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“It seems incredible that an artist, with an international reputation, lived the last 30 plus years of his life as a virtual unknown in Rhode Island. Guido Nincheri has been called the Michelangelo of North America. While he is celebrated as a sculptor, fresco painter, and interior designer, he is probably the most prolific American
It is not unusual in Rhode Island that talent and accomplishment run in many of the state’s long-established families. A case in point is the La Farge family. Christopher Grant La Farge was the son of a noted architect of the same name, grandson of John La Farge, a nationally prominent artist and stained glass
Lewis, Edmund Darch, 1835-1910 Edmund Darch Lewis was one of the most popular of the Philadelphia landscape painters and one of the best artists of Narragansett Bay, particularly in capturing the Victorian heyday of the Towers and grand casino of Narragansett Pier. A student of Paul Weber from 1850 to 1855, Lewis exhibited at the
Metcalf, Helen Adelia Rowe, — -1895. Ms. Rowe Metcalf, formerly of Providence, was leader in the drive to establish the Rhode Island School of Design and devoted most of her time from 1878 to her death in 1895 to directing the School. Her influence and administrative skills enabled RISD to be founded with the goals
Armand L. LaMontagne stands out as one of the most celebrated and gifted artists/sculptors that Rhode Island has ever produced. Born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island on February 3, 1938, to Raymond, a general superintendent, and his wife, Jeanne [nee Ferland], Armand L. LaMontagne attended Pawtucket public schools. Recognized by the Providence Journal for his innate
William Trost Richards was born in Philadelphia, the son of Quaker parents. His formal academic education ended in 1847 following his father’s death when he worked as designer and illustrator of ornamental metalwork to help support his family. Richards married writer Anna Matlack in 1856 and settled in Germantown, Pennsylvania, where he lived until 1881.
John J. Fawcett of North Kingstown earned international acclaim during an outstanding thirty-seven year career with the Providence Journal Company. He was an accomplished sports and editorial cartoonist, and a champion for the rights of others. He gained four National Brotherhood Awards from the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and his prolific works have
The late Harry M. Callahan, 1912-1999, formerly of Atlanta, Georgia and Providence, was generally regarded as one of America’s greatest photographers and photo essayists of the 20th-century, who was one of the most celebrated educators of his time, teaching for fifteen years at the Rhode Island School of Design, and whose influence on his profession
Jean Paul Selinger was born in 1850 in Boston. He studied art at the Lowell Institute, Boston and next trained abroad at the Art Academy in Stuttgart, and then under Wilhelm Lieble at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Selinger was a colleague of William Merritt Chase and became a skilled portraitist, genre painter,
Karl R. Rittmann of Warwick, RI, whose outstanding artistic talents produced hundreds of famous portraits, features for newspapers, book illustrations, and colorful landscapes on display throughout the state and across the nation. He taught art in the Warwick School System for twenty-one years and served ten more years as Vice Principal of Veterans’s Memorial High
Felix De Weldon, 1907-2003, formerly of Newport and Dana Point, California, was a famed sculptor and painter whose bronze statue of the Marine Corps raising the flag of the United States on Iwo Jima during World War II was dedicated as the Marine Corps War Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. He created more than 2,000 different
Charles Walter Stetson was born at Tiverton Four Corners on March 25, 1858, to an ailing mother and an impoverished father, a Baptist preacher who dabbled in herbs. He was raised from age eleven in Providence, in an unhappy household of economic worries; he died in Rome at age fifty-three having gained recognition as a
Mr. Arlan Coolidge, a Providence resident, was an internationally renowned violinist and a graduate of Brown University. He and served as Chairman of Brown’s Department of Music for thirty-one years, served as Executive Director of the Arts Rhode Island, and as Chairman of several Governor’s Commissions on fine arts. He was also involved with the
The late George S. Araujo, formerly of Providence, a Cape Verdean from the Fox Point neighborhood of the City who is regarded as one of the greatest Rhode Island boxers of all time and was the world’s number-one ranked lightweight fighter when there was only one world ranking. George served as a longtime coach and
Jane Stuart was Newport’s first woman portraitist, following in the illustrious footsteps of her famous father Gilbert Stuart. Jane was the youngest of his twelve children and his tenth daughter. She appears to be the great artist’s favorite offspring, and worked with him in his declining years until his death in 1828, often completing the
