Leopold Gould Seyffert was a popular portrait painter active in Philadelphia and New York from the late 1910s through the 1920s. He grew up in Colorado and was formally trained from 1906 to 1913 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, where he studied with Thomas Anshutz (1851-1912), Cecilia Beaux (1863-1942), HUGH H. BRECKENRIDGE, and WILLIAM M. CHASE. These instructors determined Seyffert’s specializing in figure painting and his vigorous handling and rich palette. Chase also was influential in assisting the artist in obtaining his first portrait commissions.

Seyffert visited Europe in 1910 and again in 1912, staying the second time in Vollendam, Holland, and painting Dutch peasants. In the summer of 1914 he studied briefly with the Spanish artist Ignacio Zuloaga (1870-1945). On his return to Philadelphia he became involved in avant-garde art and music circles, forming a close friendship with Arthur B. Carles (1882-1952) and the conductor Leopold Stokowski. In the late 1910s he painted nude figures but in the next decade turned almost exclusively to portraiture, attracting commissions from such major figures in business and politics as Henry Clay Frick, Samuel Gompers, and Andrew Mellon. He was also noted for his charcoal portraits. Sponsored by the Grace Shipping Lines, Seyffert visited Guatemala in 1934, painting peasant subjects for canvases destined to decorate the company’s ships. He taught at the School of Design for Women (now Moore College of Art) in Philadelphia and then at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Seyffert exhibited extensively throughout the country and received many awards. He was elected a full academician of the National Academy of Design in 1925.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
J. Frederick Lowes, "Leopold Seyffert" All-Arts Magazine 2 (March 1926): 7-15, 61, with lists of awards and portraits § George William Eggers, "Leopold Seyffert and His Place in American Portraiture," American Magazine of Art 20 (February 1929): 64-73 § New York, BerryHill Galleries, Leopold Seyffert (1887-1956): Retrospective Exhibition, exh. cat., 1985, with foreword by Gary A. Reynolds, essay and catalogue by Bruce Chambers, chronology, bibliography.