Providence Art Club
Providence, RI
401-331-1114
http://www.providenceartclub.org/
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."
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- Marcus Waterman
- American, 1834-1914
- The Feast of Mohammed, c. 1880
- Oil on canvas
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- Frederic Stone Batcheller
- American, 1835-1899
- Pineapples
- Oil on canvas
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- Helen Frances Andrews
- American, born in 1872
- Landscape
- Oil on canvas
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- Earl R. Davis
- American, 1886-1956
- Bermuda Byway
- Watercolor and pencil on paper
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- William Staples Drown
- American, 1856-1915
- Landscape
- Oil on panel
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- Sydney R. Burleigh
- American, 1853-1931
- Drying Sails
- Oil and pastel on paperboard
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- Benjamin W. Stillwell
- American, 1831-1914
- Farm with Stream and Trees, 1870
- Oil on canvas
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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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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