Archives: Artists

A true worldly artist, Alson Skinner Clark improved his natural talent with a variety of teachers, including William Merritt Chase and James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Inspired by a diverse set of influences, he became one of America's leading Impressionists. Late in his career some would identify Clark as a "California Impressionist" but to limit him…

On hand to witness the fading glory of the American whaling trade in New Bedford, Clifford Ashley made the most of early opportunities to study with master American illustrators and artists to visually record American whaling in the early 20TH Century. He would also author important whaling-related books, illustrate major publications and become a highly…

Perhaps the leading Californian artist to paint scenes of the ocean, William Ritschel used an international education and his firsthand experiences at sea to inspire some purely divine maritime and marine theme paintings. Born in Germany, he apprenticed in with merchant shipping interests and sketched many scenes of his wide voyages. He briefly studied art…

John Severson, born December 12, 1933, is well known as the creator of Surfer Magazine. He grew up surfing off the beaches of Southern California. Born and raised in Pasadena and San Clemente, California, Severson was a creative type, an art major noted for having painted an abstract scene of the San Clemente Pier and…

A painter of impeccable impressionist style, Elanor Colburn has substantial credentials as an artist, art teacher and color theorist. Born in Dayton, Ohio, she studied under William Merit Chase and Frank Duveneck at the Art Institute of Chicago. Colburn would later teach at this same Institute. She won her first award in 1908 when her…

The career path of artist Conrad Wise Chapman follows a cycle of success and pain. One of three siblings born in Washington D.C. to the famed portraitist who painted Pocahontas, artist John Gadsby Chapman, the family left for Rome, Italy in 1848. His father taught him his artistic trade, and instilled such a love for…

David Thimgan was without a doubt one of the leaders of a new generation of marine artists. Specializing in re-creating scenes of America's seafaring past with emphasis on the West Coast and Pacific Rim waterways, David's technique developed to near perfection. His uncanny ability to portray the fluidity and texture of the sea's many moods…

Volumes have been written on the artistic career of N.C. Wyeth and his influence on the world of art. An early student of Howard Pyle, they are two of the most important illustration artists to ever perform. With his work for The Saturday Evening Post and illustrations of books for Scribner's, starting with his most…

Born an American, the artist who would create his own identity of being cosmopolitan French Post-Impressionist Andre Gisson was born Anders Gittelson in Westport, Connecticut in 1921. He studied early and often, and while struggling in New York City, decided to become more worldly with his creation of an imagined French art background. As was…

An illustration artist who rose above the niche of pulp fiction artworks, where Frederick Blakeslee lacks in international recognition is well made up for with the fevered passion of collectors of aviation and military art, especially paintings inspired to become the covers of publications that became "The Flying Aces", "Dusty Ayers and his Battle Birds"…

Millard Sheets holds a diverse and respected place in American art, and the variety of fine art works he left the world alongside of the places that carry his name today illustrate this completely. Primarily a prolific California watercolorist of renown, Sheets would began his studies at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, and…

American marine artist Mary Blood Mellen is most well known as a collaborative artist and friend to American Luminist master Fitz Henry Lane. Her known works are mostly of the greater Gloucester, Massachusetts region, although she studied art early in Sterling, Mass. Married at 21 to Rev. Charles Mellen in 1840, Mellen would visit family…

Worldly artist Edward Cucuel painted beauty he observed firsthand. Devoted to art from an early age, he managed in his works to bring forth the best theories of the Impressionists with charming scenes of color and light in his own style. Born in San Francisco, he was employed as a teenager illustrator to "The Examiner"…

Artist Franklyn Bassford came naturally to marine art, and was a prominent participant with the famous lithography house of Currier & Ives, painting original works of racing yachts. One of his first known canvases for this company was a scene of the classic America's Cup 1885 match of PURITAN and GENESTA, his initial year with…

The son of Scottish-American artist Russell Smith, marine painter Xanthus Smith was born in Philadelphia where he would spend the majority of his life as an artist. While studying medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, he also attended art classes at the Pennsylvania Academy. He would later attend the Royal Academy in London to further…