Artist
Centurion, 1918–1955
Born 26 March 1860 in New York (Manhattan), New York
Died 7 February 1955 in East Hampton, New York
Buried Village Cemetery
, Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire
Proposed by H. Bolton Jones and Rowland Godfrey Freeman
Elected 7 December 1918 at age fifty-eight
Century Memorial
William J. Whittemore was born in New York in 1860. He studied painting under William Hart at the National Academy of Design and at the Art Students League and, later, in Paris under Lefebvre, and he became a first-class artist and portrait painter. He was particularly successful with water colors and miniatures. His pictures reflected his nature: sensitive, refined, and technically accomplished.
He was ninety-four when he died, and he had been living for the last twenty years at East Hampton, where he had his home. He was always proud to be a member of the Century, and, in younger days, he was around a great deal. He worked enthusiastically over the decorations at the Twelfth Night party in 1933, and was most remarkably spry and active. But after that he came to the Club less and less, for his old friends began to get away ahead of him, and it is not so much fun after a while.
A coeval writes affectionately: “There was a delicacy in his manner, and his personality was gentle and lovable.”
George W. Martin
1956 Century Association Yearbook
