George Howard Gay (American 1858 – 1931) (  aka  G. H. Gay; G. Howell Gay  ) Spilling Breakers

Gay was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1858, but his childhood was spent on a farm in Indiana. In 1871 when he was thirteen, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois. Gay took his first art study in 1877 at the Chicago Academy of Design (forerunner of the Art Institute of Chicago) with marine artist Paul Brown and landscape artist Henry Arthur Elkins. Following a year, in 1878, Gay opened his own studio in Chicago and by 1880 he was an established artist, already noted for his seascapes in watercolor and a prominent and much sought exhibitor. He remained in Chicago until 1889, when he moved to New York (Bronxville). In New York he continued with painting seascapes in watercolor, capturing the New England seacoast.

One art critic at that time, noted accurately, his inseparability of sky and sea in his marines, stating “they frown or smile, soften or battle together, -- the one – the Alter Ego – the companion spirit of the other. The swell of the sea is superb; the skies swimming in gold, crimson, rose, violet and white, or covered with scudding masses of warm, low-lying, violet-gray riven and torn to show the vivid blue above the clouds, are splendidly mirrored in tones the water’s liquid depth converts to living gems. Away off against the horizon line, he paints white sailed ships that add finely to the pictures distance.” Gay also painted scenes along the shoreline of Long Island.

Gay exhibited at the National Academy of Design (1890); Boston Art Club (1890-1900); and Boston Art Club (1897). Other exhibitions included the Chicago Inter-State, Minneapolis, the Omaha Art Association, the New England Manufacturers’ and Mechanics’ Institute and the Philadelphia Art Club.