The Woods Are Lovely, Dark, and Deep: marine painting

Friday, August 28, 2015

Charles Partridge Adams

Charles Partridge Adams

Born in Franklin, Massachusetts, Charles Partridge Adams moved with his mother and two sisters to Denver, Colorado, in 1876 in an effort to cure the two girls who suffered from tuberculosis.

In Denver, Adams found work at the Chain and Hardy Bookstore. He received his first, and only, art training from the owner’s wife, Helen Chain. Mrs. Chain, a former pupil of George Inness, provided instruction and encouragement to the young artist and introduced him to other artists in the area including Alexander Phimister Proctor.

In 1890, Charles married Alida Joslin Reynolds and the couple honeymooned in Estes Park, Colorado. That same year, he exhibited for the first time at the National Academy of Design. Three years later, the artist opened his first studio on Larimer Street in Denver.

In 1905, the couples dream of living in Estes Park was realized when Adams completed construction on a home and studio there. He referred to the studio as “The Sketch Box” and the family summered there every year.

In 1914 the couple sailed to Europe where they spent five months touring. Three years later, Charles suffered from a near-fatal illness.

In 1920, Charles Partridge Adams moved to California where he opened a studio first in Pasadena and later in Laguna Beach. He became a member of the Laguna Beach Artists Association and began painting marine subjects.

Adams died in California in 1942.

Monday, August 17, 2015

Francis A. Silva

Born in New York City, F. A. Silva (1835-1886) was forbidden to paint artistically by his father so he became a successful sign painter. Unfulfilled, at the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in the New York State Militia, serving until 1866. Soon after the war he listed himself as 'artist' in New York, devoting himself to marine views. Essentially self taught, early success awarded him the privilege of exhibiting with the National Academy of Design, the Brooklyn Academy of Art and the American Institute of Art.

Traveling frequently to his favored locations for subject matter, Silva's works often show both New York and New London harbors, Westchester, Narragansett Bay, and a single known western work of Lake Michigan. Later in life, he traveled to Venice, creating marine views there. Around this time he arrived at his mature style, often directly compared with the "vigor and breadth of Winslow Homer."

His luminous paintings are appreciated for their 'meticulous realism' with a tranquil atmospheric elements. In his manipulation of color while avoiding 'artificial prettiness', he instead intensified the genuine effects of nature while expressing personal emotion. Alongside foremost American seascape artists A. T. Bricher and William Trost Richards, Silva represents the pinnacle of American sea painters.

Francis A. Silva