William F. Taylor

Well-known for his impressionistic landscapes of the Delaware River and the areas around his Lumberville home, William Francis Taylor was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He began his professional career as a lithographer and newspaper artist. He moved to New York City to attend the Art Students League from 1905 until 1907. He came to Bucks County in 1910 and married his first wife, fellow painter Mary Smyth Perkins Taylor, in 1913. The Taylors were part of the group of artists who gathered and studied together at Phillips' Mill. The Phillips' Mill Community Association was founded in 1929 after Taylor formed a subscription committee to purchase the Mill property from its owner, Dr. George Morley Marshall.

Taylor was also active in historic preservation. In 1930, he acquired and restored a 180-year-old building and launched the Cuttalossa Inn, while using the building across the street, Hard Times Tavern, for lodging. In 1961, he painted, after much research, what he felt was a realistic depiction of George Washington crossing the Delaware. An artist who felt that his strength was in "...capturing the beauty of the county," he was the first president of the Delaware Valley Protective Association, an organization founded to preserve the natural beauty of Bucks County.

Education and Training
Art Students League, New York, New York, 1905-1907

Teachers and Influences
Studied with William Lathrop at Phillips' Mill in New Hope

Connection to Bucks County
Taylor came to Bucks County in 1910 to study with William Lathrop at Phillips' Mill in New Hope. He met his wife, artist Mary Perkins Taylor, in Bucks County, and they married in 1913. The couple settled on Cuttalossa Road near Lumberville. Taylor served as the second president of the Phillips' Mill Association and was a founder of the Delaware Valley Protective Association. He created sketches for Peter Keenan's magazine the New Hope in the early 1930s and illustrated books.

Colleagues and Affiliations
William Lathrop was a friend and a teacher of William F. Taylor and his wife, Mary Perkins Taylor (1875-1931).
Taylor was a founder and the first president of the Delaware Valley Protective Association. He was a member and second president of the
Phillips' Mill Community Association.

Major Group Exhibitions
Province of Ontario, Canada, 1902
National Academy of Design, New York, New York, 1916
Art Club of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1924
Salmagundi Club, New York, New York, 1924, 1927, 1932
Traveling Art Collection of the Bucks County Public Schools, Bucks County Courthouse, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 1969
50th Annual Retrospective Art Exhibition, Phillips' Mill, New Hope, Pennsylvania, 1979

Collections
Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania
New Hope-Solebury Bank, New Hope, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Commissions
Designed a bookplate, Cintra, for the Margaret W. Ely Memorial Fund, New Hope Library, New Hope, Pennsylvania, 1935

Publications
Illustrator, Lambertville, New Jersey, From the Beginning As Coryell

Awards
Medal, Province of Ontario, Canada, 1902
Prize, Salmagundi Club, New York, 1924, 1927, 1932
First Honorable Mention, Art Club of Philadelphia, 1924
Purchase Prize, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia
Honorable Mention, Salmagundi Club, New York, n.d.
Popular Prize, Phillips' Mill, New Hope, n.d.

Affiliations and Memberships
Salmagundi Club, New York
Asbury Park Society of Fine Arts, Asbury Park, New Jersey