Spencer Crooks was an accomplished watercolor artists from Pawtucket whose works have been exhibited throughout the world. He was a popular teacher and lecture-demonstration expert on watercolor painting across New England. He was a major contributor to internationally recognized workshop seminars conducted not only in the United States, but in several foreign countries, including his
In Rhode Island, slavery was placed on the road to extinction on March 1, 1784, when the General Assembly passed a gradual manumission act making any Black born to a slave mother after that date free. Those who were slaves at that time had to be manumitted by their masters. Five such slaves were listed
George William Whitaker (1840-1916), a Fall River native, was one of the four founders of the Providence Art Club in 1880, along with Edward M. Bannister, Charles Walter Stetson, and Sydney Burleigh. Having studied in Paris with Laszlo De Paal, his work was influenced by the Barbizon School of landscape painters, where natural scenes became
Fritz Eichenberg was an internationally recognized graphic artist, illustrator, and author whose achievements are documented in the Library of Congress. He held several honorary degrees, including one from URI, where he served as professor and Chair of the Art Department. He became a well-known author, with texts that became standard for the field. He was
Lincoln, James Sullivan, 1811-1888 James Sullivan Lincoln was Rhode Island’s premier artist of the mid-nineteenth century and has been acclaimed by his peers as “Father of Rhode Island Art.” The Massachusetts-born Lincoln was orphaned in his teens and left his Bay State farm to become an apprentice to a firm of Providence engravers and then
Barnaby Evans is the creator, founder, and executive artistic director of WaterFire Providence. He is an artist who works in a multitude of mediums including site-specific sculpture installations, photograph, film, garden design, architectural projects, writing and conceptual works. His original training was in the sciences, but he has been working exclusively as an artist for
Charlie, as he prefers to be called, is a versatile comedian, writer, showman, artist, and political activist. In 2012, Charlie was the first person inducted into the newly-established Rhode Island Comedy Hall of Fame. His induction was the culmination of over thirty years of laugh-making through a variety of avenues including stand-up, writing, theater, and
Frank Lanning was born in 1906 at Penns Grove, New Jersey but when his father took a job as a cartoonist with the Providence Journal the family moved to Rhode Island. During his family’s stay in Rhode Island, Frank attended Cranston High School and worked part-time at the Providence Journal – a harbinger of things
King, Charles Bird, 1785-1862 Charles Bird King (September 26, 1785 – March 18, 1862) was born in Newport, the only child of Deborah Bird and Revolutionary War veteran Captain Zebulon King, who moved the family to Ohio in 1789 and was killed there by Indians. When Charles King was fifteen, he went to New York
Frank Herman Alston, Jr. (1913-1978) was a noted artist, teacher and designer of many distinctive insignias, flags, badges and medals for all branches of the United States government and the Armed Forces. Alston was born on December 11, 1913 in Providence the son of Frank H., Sr. and Barbara (nee Hall) Alston. Raised in Providence
Charles I.D. Looff (1852-1918) is considered the first of the great American carousel builders having created 17 of them during his long career–some of which was spent living and working in Riverside, Rhode Island. Charles I.D. Looff was born in the Danish province of Schleswig-Holstein in 1870, but by age 18 he was living in
Abigail Aldrich Rockefeller, 1874-1948, was the daughter of U.S. Sen. Nelson Aldrich, patron of the arts, and advocate for women’s rights. She worked with her husband, John D. Rockefeller Jr., in restoration of Colonial Williamsburg. Through her marriage to financier and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr., she was a prominent member of the Rockefeller family
Maxwell Mays,1918-2009,was a lay preacher in his hometown of Greenville, Rhode Island, and one of the top painters of folk art in the United States. He exhibited in many of the major cities across the nation, and was past President of the Providence Art Club. His work, featuring traditional New England scenes, was published in
Born in Dayton, Ohio on October 31, 1930, the daughter of Theodore and Margaret (Burke) Suman, Marjorie received her B.Sc. in Business/Psychology at Kentucky’s Bowling Green University. Her early years gave little indication that she would become the most prolific artist ever of Rhode Island’s architectural, or built, landscape. Eventually Marjorie discovered her natural talent
Don Bousquet, who turned 67 this St. Patrick’s Day, was born in Pawtucket, but his parents moved the family to South County where they both worked at the University of Rhode Island. One of seven children, Don attended Chariho High School where he met his wife, Laura. He went on to the University of Rhode
Edward M. Bannister was a nationally famous painter during the 19th century. He was a self-taught pioneer among African-American artists, and won a national award during the U.S. centennial celebration, in 1876.
