George Overbury "Pop" Hart

Hart worked as a sign painter and an illustrator before studying at the Art Institute of Chicago in the 1890s and the Académie Julian in Paris in 1907. He traveled through Europe, South and Central America, northern Africa, and the South Pacific in the early 20th century, producing watercolors and drawings of daily life in these far-flung locales. Living in New York and New Jersey from about 1908 through 1920, Hart earned a living painting signs and, later, film sets, and he befriended many modern artists, including John Sloan and Robert Henri. The Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University owns the largest collection of Hart's work.