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Highlights

Edward Norton Griffith (American, 1858-1948); E. N. Griffith

19th Century Fine Art Legacy

The Avon Park Sun, Friday December 24, 1948, published this short obituary for Edward Norton Griffith:

"One of Avon Park's oldest residents died Monday, December 20. He was born in Belvedere, New Jersey. He was married Dec 20,1912, and he and his wife came to Avon Park Oct 1, 1920. He bought property beyond King's Hill and built a nice home there. His cousin, Mrs. Claire Vanderwende Wells came to live with her aunt, Miss Esther Neely, who was housekeeper for Mr. Griffith after his wife died in 1923. Mrs. Wells was then 5 years of age. The deceased was a retired building contractor and ice dealer. He was also an artist, specializing in still life paints and until a few years ago he had an art class here. He painted as a hobby that he loved. He was a member of the Society of Independent Artist in New York and exhibited there and sold several pictures. His wife's failing health caused him to leave this career and come to Florida. His fine painting of the gates of Old Fort Marion, St. Augustine, was given to the Public Library, and he donated others to the Woman's Club, Chamber of Commerce and friends."[1]

A person’s life in a nutshell.

An artist of Griffith’s caliber should have more information than can be placed in a "nutshell." Finding information on this talented artist was a bit difficult. Griffith was not as a familiar name as the more famous trompe l’oeil artists William Harnett or John Peto, but his paintings rivaled them. Point in fact, at one time there was a painting signed "Harnett" at the Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts which was called a “clever piece of counterfeiting” [3]. However, the “curious little problem” of who the actual artist was solved when a piece having similar attributes was on display at the Harry Shaw Newman gallery in New York City, but signed E. N. Griffith. [3] Problem solved.

In a kind of a “save face maneuver” on the Addison still life, art critic Alfred Frankenstein stated that the “whole approach was too linear, and the canvas was too full of little nervous zigs and zags” [3] to be Harnett’s work. This after others initially recognized it as a “genuine” Harnett. Frankenstein, for his part, saw the solution just as tantalizing as the problem, because when he was writing in the 1950s, he described E. N. Griffith as “a name to which nothing else can be attached” [3]. Later researchers have now attached a little more information to his name.

So, who was E. N. Griffith? Griffith’s obituary states that he painted “as a hobby”: however, he was a member of, and exhibited with, the Society of Independent Artists in New York City from 1917 to 1929[1], except for a gap between 1925-26. He showed trompe l'oeil still-life paintings there almost exclusively and most were noted as sold.[1], Don’t forget – one of his works had been mistaken for Hartett’s. I would hazard, that at least for a while, he was more than a “hobbyist.”

The "zigs and zags" Frankenstein purportedly saw in the Andover piece perhaps could be likened to the “zigs and zags” of extraneous, and not necessary information included in his obituary – the aunt, the housekeeper, e.g., (perhaps included to fill out the life of a man they respected but knew little about), and the pieces of his life as we currently know it. Piecing together his life from the few references available, a number of "zigs and zags" are apparent.

He was born in New Jesey and in 1880 was working on a farm, probably, Essex County, New Jersey [2] (he would have been 22 years of age). By 1892, he appears to have been living in Irvington, New Jersey and was a member of the Irvington Art and Camera Club. Nothing is known of his art training, if any. By 1900 he was listed in census records as an artist.[2] A "zig" from his art career occurred in 1910, when census records show his occupation as a carpenter builder [2] and ice dealer [3]. A "zag" occurred in when in 1912, in his fifties, he was married [2]. It could be by this time his trompe l’oeil painting was relegated to a hobby and that he needed a steady source of income that the sale of his paintings alone could not provide. He was consistently showing his paintings at the Society of Independent Artists during this time, also.

More zigs and zags – his wife’s health was failing and, in 1920, Griffith and his wife left Irvington and moved to Avon Park, Florida. His wife died in 1923 [1]. Although, having not been a full-time artist for some time, he taught art classes in Avon Park until a few years before his death in 1948 [1].

Perhaps his life story is more "linear" and smoother than perceived from the existing, spotty records. Griffith had no known descendants, so there were no family members to preserve his legacy. Regardless of what some art historians and art critics said of him in the 1950s, he has somewhat of a legacy – his painting of the gates of Old Fort Marion, St. Augustine, was given to the Public Library, and he donated others to the Woman's Club, Chamber of Commerce and friends.[1] Other works by Griffith are in the collections of the Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, and the Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey.[4]

In the1955 book The Naked Truth and Personal Vision, Bartlett H. Hayes Jr., includes a photo of "The Batchellor’s Friends", the Griffith painting originally attributed to Harnett and now rightfully attributed to Griffith.[4]

That’s it in a nutshell.

Written by Joan Hawk, Researcher and Co-Owner Bedford Fine Art Gallery, October 28, 2025.

Use only with the permission of Bedford Fine Art Gallery.

References:

  1. Edward Norton Griffith (1858-1948) - Find a Grave Memorial, includes Griffith's obituary. [accessed 10/22/25]

  2. https://www.schwarzgallery.com/artist/edward-norton-griffith/ [accessed 10/2025]

  3. Frankenstein, Alfred, 1953, After the Hunt: William Harnett and Other American Still Life painters 1870 – 1900, pp. 152-153, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.

  4. Hayes, Bartlett, H., Jr., 1955, The Naked Truth and Personal Vision, pg. 30, Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts.

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