Phillip Sawyer, The Marine Way’s, Sunshine Lane, Tarpon Spring, Fla., oil on board, 12 by 14 inches. Exhibit label from Butler Art Institute, New Year Show, with title on verso.
Originally one of the founders and directors of the Detroit Society of Independent Artists, Phillip Ayer Sawyer first came to Dunedin in October of 1938. He had been working for the past year on a survey of obsolete vessels for the Historic American Merchant Marine survey and a similar survey in Florida. Several of these paintings were exhibited at the Smithsonian in Washington.
On the left, Phillip Sawyer, Tampa Skyline, 1938, watercolor, 9.5 by 13.5 inches. On the right, Mae Bull Line, Tampa, 1938, watercolor, 10 by 13.75 inches.
In 1947 Sawyer purchased a home in Dunedin Isles. He had exhibited all over the world, at the Louvre in Paris, in the Luxembourg Gallery, and at many American institutions. Sawyer taught art at Tome School, Lockhaven; worked on a newspaper in Paris, and was art critic for the Chicago Tribune. One of his Tarpon Springs subjects won the President’s Prize in the 8th Annual Exhibit of the Clearwater Art Museum. A veteran of the Spanish American War and World War I, he is buried at Bay Pines Cemetery in St Petersburg.
On the left, Phillip Sawyer, Cortez Dockside, Cortez, Florida, watercolor, 8.75 by 12 inches. On the right, Sailboat, Dockside, Tampa, January 1938, watercolor, 9.75 by 13.75 inches. Signed lower right and dated.
Education: Art Institute of Chicago; Smith’s Academy, Chicago; Yale School of Fine Arts; Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris; Academy Juliane, Paris; Academy Colarossi, Paris; American Academy, Rome, Italy. Born: Illinois Died: February 1949, St. Petersburg. Membership: Autumn Salon 1, Paris; Detroit Society of Independent Artists; Clearwater Art Museum; Florida Gulf Coast Group; Clearwater Art Group; Florida Federation of Art; Art Club of St. Petersburg. Exhibits: Florida Federation of Art, December 1941, Tampa; Florida Federation of Art, Annual Circuited Exhibition, 1941-42, Snug in Harbor; Clearwater Art Museum, 8th Annual Members Exhibit, February 1942, 1st prize, In The Village of Aripeka, Uncle Sam Sponger, Morning On The Anclote; Art Club St. Petersburg, watercolors, 1942-43; Clearwater Art Museum, 9th Annual Exhibit, March 1943; Florida Gulf Coast Artists Group, nationwide circuit, Miami to Wisconsin, Newark, San Francisco, Syracuse, 1944; Clearwater Art Museum, 10th Annual Exhibit, March 1944; Clearwater Art Museum, Florida Gulf Coast Art Group, 4th Annual Exhibit, toured the state, 1944-1945; Florida Gulf Coast Group, 4th Annual Exhibition, nationwide circuit, July 1945-May 1946, Old Sponger on the Ways; Florida Federation of Art, 19th Annual, Miami Beach, December 1945, Coming to Anchor, Along the Bayou; Upham House; Florida State Fair, Tampa, February 1946, 3rd prize watercolor, best pencil drawing; West Coast Outdoor Art Exhibit, St. Petersburg Beach, February 1946; Clearwater Art Museum, May 1946; Selected for Florida Federation of Art, Annual Circuit, 1946; Florida Gulf Coast Group, Clearwater Art Museum, 5th Annual, nationwide circuit, July 1946-May 1947, oil, Portrait of an Artist, watercolor, On the Ways; Florida State Fair, Tampa, February 1947, blue ribbon, professional oil; Florida Gulf Coast Group, Clearwater Art Museum, 6th Annual, nationwide circuit, July 1947-May 1948, Ex Chief of Police; Florida Federation of Art, 21st Annual traveling exhibit, December 1947-1948, The Bambis; 28th Annual Pinellas County Fair, January 1948, 2nd prize, portrait in oil, 1st prize figures in watercolor; Victory Cafe, Anclote Blvd., Tarpon Springs, murals depicting sponge diving in Tarpon Springs; Art Club of St. Petersburg, December 1948 to January 1949, twelve landscapes and six portraits, including Socrates, a Greek sponge boat in Tarpon Springs; Clearwater Art Group, 201 Pierce Street, Phillip Sawyer Memorial Exhibition, November 1949, 55 oils, over one hundred watercolors.
