Edward Moran Biography

Edward Moran worked both as a lithographer as well as an oil painter. His career began as a weaver in England. The family emigrated to Maryland in 1844, and Moran continued as a weaver, cabinetmaker, and house painter before studying art under Paul Weber and James Hamilton. He is best known for his marine paintings. He opened a studio in Philadelphia in 1857. In 1862 he traveled with his brother to England to study at the Royal Academy in London. He studied briefly in England before the Civil War and made an extended stay in Paris in the late 1870s. Returning to the United States in 1880, he took up permanent residence in New York City, his last known address.

Moran exhibited at the National Academy of Design for a thirty-year period during the years 1866 through 1896. He was elected an Associate of the National Academy in 1874. He was also a member of the Lotos Club and the American Watercolor Society.

Moran is best known for his seascape paintings showing Turner's influence. His thirteen paintings of important epochs in US marine history were widely exhibited. When they failed to bring the $40,000 he required, they were given to the New York Public Library. The 1902 auction of 107 of Moran paintings at the Fifth Avenue Art Gallery brought $16,505.

Moran had two brothers, Thomas and Peter, and two sons, Percy and Leon.