2012.14.1 Front
Still Life with White Hydrangeas and a Covered Red Container
Painting
circa 1890 (Date manufactured/created)
Painting
Paint, Canvas, Wood
12 inches H
X
17 inches W
17.5 inches H X 32.75 inches W X 2.75 inches D
17.5 inches H X 32.75 inches W X 2.75 inches D
Still Life with White Hydrangeas and a Covered Red Container by Charles Ethan Porter
Oil on canvas painting of a still life of white hydrangeas in red pot. The pot located proper right of center with the six of the nine blossoms immediately around the pot and the other four blossom extending across the canvas toward the proper left side. The background and foreground is abstracted and blurred, primarily browns and green tones. Painting is in an ornate gold-painted wooden frame.Charles Ethan Porter (c. 1847-1923) was one of a few African American artists who rose to some prominence and commercial success in the late 19th century. Connecticut-born, he studied at New York’s National Academy of Design in the 1860s. He was hailed as “the colored artist of Hartford” and in 1880 the Decorative Art Society of Hartford, of which Olivia Clemens was a member, put on a show of his work. Clemens wrote a recommendation for Porter to study in Paris: “Without money or moneyed friends he has fought his way steadily to a good & substantial place in the esteem of the people here, by sheer force of talent & patient diligence in the study & practice of his art.” In late life, his fame waned, and he sold his paintings door to door in rural eastern Connecticut.
Oil on canvas painting of a still life of white hydrangeas in red pot. The pot located proper right of center with the six of the nine blossoms immediately around the pot and the other four blossom extending across the canvas toward the proper left side. The background and foreground is abstracted and blurred, primarily browns and green tones. Painting is in an ornate gold-painted wooden frame.Charles Ethan Porter (c. 1847-1923) was one of a few African American artists who rose to some prominence and commercial success in the late 19th century. Connecticut-born, he studied at New York’s National Academy of Design in the 1860s. He was hailed as “the colored artist of Hartford” and in 1880 the Decorative Art Society of Hartford, of which Olivia Clemens was a member, put on a show of his work. Clemens wrote a recommendation for Porter to study in Paris: “Without money or moneyed friends he has fought his way steadily to a good & substantial place in the esteem of the people here, by sheer force of talent & patient diligence in the study & practice of his art.” In late life, his fame waned, and he sold his paintings door to door in rural eastern Connecticut.
The Mark Twain House & Museum, Gift of Elizabeth Love Ryan, 2012.
2012.14.1