In December 1901, Peck came to Wilmington to study with Howard Pyle. He was one of Pyle’s twelve students who worked in the three studios next to Pyle’s 1305 Franklin Street Studio. Peck worked with Pyle for approximately three years and then moved to a studio at 804 Orange Street. In 1906, Peck and Ashley took a studio on the corner of Shallcross Avenue and Rodney Street.
In May 1908, Peck and Ashley went to Bristol, Rhode Island, where they shared a studio until November 1909, when Peck returned to Wilmington. Their trip to New England had been made to collect material for future pictures. Peck made a similar trip to Warren, Rhode Island, each summer, and the influence of the New England environment can be seen in his work.
In the early teens, Peck also worked in Claymont at an artist’s colony established there. Roscoe Shrader, Herbert Moore, Percy Ivory, and Gayle Hoskins were also at “Naamans-on-Delaware” during the years Peck and his wife lived there.
Peck spent some time in France in 1918, and eventually returned to Rhode Island. He established a barn studio there, and also had studios in New York for several years.
Peck was a member of the Greenroom Club, the Wilmington Orchestra-he was a fine violinist-and several artist’s associations in New England.
While Peck was at the Pape School, his pen drawings appeared in Household Magazine. Peck painted primarily marine and rural subjects, working usually in oil. His illustrations appeared in Outing, Leslie’s, Delineator, Success, Saturday Evening Post, Harper’s Scribner’s, Collier’s, Century, Red Book, Everybody’s, St. Nicholas, and Life. Peck also wrote short articles for Harper’s Weekly and Pearson’s Magazine to go with his illustrations. With his brother, Walter, Peck wrote “The Gasoline Prairie Schooner” and drew the illustrations; the story appeared in Scribner’s in 1908.
References: Pitz, Brandywine Tradition; WWAA, 1936-1941; Sunday Star (Wilmington), Jan. 30, 1910; DAM files; FLP, Oakley Collection.
