American Painter. Born John Cain in West Calder, Scotland, he immigrated to the United States in 1879 working for the railroad, in the steel industry and as a coal miner. After losing his leg in an accident he worked as a watchman until he took a job painting railroad boxcars. He began drawing on the sides of the cars and filling in the colors before painting the boxcar. In 1927 he became the first self-taught American painter to be recognized by a museum when his painting "Scene in the Scottish Highlands" was accepted for the Carnegie Internationals and now hangs in the Carnegie Museum of Art. His famous painting "Self-portrait" (1929) is in The Museum of Modern Art and his "Children at Play" is in the care of the Smithsonian Institution. He has painted over 50 works of art including "Boy Fishing" (Parrish Art Museum), "St. Paul's Church" (Kennedy Galleries), "Old St. Patrick's" (Detroit Institute of Arts) and "Junction Hollow" (Whitney Museum of American Art). He died of tuberculosis on August 10, 1934.
American Painter. Born John Cain in West Calder, Scotland, he immigrated to the United States in 1879 working for the railroad, in the steel industry and as a coal miner. After losing his leg in an accident he worked as a watchman until he took a job painting railroad boxcars. He began drawing on the sides of the cars and filling in the colors before painting the boxcar. In 1927 he became the first self-taught American painter to be recognized by a museum when his painting "Scene in the Scottish Highlands" was accepted for the Carnegie Internationals and now hangs in the Carnegie Museum of Art. His famous painting "Self-portrait" (1929) is in The Museum of Modern Art and his "Children at Play" is in the care of the Smithsonian Institution. He has painted over 50 works of art including "Boy Fishing" (Parrish Art Museum), "St. Paul's Church" (Kennedy Galleries), "Old St. Patrick's" (Detroit Institute of Arts) and "Junction Hollow" (Whitney Museum of American Art). He died of tuberculosis on August 10, 1934.
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