The people who appear on this page in black or green type are listed in a booklet, found in the Dowling College Library Special Collections:
At this time, it is difficult to know if all of these people lived at the Idle Hour Artist Colony, or if they were represented by Lucy Pritchard Saywer Thompson and simply had their work exhibited at the Colony, or if they just visited the Colony.
In addition to artists; musicians, writers and actors also lived at the colony along with some interesting business people and personalities. This list is an attempt to sort through, and gather information about these people. In addition, we are starting to hear from our readers, telling us of other artists and people who once lived in the Artist Colony, their names appear in blue.
Paul Adams
Colony Address: # 10 Tower Mews
Advertising Executive
Married to Catherine Curtis
Ernest Albert
Artist - Painter
Exhibited: 2nd year in Artist Colony, 1930 National Academy of Design
Club Memberships: 1928 National Arts Club
Nellie Bryan
Interior Decorator
Married to Zimmerly Bryan
Zimmerly Bryan
Artist
Married to Nellie Bryan
Roman “Bon” Bonet-Sintas
Artist - Characterturist, Painter, Sculptor
Exhibited: 1928 in Artist Colony, 1928 National Arts Club
Known Artwork: “NY Subway”, Portraits of W.A.Thompson, Lucy S.P. Thompson, “Estelle Taylor Cartoon”
Joseph Boston
Artist
Exhibited: July 9, 1927 in Artist Colony, 1928 National Arts Club
Club Memberships: National Gallery?, Salmugundi Club, National Arts Club
Known Artwork: “Shepherdess” , “Moonlight on Lake Placid”
George Elmer Browne
Artist - Painter
Exhibited: 1928 National Arts Club, 1930 Salmugundi Club
Known Artwork: “Bait Sellers of Cape Cod”
Notes: Important artist, in many collections Europe and US.
John Costigan
Artist
Exhibited: 1930 National Academy of Design
Catherine Curtis
Colony Address: # 3 Unit
President Metropolitan Women’s Athletic Club
Married to Paul Adams
Club Memberships: Metropolitan Women’s Athletic Club
Elizabeth Church
Colony Address: Duplex unit past cheese house (destroyed by fire)
Notes: During the fire, her antiques were thrown to the street by firemen
Arthur D’Dartois
Artist
Julio De Diego
Artist
Exhibited: July 9, 1927 in Artist Colony
Edward De Potter
Colony Address: Golden Horn
Musician
John Dilkes
Colony Address: Golden Horn
Writer
Notes: neighbor to Betty MacDonald and Austin Miller
Edwin Williard Demming
Artist - Illustrator
Exhibited: National Arts Club
Notes: Did illustrations for George Bird Grinnell, backed by H.D. Auchincloss and the Roosevelts
Jose Drudis-Biada
Exhibited: July 9, 1927 in Artist Colony, 1928 National Arts Club
Barry Dunbar
Writer - Novelist, Translator
Notes: Worked for Shuberts on Broadway
Robeson Gore
Colony Address: Jade Street
Artist
Francis Gow-Smith
Colony Address: Princess Gate
Explorer - South American Jungles
Married to Carol Gow-Smith Morgan
Notes: Famous resident of the colony, died from fever picked up in tropics
Florence M. Greenwood
Colony Address: Jade Street
Artist
Exhibited: In Artist Colony, date unknown
Lawrence Harris
Artist - Illustrator
August Hunt
Artist
Known Artwork: “Sails at Sunset”
Catherine Lawson
Artist - Sculptress
Club Memberships: (National?) Academy of Design
Notes: Bronze head received $300 Julia A. Shaw Memorial Prize in 1921
Jean Leher
Colony Address: Jade Street
Musician, Composer
Robert Le Sauer
Actor
Notes: Famous Actor, died in the colony
Leslie MacDonald
Colony Address: Jade Street
Aviator, Lieutenant, Spark in Idle Hour Aero Club
Son of Flora MacDonald, sister: Betty MacDonald Miller, Great-grandson of Donald MacDonald (1st Premier of Canada)
Notes: one of his guests was Theda Rosche, the Flying Fraulein, his airstrip was on the east side of Vanderbilt Blvd., flew to Bermuda
Eric Maunsback Same person as: Edmund Malsch Maultaszche???
Artist
Exhibited: In Colony, date?
Known Artwork: “Child” (Sculpture), “Helen McCarthy” (Sculpture)
Helen Mc Carthy
Notes: Eric Maunsback did her portrait
Bibi Mc Manus
Artist
Olga Meervold
Costume Designer, Artist
Exhibited: In Colony, date?