Elliott, Maud Howe, 1854-1948 Maud Howe Elliott lived a very long life and certainly made the most of it. She was born at the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston on November 9, 1854. Her father, Samuel Gridley Howe, a noted physician and social reformer, directed the institution, but most people became familiar with
Wilfred I. Duphiney, 1884-1960, Rhode Island’s most prolific and most viewed portraitist of the Twentieth Century, was born in the mill village Central Falls in 1884. His public school education led to his enrollment in the Rhode Island School of Design where he eventually graduated to the faculty and taught at this prestigious art school
John Nicholas Brown, 1900-1979, was a former assistant Secretary of the Navy for Air, senior fellow at Brown University and a director of the Smithsonian Institution. He directed the search and recovery of the works of art stolen by the Nazis for which he was decorated by the French and Belgian governments.
Burleigh, Sydney Richmond, 1853-1931 Sydney Richmond Burleigh, a man with roots in Little Compton, Rhode Island, studied art with Jean-Paul Laurens in Paris for two years from 1878 to 1880. Upon his return, he became one of the founders and one of the first exhibitors at the newly-formed Providence Art Club. He taught at the
Chauncey Addison Day (aka Chon Day) was a nationally renowned American cartoonist whose work appeared in many of the leading magazines of the twentieth century. His work was featured in the Saturday Evening Post from 1934 until his death in 2000, but his sketches have appeared in Good Housekeeping, Ladies Home Journal, and other notable
Hezekiah Anthony Dyer was a prolific and accomplished artist who ventured into the equally demanding realms of military affairs, public service, and politics. Dyer was born in Providence into a storied political family. His grandfather, Elisha Dyer, Sr., was governor of the state from 1857 to 1859 and served as an officer and the adjutant
Charles DeWolf Brownell was born in Providence in 1822 to parents from old-line Rhode Island families. When Brownell was two-years-old, the family moved to East Hartford where Charles was raised and grew to manhood. In 1843, he became an attorney and lived in a house directly opposite Connecticut’s famed Charter Oak. He later rendered a
Heade, Martin Johnson, 1819-1904 Martin Johnson Heade was an accomplished landscape, portrait, and still life painter, a poet, and a naturalist. Heade is one of the most important American Romantic painters of the 19th Century and one of the major figures in the development of Luminism. Born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 1819, he received
Throughout his long, storied career, Milton Rawson Halladay proved the adage, time and again: a picture is worth one-thousand words. One of the nation’s most popular cartoonists during the first half of the 20th century, Halladay’s drawings reflected the sentiments and the conscience of the nation on the crucial issues pertaining to the economic, moral,
Kensett, John Frederick, 1816-1872 John Frederick Kensett was one of the most influential members of the second generation of the Hudson River School of landscape painters. By age twelve, he was working in his family’s engraving and printing business in New Haven. When he was thirteen, Kensett went to New York to work for Peter
Gilbert Stuart, 1755-1828, of North Kingstown is one of America’s most notable portrait painters. After study in Dublin and London, he returned to America in 1793, where he painted renowned portraits of many of our founding fathers including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe.
La Farge, John, 1835-1910 John La Farge was born in New York City in March 1835 to parents of French ancestry. His interest in art began during his training at Mount St. Mary’s College and St. John’s College (now Fordham University). He had only the practice of law in mind as a career until he