John Court

"John Court (1948 - ) is a portraitist and landscape painter. Born in Annapolis, Maryland, Court grew up in Maryland and Virginia. He began painting at age 11 and attended Cornell University, where he studied painting with Norman Daly, Kenneth Evett, and Gillian Pederson-Krag. He earned a BFA in 1970 and an MFA in 1972, then returned to Richmond, Virginia, to continue his career as a portrait painter. Court was commissioned to paint Arizona Senator Barry Golderwater portrait. He painted a full figure standing portrait from life, in his Senate office. This portrait is miniature size and owned by L’Enfant Gallery. Several other portraits were made, based on this full figure portrait, one of which was purchased by The National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC, another for his children. L’Enfant Gallery held several solo shows for Court, one is still held in our gallery library and features an article by the renowned art critic Frank Getlein. After Court’s triumph with the Goldwater portrait, the Senator took Court under his wing and suggested he move to Arizona where he had a house on the slopes on Camelback Mountain. This became a favorite painting venue for Court. In 1980’s he began regularly visiting the Azores (Portuguese Islands), where he designed and built a home and studio where to this day he lives and works."