View source for Alphaeus Philemon Cole

{{Short description|American artist, engraver and etcher (1876–1988)}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Alphaeus Philemon Cole
| image              = Альфиус Филеймон Коул. 1920 год..jpg
| caption            = Cole in 1920
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1876|7|12}}
| birth_place        = [[Jersey City, New Jersey]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{Death date|1988|11|25}}<br />(aged {{age in years and days|1876|7|12|1988|11|25}})
| death_place        = [[New York City]], U.S.
| occupation         = {{hlist|Artist|engraver|etcher}}
| known_for          = {{hlist|Portraits|etchings|[[still life|still life paintings]]|world's oldest living man}}
}}
'''Alphaeus Philemon Cole''' (July 12, 1876 &ndash; November 25, 1988) was an American artist, [[engraver]], [[etcher]] and supercentenarian. He was born in [[Jersey City, New Jersey]], the son of noted [[wood-engraver]] [[Timothy Cole]].<ref name=NYTimes>[https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/26/obituaries/alphaeus-cole-a-portraitist-112.html Alphaeus Cole, a Portraitist, 112], obituary by Michel Kimmelman, November 26, 1988, ''[[The New York Times]]''. Retrieved 2007-11-15. (The ''NY Times'' obituary for Cole erroneously gives the year of death of Anita Rio as 1973 — the correct year of death is 1971.)</ref> Until his death, at age 112 years and 136 days, Alphaeus had been the [[Oldest people|world's oldest verified living man]] and the oldest living person in the United States.

==Biography==
Cole studied art first under Isaac Craig, in Italy, then in Paris from 1892 to 1901 with Jean Paul Laurens and [[Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant]] at the [[Académie Julian]],<ref name=Smithsonian>[http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/alphaeus-p-cole-papers-5723 "Archives of American Art - Alphaeus P. Cole papers, 1885-1988 (collection summary)"], [[Smithsonian Institution]]. Retrieved 2007-11-15.</ref><ref name=Salmagundi>[http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/5aa/5aa199.htm "Alphaeus Philemon Cole"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080215011843/http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/5aa/5aa199.htm |date=2008-02-15 }}, [[Salmagundi Club]]. Retrieved 2007-11-15.</ref> and later at the [[École des Beaux-Arts]].<ref name=NYTimes/> In the mid-1890s, he began to produce many vibrant works, mostly various [[still life]]s and portraits. His painting of [[Dante]] was exhibited in the 1900 [[Paris Salon]],<ref name=Smithsonian/> and more artwork was displayed at the 1901 [[Pan-American Exposition]] in [[Buffalo, New York]].

Cole moved to England and married sculptor Margaret Ward Walmsley in 1903.<ref name=Smithsonian/> He began to venture into the fields of wood/steel engraving and etching, but these works sold less than his portraits. He contributed several drawings to the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''. They moved again, to the United States, in 1911.<ref name=Smithsonian/> In 1918, Cole became a member of the [[Salmagundi Club]], the nation's oldest professional art club.<ref name=NYTimes/> From 1924 to 1931, he taught [[portrait]] and [[still life]] classes at [[Cooper Union]].<ref name=Salmagundi/> He was elected to the [[National Academy of Design]] in 1930.<ref name=NYTimes/>  He was the president of the [[New York Water Color Club]] from 1931 to 1941.<ref name=Smithsonian/> In the 1940s, Cole worked as a judge of paintings in Max Pochapin's Manhattan Hall of Art, a merchandising art gallery, which was a revolutionary idea at the time.<ref name=Time>[https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/26/obituaries/alphaeus-cole-a-portraitist-112.html "Cut-Rate Art"], ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine, September 6, 1943. Retrieved 2007-11-15.</ref> From 1952 to 1953, he was president of Allied Artists of America.<ref name="AlliedArtists">[http://www.alliedartistsofamerica.org/past_presidents.htm "Presidents Of Allied Artists Of America, Inc."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071122011953/http://www.alliedartistsofamerica.org/past_presidents.htm|date=2007-11-22}}, [[Allied Artists of America]]. Retrieved 2007-11-15.</ref> His first wife died in 1961, and Cole married Anita Rio (born 1873), a singer, and the widow of painter Eugene Higgins, in 1962.<ref name=Smithsonian/> She died in 1971.<ref name=NYTimes/><ref>{{cite news|title=Obituary. Anita Rio, 98, Soprano in Opera and Concerts|date=August 27, 1971|newspaper=NY Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/08/27/archives/anita-rio-98-soprano-in-opera-and-concerts.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=reprint of ''Introduction'' to ''Eugene Higgins, 1874–1958: Artist of Honor'' by Vincenza Uccello|website=Saint Joseph College Gallery|url=http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/3aa/3aa109.htm}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Arkelyan, Ashot|title=Anita Rio (Soprano) (Alameda, California 1873 — Old Saybrook, Connecticut 1971)|website=Forgotten Opera Singers|date=February 3, 2014|url=http://forgottenoperasingers.blogspot.com/2014/02/anita-rio-soprano-almeda-california.html}}</ref>

Cole actively painted and exhibited up to the age of 103.<ref name=Salmagundi/> He died at New York's [[Hotel Chelsea|Chelsea Hotel]], where he had lived for 35 years.<ref name=NZHerald>{{cite web |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/7/story.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=10117251 |title=Every room can tell you a good story |author=Reid, Graham |date=2 April 2005 |work=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |access-date=16 September 2011}}</ref> Cole's work is in the permanent collections of London's [[National Portrait Gallery (London)|National Portrait Gallery]] and the [[Brooklyn Museum]],<ref name=NYTimes/> and his papers are stored at the [[Smithsonian Institution]].<ref name=Smithsonian/>

Cole was subsequently verified as having been the oldest living man following the death of 111-year-old Norwegian skier [[Herman Smith-Johannsen]], on January 5, 1987.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://grg.org/Adams/M.HTM|title=Table M - World's Oldest Men (WOM) Titleholders Since 1973|publisher=[[Gerontology Research Group]]|date=2018-04-10|access-date=2022-08-31}}</ref> He was also the oldest living person in the United States for seven months after the death of 112-year-old Elzona Maxey on April 25, 1988.

He died in New York City, aged 112 years and 136 days.

== See also ==
*[[Supercentenarian]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Alphaeus Philemon}}
[[Category:1876 births]]
[[Category:1988 deaths]]
[[Category:American engravers]]
[[Category:20th-century American etchers]]
[[Category:American printmakers]]
[[Category:American supercentenarians]]
[[Category:Men supercentenarians]]
[[Category:Artists from Jersey City, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Artists from New York City]]
[[Category:Cooper Union faculty]]
[[Category:Académie Julian alumni]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Italy]]
[[Category:American expatriates in France]]