Edward Potthast was born in Cincinnati and studied at the Cincinnati Art Academy and in Antwerp, Munich and Paris.  His earlier work is quite academic in style, but it is as a colorist that he gained his lasting fame.  The bright, impressionistic paintings so avidly sought, typically showing children at play in beach or park-like settings, as well as harbor and other water scenes, can usually be traced to his New York years, where he moved in 1896.  Around 1914, Potthast began to exhibit the beach scenes for which he became so well known.  The works of this National Academician hang in major art museums.

Studied
McMicken School of Design (1869, 1873, 1879-82, 1885-87); Antwerp (1882);
Munich (1882, 1887); Paris (1887)

Member
SAA, ANA, NA, AWCS, NYWCC, SC, Lotos Club, Allied AA, Cincinnati AC, P&S Gal. Assn, SPNY

Exhibited
PAFA Ann. 1895-1927; NAD 1897-1927, 1899 prize; Boston AC 1896-1909; Paris Salon 1889-91; AIC 1896-1925; AWCS 1901 prize 1914 prize; SC 1904 prizes, 1905 prize; Corcoran Gal biennials, 1907-23 (8 times); Pan-Pac. Expo, San Fran., 1915 (med.)

Work
Cincinnati Art Museum; Brooklyn Institute Museum; Hackley Art Gallery, Muskegon, MI; AIC

References
WW25; Cincinnati Painters of the Golden Age; Fink, American Art at the Nineteenth-Century Paris Salons; Falk, Exh. Record Series