Ogden Pleissner American, 1905-1983

Pleissner was born on April 29, 1905, in Brooklyn, New York, to musically inclined parents. At age eleven, a friend gifted him a paintbox, sparking his lifelong passion for art. As a child, he spent several summers in Wyoming, where he sketched from life and developed a deep appreciation for the outdoors, fishing, and the Western landscape.

He attended the Art Students League of New York from 1922 to 1926, studying under Frank DuMond. Shortly after, he began teaching at the Pratt Institute. In the 1930s, Pleissner primarily worked in oils, earning recognition for his Western landscapes as well as his depictions of the Maritimes and New England. In 1938, the National Academy of Design awarded him the Second Hallgarten Prize for South Pass City (Wyoming Ghost Town).

At the outset of World War II, Pleissner was commissioned as a captain in the United States Air Force and stationed in the Aleutian Islands as a war artist. The harsh, damp conditions of the region forced him to work primarily in watercolors, as they dried more quickly than oils. In 1942, Pleissner accepted a commission from the U.S. Army as a war correspondent on inactive duty, employed by Life magazine. After the war, he continued to travel across Europe and Wyoming, painting city scenes, landscapes, and sporting subjects.

Pleissner also served as the director and trustee of the Tiffany Foundation. He died in 1983 in London, England.