John B. Bristol

John Bunyan Bristol, eighty-three years old and thirty-six years a member here, was a patriarch among the painters of America. Born at Hillsdale in this state, he learned his art without the aid of teachers and in the face of every discouragement; his early years were influenced, of course, by impressions, especially those of the great Hudson River painters and to their traditions he remained loyal. For his facility and devotion, for his sweet and quiet interpretation of nature’s moods, for the firmness of his drawing and construction, he was made an Academician when forty-nine, and further honors crowned him a few years later. Ever working, ever aspiring, always inquiring, he became very intimate with his art and with the natural world. The exhibition of his work held in our rooms but a few months since displayed a freshness and vigour that showed how near such labour comes to discovering the fountain of youth.

William Milligan Sloane
1910 Century Association Yearbook