Florence Griswold Museum - Robert Cranell Minor

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Robert Cranell Minor
Lyme Art Colony
American, (April 30, 1839–August 3, 1904) In Lyme: 1903
Robert Minor exhibited with the Old Lyme artists only once, in 1903, a year before he died at his home in nearby Waterford, Connecticut. Because he did not live in Old Lyme and was for the last 10 years of his live an invalid, it is doubtful that he took part in the colony's activities. Still, a reviewer of the 1903 exhibition referred to his as the "dean" of the Old Lyme colony, a title for the most part honorary, but significant, nonetheless.

Minor came to art relatively late in life and did not gain recognition easily. He was born in New York city, the son of a wealthy coal dealer, originally from COnnecticut. At the age of twelve he began to paint but was discouraged by his father. He instead began working in the family business until about 1870. Then, at the age of 31, he began to study painting seriously in New york, then in Paris and later in Belgium.

He established a studio in new York and spent his summers near Keene Valley in the Adirondacks. by 1894 he acquired a house in Waterford, Connecticut where he lived year-round from 1900 on. In 1888 he was elected an associate of the National Academy of Design, and in 1897, a full academician. He belonged to the Society of Landscape Painters, the American Water Color Society, and the Lotos Club. In 1898 he was president of the Salmagundi Club.

When Minor died in 1904 a memorial exhibition of 33 of his paintings was held at the Lotos Club.