Claggett Wilson (1887-1952) was one of America's first "Modernist" painters. Early in his career (1915), he was a teacher of painting and drawing at Columbia University. Serving as a lieutenant in The First World War, Claggett Wilson returned from France (1919) to document his experiences in his highly acclaimed War Paintings for which he was recommended for the Nobel Prize.

With Claggett Wilson's career in full bloom, patrons of the arts such as Solomon Guggenheim, Adolph Lewisohn, Edgar Rossin, James Cox Brady, and Rodney Sharp adorned their walls with his canvases and extraordinary murals. Broadway's acting team, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, engaged Claggett Wilson's talents in 1935 to design the costumes and sets for "The Taming of the Shrew." In 1938 he began a two year project at the Lunt's home in Wisconsin, Ten Chimneys, painting murals throughout and decorating this historical residence.