18 Facts About Eliot O'Hara

Eliot O'Hara was an American artist and educator known for his masterful watercolors, especially his impressionistic landscapes.

Eliot O'Hara's paintings are in the collections of many American museums, and have been the subject of exhibitions throughout the US.

Eliot O'Hara was an influential educator through his nearly 40 years of teaching, writing, and filmmaking.

Eliot O'Hara was born in 1890, in Waltham, Massachusetts to Daniel and Mayfred O'Hara.

Eliot O'Hara's father was the owner of the O'Hara Waltham Dial Company and Eliot went into the family business.

In 1927, O'Hara took a few courses at the Boston Museum School and at the School of Fine arts and Crafts in Boston and then, in 1928, he was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship in painting.

In 1929 Eliot O'Hara undertook an epic journey through Soviet Russia.

Eliot O'Hara remained an avid traveler and plein air painter throughout his life, locations for his paintings include Peru, Australia, Japan, China, Indonesia, and Thailand.

Eliot O'Hara authored his first book of watercolor instruction in 1931, his final book was published in 1966.

In 1948 Eliot O'Hara was among the first water-colorists inducted into the National Academy of Design.

Eliot O'Hara died in Washington DC in 1969 from cancer of the kidney.

Eliot O'Hara preserved and advanced his mastery of the medium throughout his life, achieving a "miraculous" level of skill.

For Eliot O'Hara, mastery was not an end but a means to achieve expression of his artistic voice.

Eliot O'Hara mainly painted outdoors, finding in nature a reliable source of inspiration.

Eliot O'Hara worked primarily with transparent watercolors but he was open to other media.

Eliot O'Hara taught himself several printmaking techniques, made collages, experimented with acrylics, and sometimes painted with gouache and casein.

Eliot O'Hara taught watercolor painting at his school in Maine and at classes sponsored by universities, museums and art associations around the United States.

Eliot O'Hara said that his teaching was "predicated on the assumption that art itself cannot be taught".