Notes: decorated letters with small watercolors
Bulle Ferdinand Michelson
President, Bulle Clock Company
co-inventor of Bulle Clock in the Eiffel Tower
Betty MacDonald Miller
Colony Address: Golden Horn
Artist, Newspaper Woman
Daughter of Flora MacDonald, brother: Lt. Leslie Macdonald, Great-granddaughter of Donald MacDonald (1st Premier of Canada) Married to Austin Miller
Club Memberships: Board Studio Guild, Theater Guild, National Advertising Club, and Chamber Symphony Orchestra
Austin “Butz” Miller
Colony Address: Golden Horn
Actor, Motion Picture Director, Interior Decorator
Married to Betty MacDonald Miller
Notes: was an extra on Jack Holt’s Movie “Born to West”, Assited in Al Smith’s last campaign
Carl Miller
Colony Address: Princess Gate
Advertising Executive
Bronco Charlie Miller
Celebrity, Last Pony Express Rider
Lynn Morgan
Artist
Married to Carol Gow-Smith Morgan
Carol Gow-Smith Morgan
sister: Marna Weston Patton
Married to Francis Gow-Smith and Lynn Morgan
Edwin Forest Murdock
Colony Address: Princess Gate
Artist - Painter, Patent Lawyer
Exhibited: In Colony on July 9, 1927
Notes: President, American Institute of Artists
Glenn G. Newell
Artist
Exhibited: In Colony on July 9, 1927
Club Memberships: National Arts Club 1928, National Academy, Salmugundi Club
Carl Nordell
Artist - Painter
Club Memberships: Salmugundi Club
Notes: Well known artist
Roselle Osk
Artist - Etcher, Painter, Printmaker
Frederick L. Packer
Colony Address: Apt. in former dairy barn
Artist - Painter\\
Known Artwork: “Sunset”, “Moonlight in California”
Henry W. Parton
Artist
Exhibited: In Colony, 2nd exhibit
Marna Weston Patton
Married to Harry Allen Weston and Frederick Patton
sister: Carol Gow-Smith Morgan
Frederick Patton
M. Marna Weston Patton
Lorena Peabody
Colony Address: Jade Street
Christian Scientist Advocate
Waldamar Peterson
Owner - Theatrical Company
Married to Bertha Peterson
Bertha Peterson
Owner - Theatrical Company
Married to Waldamar Peterson
Williard Proust
Artist
De Witt Reed
Writer, Publisher, Lawyer
Robert Rohde
Writer
Note: Might be Robert Rhode, master detective writer
Miss Ryan
Apt. in former piggery
Artist
Paul Schwartman
Artist
Notes: His Christmas cards found in colony
Louis Seybold
Artist - Painter
His father was publisher of one of the largest German newspapers in US
Known Artwork: “Country Road in Winter”
Notes: he built a studio in one of the barns with a large sky light
George B. Shepherd
Artist - Portraits
Exhibited: In Colony on July 9, 1927
Sigard Skou
Artist
Exhibited: In Colony on July 9, 1927
Louis Szanto
Artist - Illustrator
Notes: got Mrs Thompson to break a contract with another art dealer so that she could represent him
Lucy Pritchard Sawyer Thompson
?
Colony Address: “The Gables” (Vanderbilt’s Laundry) and had a unit in the Tower
Founder of the Artist Colony
Son: William Thompson III, Married to William Thompson Jr - VP of Texas Co. (Later Texaco)
Known Artwork:”Self Portrait”
William “Bill” Thompson
Colony Address: unit in former duck house
Ran Tally-Ho Inn
Mother: Lucy PS Thompson
Elaine Golding Tuthill
Swimming Champion (English Channel)
She died at the Colony
Lillian Von Kranz
Artist - Portraits
Exhibited: In Colony, date?
Listed as “Barroness Von Lilliankranz”
Myron Van Brunt
Artist, Decorator
Exhibited: In Colony, date?
Known Artwork: “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Miss Muffet”, “Cinderella”
Notes: did illustrations for children’s books
Verizzo
Artist
Known Artwork: “Young Boy”
Everett Warner
Artist
Exhibited: 1928 National Art Club
Harry Allen Weston
Colony Address: # 3 Tower Mews
Artist
Married to Marna Weston Patton
Known Artwork: “Street Scene in Spain”
Notes: water colorist, A.N.A
Arthur Woelfie
Artist - Painter
Exhibited: In Colony at the 2nd exhibit
Wilmott Wood
Craftsman - hand wrought iron work
Notes: Owned a pig farm in Middle Island, supplied the Colony with wood
Do you have information to add? Then please contact Diane Holliday.
Last Modified on January 30, 2012, at 11:07 AM by LPR
