Providence Art Club (original) (raw)

Providence Art Club

Providence, RI

401-331-1114

http://www.providenceartclub.org/

Resource Library articles and essays honoring the American experience through its art:

Joan Boghossian & Jan Gaudreau / Barbara A. Dahill: A Journal of Painting (4/23/04)

Brian Larkin and Joy Nordquist / Carol Strause FitzSimonds (6/12/03)

Hal Golden and Lori Zamansky (9/13/00)

Pine and Bamboo: Madolin Maxey at Providence Art Club (10/24/99)

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue (9/99)

The two Club galleries are located at 11 Thomas Street, Providence, RI, 02903. Founded in 1880 to stimulate the appreciation of art in the community, the Club has long been a place for artists and art patrons to congregate, create, display and circulate works of art. Located along Thomas Street, in the shadow of the First Baptist Church, the Providence Art Club is a picturesque procession of historic houses, home to studios, galleries and the clubhouse. Through its public programs, its art instruction classes for members and its active exhibition schedule, the Providence Art Club continues a tradition of sponsoring and supporting the visual arts in Providence and throughout Rhode Island.

About the collection

In 2007 the Providence Art Club exhibited "Highlights from Providence Art Club Collection." Following are the wall and label texts for the exhibition.

The second half of the nineteenth century saw the formation of art clubs and art associations as forums for American artists to exhibit, promote and sell their work. The Providence Art Club, founded in 1880 by men and women, professional and amateur artists, would exist "for art culture."

Similarly, in 1912, the Art Association of Newport (now the Newport Art Museum and Art Association) was founded to benefit the cultural life of the community.

Progressive in their day, these two organizations each included women as founders and early members. Many of the artists exhibited at both institutions. Works by Edward M. Bannister, Elijah Baxter, Sydney Burleigh, Antonio Cirino, Florence Leif, Frank Mathewson, Robert Stephens and Charles Walter Stetson are included in both permanent collections.

At the turn of the twentieth century the Providence Art Club and the Art Association of Newport also subscribed to old-fashioned canons of beauty. Realism and impressionism triumphed over the avant-garde. H. Anthony Dyer, president of the Providence Art Club and lecturer at the Art Association of Newport in 1914, said "We want art in this country that will stand the test of the love of the American people for beautiful things." Thus the preponderance of flowers, still lives, landscapes and interiors.

Today the Providence Art Club and the Newport Art Museum continue the tradition of supporting and sponsoring the visual arts, particularly on the regional level. We hope that this selection of work will raise awareness as to the breadth of art history and arts advocacy here in Rhode Island.

Marcus Waterman

American, 1834-1914

The Feast of Mohammed, c. 1880

Oil on canvas

Frederic Stone Batcheller

American, 1835-1899

Pineapples

Oil on canvas

Helen Frances Andrews

American, born in 1872

Landscape

Oil on canvas

Norwood H. MacGilvary

American, born in Thailand, 1874-1950

Room Interior

Oil on canvas

MacGilvary studied in Paris with A.J. Laurent; he spent his later career in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Percy Albee

American, 1883-1959

Early Morning in Autumn, 1922

Oil on board

A painter and decorative muralist trained at the Rhode Island School of Design, Albee was married to fellow artist, renowned wood engraver Grace Albee.

Edward M. Bannister

American, born in Canada, 1828-1901

At Pawtuxet, 1897

Oil on canvas

Bannister is known for his Barbizon-inspired pastoral paintings, as well as for being a successful African-American nineteenth century artist. Bannister studied under William Rimmer at the Lowell Institute, maintained a studio in Boston, and worked in New York processing solar prints, before moving to Providence. He was a founder of the Art Club in 1880.

Elijah Baxter

American, 1849-1939

Roses, 1918

Oil on canvas

Elijah Baxter was one of the eight original artist founders of the Art Association of Newport, as well as a member of the Providence Art Club. He painted in Newport for many years, where he had a studio at the Henry Clews estate, The Rocks.

Hugo August Breul

American, born in Germany, 1851-1910

Devoted to His Art, c. 1890

Oil on canvas

Breul studied portraiture with William Merrit Chase and was a charter member of the Art Students League in New York City. He made Providence his home, becoming an Art Club member in 1883. He exhibited at numerous venues, including the National Academy of Design, Boston Art Club and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where this painting was shown in 1891.

Sydney R. Burleigh

American, 1853-1931

Little Girl with Muff, 1905

Oil on canvas

Originally from Little Compton, Rhode Island, Burleigh left to study art in France and Italy in the late 1870s. He returned to Providence in 1880 and became active on the Rhode Island art scene, especially the Art Club, where he was president from 1915 to 1921. A very prolific artist, Burleigh also designed furniture and his arts and crafts style Fleur de Lys studio, which stands on Thomas Street in Providence.

Antonio Cirino

American, born in Italy, 1888-1983

Boats at Rockport

Oil on canvas

Gift of Mary Kosowski

Cirino was a painter and jewelry maker, an active member of the Providence Art Club, its "sister" organization the Salmagundi Art Club and the Rockport Art Association. He studied and taught at Columbia University and the Rhode Island School of Design.

H. Anthony Dyer

American, 1872-1943

Last Watch, Nantucket

Watercolor and pencil on paper

Dyer, like his friend Sydney Burleigh, was a native Rhode Islander, president of the Providence Art Club (from 1905-1914) and well-seasoned traveler. He exhibited his watercolors at the Art Association of Newport several times and lectured here as well.

