Paul Cornoyer (Born 1864 - Died –1923) was an American painter born in St. Louis, Missouri. He was a painter who was best known in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for his tonalist depictions of New York City. Cornoyer studied at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts from 1881. After completing his college education, he worked in the Barbizon mode. It was in 1887 that he had the first exhibition of his paintings, and he moved to Paris in 1889 to further his art education and continued to show his work. While in Paris, he studied at the Académie Julian with Louis Blanc, Benjamin-Constant Jean-Joseph and Lefebvre Jules Joseph. In the 1890s, his technique changed towards tonalism and Impressionism in his cityscape and landscape depictions. In 1894 he decided to return to St. Louis from Paris, and soon attracted the attention of Merritt William.
The renowned artist acquired one of his paintings, a depiction of Paris that was shown at the annual exhibition of 1896/1897 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Due to the encouragement of Merritt William, Cornoyer moved to New York City and embarked on the period of his career that generated his most significant works. He worked predominantly in tonalist style, and created street and city scenes that won awards and received praise from critics. He liked to paint the snowy and rainy views of Madison Square Park, Washington Square Park, and Fifth Avenue, and rendered them in subtle grayed tones. His sensitivity to color and atmosphere and the poetic nature of his work were duly noted.
