Artist
Centurion, 1894–1950
Born 2 March 1871 in New York (Manhattan), New York
Died 15 February 1950 in Santa Barbara, California
Proposed by Charles S. Reinhart and H. Siddons Mowbray
Elected 1 December 1894 at age twenty-three
Archivist’s Note: Brother of Christian A. Herter; father of Christian A. Herter; grandfather of Christian A. Herter Jr. and Frederic P. Herter
Seconder of:
Century Memorial
Albert Herter was elected to the Century in 1894, when he was 23 years old. He died February 15, 1950. He was born in New York, and was the last survivor of the original class that began studies at the Browning School in 1888. In 1938 he was the guest of honor at a dinner at the Waldorf marking the fiftieth anniversary of the School. His father, who had studied in Paris, gave him his initial art training, and he later studied with Carroll Beckwith and in various Paris ateliers.
He was recognized as a first-class portrait painter and a muralist, and among his work are five murals in the State House in Boston.
For many years he had a large house at Wainscott, near Easthampton, Long Island. The house was on a small lake, and when he wanted to rest he would board an elaborate gondola, quite in the Venetian type, and sally forth on a round of the lake.
He did a set of murals depicting the stories in the setting of Ivanhoe for one of the senior societies at Yale. When the time came to install the murals the members were not going to let him into the clubhouse to look at them. So he told them that if he were not admitted the murals would not go up. They ended by admitting him.
He was very fond of flowers and painted them beautifully; and perhaps this was one of the reasons which led him to live in California so much of the time toward the end of his life. He was always a most agreeable companion, and knew almost everyone of his day worth the knowing as artists go.
George W. Martin
1951/1952 Century Association Yearbook