Earl R. Davis

American, 1886-1956

Bermuda Byway

Watercolor and pencil on paper

William Staples Drown

American, 1856-1915

Landscape

Oil on panel

H. Cyrus Farnum

American, 1866-1925

Cape Cod

Oil on canvas

Originally from Glocester, Rhode Island, Farnum went to Paris to study with Jean Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant in 1893. Successful in his day, he had a painting accepted at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. He was a Providence Art Club member and maintained a spacious studio in Providence.

Maude Richmond Fenner

American, born 1868

Still Life with Lemons

Oil on canvas

Gift of Al Morris, 1999

Fenner, from Bristol, Rhode Island, was one of several early women Providence Art Club members. She had studied with Sydney Burleigh and Frank Mathewson at the Rhode Island School of Design_._

Henry R. Kenyon

American, 1861-1926

Venice II

Oil on canvas

Born in Centertown, Rhode Island, Kenyon attended the Rhode Island School of Design and studied at the Academie Julian in Paris, developing an American impressionist style. He lived in Ipswich, Massachusetts, where his landscapes reflected the New England countryside as well as European scenes.

Florence Leif

American, 1913-1968

Still Life, 1941

Oil on canvas

Florence Leif absorbed both American and European modernist influences in her too brief career. A lifelong resident of Providence and graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, Leif spent her summers painting and studying on Cape Cod. In 1941, Leif married the artist Gordon Peers, chief critic for RISD's European Honor's Program; she then lived in Rome for a year and traveled extensively in Europe.

Frank Mathewson

American, 1862-1941

Pines at Westport Point, 1896

Watercolor and pencil on paper

A Rhode Islander from Barrington, Mathewson received familial support for his artistic studies and studied in Paris under Paul Laurens and at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Facile in both watercolor and oil, Mathewson's style revolved around "the plain face of nature," painting sensitive and color-imbued floral and landscape studies.

Sydney R. Burleigh

American, 1853-1931

Drying Sails

Oil and pastel on paperboard

Maxwell Mays

American, born 1918

Untitled, 1949

Gouache on paper

Gift of Al Morris, 1998

Legendary at the Providence Art Club, Mays studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and became a successful artist and illustrator, doing many covers for Yankee Magazine. He lives and works in an old Rhode Island farmhouse_._

Emma Parker (Polly) Nordell

American, 1879-1958

At the Garden Gate

Watercolor and pencil on paper

Nordell, from Massachusetts, studied at the Rhode Island School of Design with Sydney Burleigh and Stacy Tolman, as well as at the Art Students League in New York and at the Academie Colarossi in Paris. She was married to the Danish-born Art Club member, Carl Nordell.

Angela O'Leary

American, 1879-1921

Winter

Watercolor and pencil on paper

A wonderfully lyrical watercolorist, O'Leary was a student and admirer of Sydney Burleigh, whose work she emulated. A native of Providence, her subject matter was close to home, the streets and shops around South Main Street.

Helen Watson Phelps

American, 1864-1944

Figure

Oil on canvas

An early member of the Providence Art Club originally from Attleboro, Massachusetts, Phelps studied at the Academie Julian in Paris. She became a noted portraitist and figure painter, exhibiting at the Boston Art Club, Art Association of Newport and in New York.

Frederick Sisson

American, 1863-1962

Still Life

Oil on canvas

Born in Providence, Sisson had an excellent art education, graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design, attending the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Academie de la Grande Carmiere in Paris and studying with Abbott Thayer at the Dublin, New Hampshire Artists Colony. Sisson taught at RISD from 1924-1952.

Robert K. Stephens

American, born in 1906

Narragansett Electric Coal Barge, 1941

Watercolor and pencil on paper

A transplanted artist from Pennsylvania, Stephens studied at Syracuse University and the Art Students League in New York, and was influenced by the Precisionist style of Charles Sheeler and Charles Demuth. He was also associated with John Frazier at the Rhode Island School of Design, another Art Club member whose work is on view in the adjacent gallery.

Charles Walter Stetson

American, 1858-1911

Nude Figure

Oil on panel

The painter of moody, softly modulated forms built on color, Stetson was a Rhode Island born artist who sought his figurative or landscape subject matter in New England, California and Rome, where he spent his later years.Nude, like A Poetess on the stair landing outside of this room_,_ is characteristic of Stetson's figures in a landscape, an evocative woman cloaked in a shroud of mystery, almost dream-like. Stetson was a founder of the Providence Art Club.

Benjamin W. Stillwell

American, 1831-1914

Farm with Stream and Trees, 1870

Oil on canvas

Emma Lavinia Swan

American, 1853-1927

Roses

Oil on canvas

The daughter of a Providence cameo-cutter, Swan, like many women artists, received art instruction from her father and was an early member of the Art Club. She studied under Abbott Thayer and went to Europe for further study, receiving many local commissions for her still lifes and flower paintings.

Stacy Tolman

American, 1860-1935

French Interior

Oil on canvas

Tolman came to Providence from Massachusetts in 1890, joining the Art Club and the faculty of the Rhode Island School of Design. He had studied at School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts and Academie Julian in Paris. Tolman primarily painted portraits and interior genre scenes.

Mabel May Woodward

American, 1877-1945

Beach Scene

Oil on panel

One of Rhode Island's most renowned painters of American impressionism, Woodward was an early graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, and returned as a long-time instructor. Her studies also included the Art Students League in New York and the Chase School.

Above wall and label texts are courtesy of the Providence Art Club. If you have questions or comments regarding the texts, please contact the Providence Art Club.

For hours and admission fees please see the Club's website.

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