Charles De Wolf Brownell
Charles De Wolf Brownell , also: Charles DeWolf Brownell , (born February 6, 1822 in Providence , Rhode Island , † June 6, 1909 in Bristol , Rhode Island) was an American painter .
The artist, best known for his landscape views, was initially close to the painters of the Hudson River School and, in addition to Europe, traveled to various regions of North and South America. In addition to views of his home in New England , his work includes paintings with tropical motifs.
Life
Charles Brownell was born in Providence in 1822 as the third of six children of doctor Pardon Brownell (1788-1846) and his wife Lucia Emilia DeWolf (1796-1884). The parents came from wealthy and long-established families in the Rhode Islands. When Charles Brownell was two years old, the family moved to East Hartford , Connecticut . Here he grew up and attended school. He then studied law and settled in Hartford in 1843 as a lawyer . He lived here in a house directly across from the Charter Oak , a tree that is symbolic of Connecticut's history and which served as a motif for one of his most famous pictures in 1857 - this old oak was previously by Ralph Earl (around 1790), Thomas Cole (undated sketch ) and was "portrayed" at least three times by Frederic Edwin Church (around 1845).
After a few years Brownell gave up the legal profession again and lived from 1848-1849 in Liberty (Virginia) and 1850 in Alexandria (Louisiana) . In 1852 he published the book The Indian Races of North and South America , an extensive and illustrated treatise on the indigenous peoples of North and South America, which was reprinted several times in the following years.
Around the beginning of the 1850s, he began drawing landscape subjects during excursions in the Connecticut River valley . Brownell studied painting a little later in Hartford with Julius Busch (1821-1858) and Joseph Ropes (1812-1885) and graduated in 1854 with a Master of Arts at Trinity College (Hartford) . The following year he showed his first work in the exhibition of the Hartford Agricultural Society . From 1856 he spent several winters in Cuba, where he was inspired by the charm of the exotic vegetation and repeatedly made landscape pictures and studies with tropical motifs.
In 1860 Brownell settled in New York City, moved into a studio and submitted several works to exhibitions at the National Academy of Design in 1861 and 1862 . He met important representatives of the Hudson River School in the city, such as Frederic Edwin Church and John Frederick Kensett , who, like Brownell, mainly devoted themselves to landscape painting. During this time, as an avid sailor, he made several boat trips to Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, where some of his well-known coastal pictures were taken.
Brownell married Henrietta Knowlton Angell Pierce (1837–1897) in 1865, who had previously separated from her first husband, Dr. George A. Pierce had divorced. From this first marriage she already had two children, from her marriage to Brownell they had four children between 1866 and 1876. The family lived mainly in Bristol (Rhode Island), his wife's hometown, but he kept interrupting the stays for extended trips. In 1871, the family set out on a trip to Europe lasting several years, from which they only returned to the United States in 1877, after a detour to Egypt. In Europe, Brownell studied the works of local artists and created numerous works of his own. Brownell also traveled frequently in the following decades. So he stayed in Mexico, visited Jamaica and South America.
The experiences of numerous journeys are reflected in the artist's oeuvre. Brownell had a passionate interest in nature and his intensive observation of the different landscapes can be found in his works with a detailed reproduction that borders on scientific accuracy. Brownell died in 1909 and is buried in Juniper Hill Cemetery in Bristol.
Fonts
- The Indian Races of North and South America; Comprising an Account of the Principal Aboriginal Races, a Description of Their National Customs, Mythology, and Religious Ceremonies, the History of Their Most Powerful Tribes, and of Their Most Celebrated Chiefs and Warriors, Their Intercourse and Wars with the European Settlers, and a Great Variety of Anecdote and Description, Illustrative of Personal and National Character. Dayton and Wentworth, Boston 1853, Text Archive - Internet Archive .
literature
- Charles De Wolf Brownell . In: Ulrich Thieme , Fred. C. Willis (Ed.): General lexicon of visual artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 14 : Giddens-Gress . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1921, p. 443 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
- Ita G. Krebs: Charles De Wolf Brownell (1822-1909), Explorer of the American Landscape . Kennedy Galleries, New York 1991.
- Glenn B. Opitz: Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers . Apollo Book, Poughkeepsie 1987, ISBN 0-938290-04-5 .
- Grace Glueck: Charles De Wolf Brownell, A Decade of Travel, 1856–66. In: The New York Times . December 17, 2004 ( query.nytimes.com ).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ See also the accompanying brochure by William Isaac Fletcher: The Story of the Charter Oak to Accompany the Picture by Charles D'Wolf Brownell. Case, Lockwood & Brainard, Hartford 1883 ( cdm15019.contentdm.oclc.org ).
- ↑ Gayle Brandow Samuels: The Charter Oak. In: In: Arnoldia 59: 4, 1999. pp. 2-9 ( arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu PDF; 684 kB).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Brownell, Charles De Wolf |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | De Wolf Brownell, Charles; DeWolf Brownell, Charles; Brownell, Charles DeWolf |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 6, 1822 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Providence , Rhode Island |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 6, 1909 |
| Place of death | Bristol , Rhode Island |