Paul Chalfin
| Paul Chalfin | |
|---|---|
Chalfin in 1920
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| Born |
November 2, 1874 New York, New York |
| Died | February 16, 1959 (aged 84) Clifton, New Jersey |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Buildings | Villa Vizcaya |
Paul Chalfin was an artist and interior designer with an interest in architecture, most known for his work on Villa Vizcaya.
Paul Chalfin was born on November 2, 1874 in New York to Colonel Samuel Fletcher Chalfin and Jane Voorhees (Connolly) Chalfin.
In 1894 Chalfin began studying at Harvard University and left after two years to become an artist, enrolling at the Art Students League of New York to study painting. After graduation in 1898 he was accepted at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France where he studied painting with Jean-Léon Gérôme, a historic genre painter who had previously taught Thomas Eakins. Although Chalfin possessed excellent taste in building design, utilized his extensive observation of European buildings and monuments, and liked being mistaken for an architect, he never studied or obtained a degree in architecture, nor was he an architect.
While studying in Paris, Chalfin also traveled to Italy in 1899. In 1902 he received honorable mention for the Lazarus Scholarship for his mural painting on the subject of spring. Chalfin returned to Massachusetts in 1903 to succeed Walter T. Cabot as Curator of Chinese and Japanese art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. While Curator he published a 27-paged catalogue entitled 'Japanese wood carvings, architectural and decorative fragments from temples and palaces.'
In 1905, the Lazarus Scholarship committee granted him a three-year scholarship to study mural painting in Italy, and in 1906 Chalfin moved to Rome where he lived at the American Academy. Over the next three years, Chalfin split his time between Rome, Florence, Venice and Paris, studying and copying the works of Piranesi, Fra Angelico and Tiepolo, as well as copying a lunette by Jacopo Pontormo at a villa in Florence, most likely Vertumnus and Pomona. His final month abroad was in Paris, completing his scholarship by painting a large decorative panel entitle The Poet in 1908. In 1909, in honor of his work, the American Academy in Rome named Chalfin a fellow.
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