15, 1853 – April 5, 1899) was an American artist and illustrator, known for his paintings. He was active between 1870s until 1899, in the San Francisco Bay Area, Monterey, Kingdom of Hawaii, and Samoa. He was the husband of Robert Louis Stevenson's step-daughter.

Early life and education Strong was born September 15, 1853, in Westport, Connecticut, to father Reverend Joseph Dwight Strong and mother Margaret Dewing Bixby Strong. He had six siblings, his sister was painter Elizabeth Strong. At California School of Design he studied with Virgil Macey Williams and Tobias Edward Rosenthal.

Career In 1878, Strong shared a house in Monterey, California, with his sister Elizabeth. While he was in Monterey, he courted his future wife Isobel Osbourne and made many portraits of her. In Hawaii, Strong had a severe sunburn and suffered from a mental illness and alcoholism, which eventually forced him into a sanitarium and placed strain on his marriage.

In the mid-1890, Strong returned to San Francisco and focused on portrait painting.

Personal life In 1879 he married Isobel Osbourne, the daughter of Fanny Vandegrift and step-daughter of the writer Robert Louis Stevenson. Joseph Austin Strong became a playwright. A second son was born to the Strong family, but he died before his first birthday. After Strong's affair in Samoa, Isobel and Joseph divorced and his son Joseph Austin was legally adopted by Stevenson. Many of the diaries and letters which Stevenson and his family published after the divorce were edited to remove all reference to Joseph Strong, and several photographs were destroyed or altered.

He married a second time to Elizabeth Haight in June 1898.