DONALD SUTPHIN BIOGRAPHY
Donald Squibb Sutphin was an American expatriate painter, printmaker, and collagist, born on December 11, 1926 in Boston, Massachusetts. He began his pursuit of art in grade school, drawing when and wherever he could, even to his educational detriment. He was sent to military school when his grades were deemed insufficient, and at just 17 he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Upon his return, he utilized the G.I. bill to enroll at the Boston Museum School, where he concentrated on printmaking. Sutphin studied under George Grosz at the Art Students League of New York before moving to Florence, Italy, in 1955, where he lived for the rest of his life, working to evolve his unique modernist style.
In 1956, Sutphin’s wife and two children returned to the United States, where he stayed and later remarried. Donald Says: “I am still here finding Europe conducive to working out my own thoughts. Life in Florence has given me time to think and feel out what I am.”
Sutphin was listed among American artists living in Europe in the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art and was the oldest living American expatriate artist in Florence until 2015. His time in the military exposed him to the Mediterranean regions of Europe, for which he developed an affinity. As a teacher, he was influential to a generation of students working there, considered by many to be a sort of ‘spiritual godfather’ for their own artistic growth.
Sutphin taught Art History at the American School in Florence. He was often known for mentoring other American artists who had traveled abroad for inspiration. He would go on to exhibit internationally, including at Bonfoey Gallery (Tucson, AZ), Kunsthandel Liernur, The Hague (Netherlands), Emory University (Atlanta, Georgia), and the Halle Gallery (Munich, Germany). Additionally, he was represented by the American Associated Artists in New York.
Sutphin died in Florence, Italy, in March of 2015.
