Walter Nettleton was born in America but spent his early years in Germany, where his father had a manufacturing business. The family returned to the United States to Stockbridge, Massachusetts where Walter then worked in a factory for a year before entering Yale University, from which he graduated in 1883.

Shortly after, he went to Europe for an extended tour, and decided to become a painter. He enrolled in the Academie Julian in Paris and studied under Gustav Boulanger and Jules-Joseph Lefebvre until 1889. In addition he studied with Emile Carolus Duran, and then returned to America, settling in New York City where he attended the Art Students League.

He traveled much in New England and entering many snow scenes from those travels, he became a frequent exhibitor in France at the Paris Salon beginning 1889. In 1904, he won a silver medal at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in Saint Louis and in 1910, he won a bronze medal at the Buenos Aires International Exposition.

In 1905, he became a member of the National Academy of Design.

Source:
Mary Lublin, Walter Eben Nettleton, Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design, Volume I, p. 416. (Editor, David Dearinger(

Walter Eben Nettleton (1861-1936)

Born in New Haven, Connecticut. Graduate of Yale University in 1883. Studied under Lefebvre and Boulanger, and afterward under Carolus Duran and Alexander Harrison. Honorable Mention, Paris Salon, 1892. In 1900 he was living in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Source:
Official Illustrated Catalogue, Fine Arts Exhibit, United States of America, Paris Exposition of 1900. Noyes, Platt & Company, Boston, 1900.

Information provided by Edward P. Bentley, researcher of Lansing, Michigan.