Born in Galesburg, Illinois, Henry J. Peck (1880-1964) was the son of George F. and Anna Emily (Cole) Peck. After his boyhood in Warren, Rhode Island, he studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and then with the artist and illustrator Eric Pape at his school in Annisquam, Massachusetts, for two years. Later he studied with George L. Noyes, also in Annisquam. In 1901, he moved to Wilmington, Delaware, to study with Howard Pyle for three years. In 1906, Peck shared a studio with fellow student Clifford Ashley.
In 1908, Peck and Ashley took a studio in Bristol, Rhode Island, for a year, where both collected material for their marine illustrations. Peck continued to visit Rhode Island each summer. Returning to Wilmington in the early teens with his wife, Peck worked in Claymont at an artist's colony there, joining his fellow former Pyle students Roscoe Shrader, Herbert Moore, Percy Ivory, and Gayle Hoskins.
Peck was in France in 1918. Once he returned and set up his studio in Rhode Island, he also established a New York studio. He illustrated for many general interest magazines, with a specialty in marine subjects but a style adaptable to a wide range of content.
Peck was a member of the Providence Art Club, the Providence Water Color Club, the South County Art Association and the North Shore Art Association. He also belonged to Wilmington's theatrical Greenroom Club and of the Wilmington Orchestra, for which was a violinist.
Peck died in Kingston, Massachusetts in 1964.
Sources:
https://www.illustratedgallery.com/artwork/for-sale/artist/henry-peck/
A Small School of Art. Rowland Elzea and Elizabeth Hawkes, eds. Delaware Art Museum. 1980
