biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1836–1910)
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| biography:
| Painter, born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Largely self-taught, he began his career as a lithographer and then became an illustrator for popular magazines. Harper's Weekly sent him periodically to cover the Civil War (1861–5), and the resulting drawings and paintings revealed his draftmanship, realism, and unsentimental approach to his subjects, as seen in ‘Prisoners from the Front’ (1866). His early genre work, such as ‘Snap the Whip’ (1872), ensured his popularity, and he spent more time on his own work. By 1875 he was using water colour, his primary medium, as a method of quickly capturing a dramatic moment in nature. He travelled often, producing many fine works as a result of his journeys to such places as Bermuda, Florida, and Petersburg, Virginia. His series of paintings of African-Americans, such as the well-known ‘The Cotton Pickers’ (1876), and ‘The Carnival’ (1877), exhibit his superb design capabilities and a striking use of paint. After travelling to England (1881–2), he settled at Prouts Neck, ME (1883), and the focus of his art became the sea, and the men and women who lived near the shore. He began a series of oils and water colours that built his reputation as a major artist. His seascapes, such as ‘Northeaster’ (1895) and ‘Early Morning after a Storm at Sea’ (1902), reveal the vitality and power of his genius. |
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