George Snow Hill, St. Petersburg. Scotch Settlers in Florida, oil on board, 15 by 35 1/2 inches.
George Snow Hill and his artist wife Polly Knipp were two of the most talented artists to work in Florida. George was the son of Captain George R. Hill, a longtime resident of St. Petersburg. The couple met as undergraduates at the College of Fine Arts at Syracuse University and were married, in Paris. The couple spent several years painting in Europe and on their return home both were acclaimed as among the most brilliant of young American artists, with George receiving an invitation to exhibit at the 1932 Olympic International Exhibit in Los Angles. Competing against 1,100 paintings from thirty-two countries, George Snow Hill won honorable mention for his St. Petersburg, Florida scene, Surf Fishing. In 1933 Hill was awarded a commission for one of the six historical murals to decorated the Florida building at the Chicago Century of Progress International Exposition. The Report of the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury to Federal Emergency Relied Administration, December 8, 1933-June 30, 1934, lists Hill as a working for the government Treasury Department as an artist in what would later become the Florida Art Project of the WPA. When the Gainesville Association of Fine Arts opened their new studio at 131 Union Street in February 1934, Hill exhibited with the Association and donated two of his painting for an auction to raise funds for the developing art club. Hill described these paintings, “ ‘Maximo Point,’ mysterious, lush tropical jungle at twilight, calm and brooding, in interesting contrast to ‘Indian River’ full of brilliant sunlight and the salt spray of the Atlantic with gulls wheeling in the fresh breezes.” In 1935, as a WPA artist, Hill painted murals depicting the history of flight, from Icarus to the 1914 flight of Tony Jannus from St. Petersburg to Tampa, for the Peter O. Knight Airport on Davis Island, Tampa. When the airport closed the paintings were left in the custody of the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority and many years later restored, and now exhibited at Tampa International Airport. In February of 1954 Hill had a joint exhibit with his wife Polly at the Art Club in St. Petersburg. A review of the exhibit in the St. Petersburg Times, January, 31, 1954, “Hill’s display includes some of his recent experimental work in colored low relief with glass inserts, and other pieces of interest to followers of modern trends, as well as more traditional abstractions, figure paintings and landscapes. Those familiar only with his murals in the City Hall and others scattered in public buildings throughout Florida, and his stained glass in the alter wall of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church here and the new First Methodist Church, Tarpon Springs, will be surprised at his inexhaustible fantasy and invention in these smaller pieces for the modern home.” Hill worked in the tradition of Mexico’s Diego Rivera and American muralist, Thomas Hart Benton. He should be remembered as Florida’s premier muralist, his work evoking and caricaturing the innocence and joy of life in Florida in the 1930’s. Born: November 13, 1898, Munising, Michigan. Died: February 3, 1969, St. Petersburg, Florida. Education: Mercersburg Academy, Pennsylvania; Lehigh University; Syracuse University. Membership: St. Petersburg Art Club; Clearwater Art Museum; Southern States Art League; Florida Gulf Coast Group; Florida Federation of Art; Florida Artist Group. Exhibits: Salon des Artistes Francais, 1925, honorable mention; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1932; Olympic Exhibition, Los Angeles Museum of Arts, 1932, honorable mention; Florida Federation of Art, Sarasota, 1932, honorable mention, etching, Heloise and Abelard’s House in Paris; St. Petersburg Art Club, 1932, 1935, prizes; Art Club of St. Petersburg, July 23, 1933, three portraits; Century of Progress, Chicago 1933, won in open competition, murals for the Florida Building, Disston Land Sale, Osceola and The Treaty at Moultre Creek; Murals for Clearwater Municipal Auditorium (lost); Gulfport Municipal Auditorium (lost); U.S. Coast Guard Station, St. Petersburg; U.S. Post Offices, Perry, Florida, Cypress Logging, 1938; Madison, Florida, Long Staple Cotton, 1940; Milton, Florida, Loading Pulpwood, 1941; Two murals for St Petersburg City Hall (one destroyed); Florida Federation of Arts, Annual Circuit, 1933, Reconstruction, chosen for exhibit, Florida Building, Century of Progress, Chicago, 1933; Gainesville Association of Fine Arts, new studio, 131 Union Street, Gainesville, February 9, 1934; Art Club of St. Petersburg, March 1935, honorable mention; Federal Art Project, Art League of Manatee County, National Art Week, November 1937; Federal Art Galleries, St. Petersburg, 415, 3rd Avenue South, December 1937, January 1938, mural sketches; Pensacola Federal Gallery, April 1938, A Survey of Artistic Activity in Florida, oil, Green Benches; World’s Fair, New York City, 1939; St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce, November 1940 with 40 Pinellas County artists; Pan Hellenic Association, reception and exhibit to honor Polly Knipp Hill, February 1942; Florida Gulf Coast Artists Group, nationwide circuit, Miami to Wisconsin, Newark, San Francisco, Syracuse, 1944; Gulf Coast Art Group Traveling exhibition,1944-1945, exhibit toured the state; Florida Gulf Coast Artists Group, nationwide circuit, 1944; Clearwater Art Museum, 11th Annual Exhibit, February 1945, Presidents First Prize, Julie; Florida Federation of Art, 19th Annual, Miami Beach, December 1945; Florida Gulf Coast Group, 4th Annual Exhibition, nationwide circuit, July 1945-May 1946, Surf Fisherman; Clearwater Museum, 1945, prize; Clearwater Museum, 1946, 2nd prize, Deep South; Florida Federation of Art, Annual Clearwater, December 1946, 1st prize, Coquinas; Art Club of St Petersburg, March 1946, thirty-eight paintings; Florida Federation of Art, Annual Circuit, 1946; Florida Gulf Coast Group, Clearwater Art Museum, 5th Annual, nationwide circuit, July 1946-May 1947, oil, Rest on Flight to Egypt; Florida Gulf Coast Group, Clearwater Art Museum, 6th Annual, nationwide circuit, July 1947-May 1948, oil, Decent from the Cross, tempera, Susanna and the Elders; Miami Beach Art Center exhibit, November 1948, Beach Picnic, Cheer Leaders, Surf Fisherman, The Falls, Building the Tamiami Trail, Boats and Sabots, Arpajon, Coquinas, Shower, Roll Along Little Dogie; Florida Gulf Coast Group, sponsorship, Clearwater Art Museum, 7th Annual nation wide circuit, July 1948 to May 1949, oil, Seminoles; Clearwater Art Museum, February 1950; Florida Artist Group, 2nd Annual National Circuit, shown under auspices of the Art Department, University of Florida, May 1951 to April 1952, Study; Florida Gulf Coast Art Center, January 1951; St. Petersburg Junior College, Backstage Gallery, November 1951. Directory: Listed in the St. Petersburg City Directory, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1940, 1942, 1945, 1946, 1951-1960, as an artist and commercial artist with studio at 1517 Fairway Avenue Lakewood Estates and later at 2233 Green Way. 
