George Willoughby Maynard

Some members of the Club, when we meet them in the Century, remind us of the outside world; some, when we meet them in the outside world, remind us instantly of the Century. In the second of these groups no one would hesitate to place George Willoughby Maynard. It may be doubted if any single face and figure, in the long gallery which older Centurions will recall, comes back to memory with such clear-cut distinctness as that of Maynard. The Twelfth Night caricaturists never let him pass in their Painting and Portrait Exhibition. Hung up next to the reproduction of Make-Money’s Fountain, or to the Nude descending the Chair, or to the portrait of an eminent Centurion with his shaggy white beard and hair artistically depicted in real wool, would always be discovered the profile of George Maynard with the embellishments dear to his fellow-artists. In real life this interesting face introduced to a group in the clubrooms a Centurion of friendly manner, reticent in conversation but with good sense in what he said and of unbroken loyalty to the Club, on whose committees he did constant and faithful service.

As a painter, Maynard carries one back to an artistic past with which he was one of the last links. To some Centurions the thought of him revives memories of the old Tile Club with its historic outing through the Erie Canal—what a bunch of good fellows! Among them Maynard was the “Bird of Freedom.” He was one of the first members of the Salmagundi Club and its second Vice-President; also one of that famous group of artists who lived in and frequented the old Benedict Building on Washington Square with Olin Warner, Homer Martin, Wyatt Eaton, Gedney Bunce, Francis Lathrop, Stanford White, Augustus Saint Gaudens, Alden Weir, and J. M. Wells. Another recollection comes to mind of the time when he, with other choice spirits, assembled during many years in Saint Gaudens’ studio on wintry Sunday afternoons, to listen to serious music by the best string quartette in the city.

Maynard was one of our pioneer decorators, he and Millet assisting LaFarge on the work in Trinity Church, Boston; he decorated the Ponce de Leon Hotel in St. Augustine and other important buildings. But perhaps his most vital service to American art was his work during some twenty-five years as instructor in the Schools of the National Academy of Design, where his exceptionally thorough technical training in the Royal Academy of Antwerp made his advice and influence sound and helpful to many artists who today are profoundly grateful for what he taught them.

Alexander Dana Noyes
1924 Century Association Yearbook