Robert Grafton

Robert Grafton was born in Chicago, Illinois. He studied at the Chicago Academy of Design, which would later become the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, before traveling to Paris to study at the Academie Julien. While there, he showed work at the Salon. From about 1895 to 1905, Grafton studied and worked in both Holland and England. Upon his return to the United States, he joined several artist associations around the Chicago area. This included the Palette and Chisel Club, of which he served as president in 1906. Some of Grafton’s high profile portrait commissions included President Coolidge, President Hoover, and several Indiana governors. He also completed a set of three murals for the Illinois State Capitol: Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce. Grafton spent several winters in New Orleans, creating work there between 1914-1918. He showed work at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Thurber Art Galleries in Chicago, and the Hoosier Salon in Indiana. In 1915, Grafton became a portraitist for the Saddle & Sirloin Club, which later commissioned him to repaint 162 portraits that had been lost to a fire in 1934. Grafton spent the end of his career based in Michigan City, Indiana, where he passed in 1936. Today, Grafton’s artwork is kept in collections including the New Orleans Museum of Art, Northwestern University, the University of Wisconsin, Iowa State University, and the American Embassy in Paris.