Middleton Manigault - Visionary Modernist


	LEGENDARY TEACHERS
Middleton Manigault was born and raised in London, Ontario, into a family that had close ties with the United States. His grandfather, a member of a prominent family in Charleston, South Carolina, had emigrated to Canada after the Civil War. The young Manigault grew up in an environment that was very sympathetic to art and other cultural pursuits, and both parents encouraged their son’s budding interest in drawing. In a short period of time he earned a considerable local reputation for his talents. At 18 his talent as an illustrator was recognized when he was commissioned by the city of London, Ontario to create drawings of the city’s public buildings. This encouraged him to seek formal art training, and in 1905 Manigault moved to New York, enrolling in classes at the New York School of Art. Manigault studied under Robert Henri, the inspirational figure for a group of artists who were known as the Ashcan Painters because of their preference for commonplace urban subjects rendered in dark colors. The instruction of such legendary teachers as Henri and Kenneth Hayes Miller had a profound effect on the initial course of Manigault’s work, in the subject matter and techniques he employed. While Robert Henri’s influence is visible in the dark urban scenes from these first years in New York, it is the mentoring of Kenneth Hayes Miller’s which will have a lasting effect on both Manigault’s life and career.
		right: HERALD SQUARE, WINTER 1907 private collection