Robert Wylie

In his brief but successful career, Robert Wylie made a reputation depicting scenes of traditional peasant life in the remote French province of Brittany. Born on the Isle of Man, a British dependency in the Irish Sea, Wylie was orphaned at an early age and grew up in Philadelphia in the care of his uncle, a Presbyterian clergyman. Wylie became a skilled carver of ornamental ivory handles for umbrellas and parasols, of which his adopted city was a major manufacturing center in the 1850s. In the hope of becoming a fine art sculptor, at the age of sixteen Wylie began studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where his skill as a draftsman was quickly acknowledged. From a member of several committees in charge of artists’ classes, Wylie advanced to curator of the institution, managing its building, exhibitions, and collections; he also taught informally.

Beginning around 1857, Wylie made the transition from craftsman to artist by carving and modeling relief portraits and allegorical works. He was nominated for associate membership in the Pennsylvania Academy in 1859. Following a visit to London in 1859 or 1860, Wylie helped found the Philadelphia Sketch Club, an organization whose members met weekly to sketch from a set theme.

Wylie left for Paris in 1863 for further study in sculpture, joining a small expatriate circle of artists from Philadelphia. Thwarted in his attempts to enter the prestigious Académie des Beaux-Arts, he enrolled in the Académie Suisse, which offered little formal instruction; on his own, he honed his drawing skills and began to paint. In the summer of 1864, along with fellow American art student Charles Way (dates unknown), Wylie visited the town of Pont-Aven, in Brittany. The first artist to settle there, he quickly became the center of a colony of American artists attracted by the inhabitants’ picturesque costumes and traditional ways of life. With his polite manner, engaging personality, and strict morals influenced by his Presbyterian upbringing, Wylie was accepted by the local people who modeled for his scrupulously accurate if romanticized portrayals. He also exerted considerable influence on the many American artists working at Pont-Aven, which remained an important international art colony for several generations.

By 1869, Wylie was exhibiting his peasant scenes in the Paris Salons, and in 1872, his painting The Breton Sorceress (1872, Cartwright Hall, Bradford Art Galleries & Museums, West Yorkshire, England) won a second-class medal, the highest award for a work by a foreigner. With that triumph, the Paris dealer Goupil et Cie contracted to sell his paintings as well as engraved reproductions of them, ensuring the artist’s financial success. Wylie was at the height of his fame when he died suddenly at the age of thirty-eight. His naturalistic, anecdotal images later fell out of favor under the impact of newer styles, but since the 1980s the rediscovery of American academic art has helped restore his reputation.