William Haskell Coffin (1878-1941)ARTIST GALLERY

Woman Sailor
Woman Sailor
10/15/1927

William Coffin was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1878. Although little in known about his early life, his education started at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C.

Coffin later spent a period of time under the guidance of Laurens where he would learn the art of oil painting and the nuance of color and light. Coffin return to the New York area, where he spent the formative years of his career. His covers for The Saturday Evening Post began in the 1913’s with the subject matter consisting of woman in fairly stark scenes. He did thirty covers in all for the Post. As his work progressed, Coffin began to introduce props to embellish his fairly simple portrait technique. Coffin’s special touch was to depict women caught in a minimal action-as the woman holding her hat against a sudden wind on the March 13, 1915 cover. William Haskell Coffin, plagued by financial failure, committed suicide in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1941.