Bermudian Art

Watercolours of Bermuda Interest

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BICKNELL, Evelyn M. (1857 – 1936)

The Blossoming Tree, Bermuda.
Signed lower right, "E.M. Bicknell"
Watercolour on paper.
7.5 x 12 in. (19 x 30.5 cm)

Biography

Evelyn M. Bicknell was a painter born in New York City on the 14th July, 1857. She died on the 5th March, 1936. She was the wife of the artist Frank Alfred Bicknell, himself well rooted in the Art society of North America. She was a member of the New York Watercolor Society, The American Watercolor Society, The Salmagundi Club, and the National Arts Club. She exhibited at The National Academy of Design, at The Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, and in Chicago and Boston, including several times at Boston Art Club. She won a prize in New York in 1906.

GRAY, Bessie (Eliza) Brownlow (1854-1925)

House along Harbour Road. (1893).
(Thought to be Inglesea, Harbour Road, Paget, with Lover’s Lane behind you, looking towards Hamilton Harbour.)
Signed lower right, “Bessie Gray” and dated, “1893”.
Watercolour on paper.
9 ¾ x 13 ¾ in. ( 24 ¾ x 35 cm.).

Biography

Bessie Gray was an accomplished watercolourist and poet. She was the daughter of Sir Samuel Brownlow Gray and Eliza Anne Trimingham Gray. She had 4 brothers and sisters, one of whom, a sister, died young. There are many poems about death in Bessie Gray's book, A Bermuda Garden of Song, published in 1927, after her sister's death.

She left the island once [dates unknown] for a two-year period, visiting London, Venice and Rome. We have no indication of where or even if she was ever trained as a painter. It is possible that she took classes from Edward James. An undated painting of his, Overland Views Looking Towards Hamilton Harbour shows a sketching or painting party on the lawn of either “Claremount”, Bessie’s parent’s house or “Wentworth” Bessie’s house next door.

Family lore suggests she was also mentored by another Bermudan artist, Susan Frith [1843-1925] who was ten years her senior and who lived nearby.

Besides A Bermuda Garden of Song, published in 1927 by Marshall Jones Co. Boston, Bessie Gray had another book of poetry published, Bermuda in June by L. Prang & Co. Boston in 1893. She also had a piece, Song of the Bermudians, Keepers of the Western Gate set to music, published in London by Novello and Co. in 1913.

Her poetry was published in Munsey’s Magazine, Scribner’s Magazine and Bermuda in Poetry.

Source:
Bermuda National Gallery

For additional biography biography information download here Bessie (Eliza) Brownlow Gray

GRAY, Bessie (Eliza) Brownlow (1854-1925)

Bermuda House. (1893).
(Thought to be Inglesea, Harbour Road, Paget, looking towards Lover’s Lane.)
Signed lower right, “Bessie Gray” and dated, “1907”.
Watercolour on paper.
6 x 14 ¼ in. ( 15 ¼ x 36 cm.).

Biography

Family lore suggests she was also mentored by another Bermudan artist, Susan Frith [1843-1925] who was ten years her senior and who lived nearby.

Her poetry was published in Munsey’s Magazine, Scribner’s Magazine and Bermuda in Poetry.

Source:
Bermuda National Gallery

For additional biography biography information download here Bessie (Eliza) Brownlow Gray

JONES, Joe (1909 – 1963)

Bermuda Landscape.
Signed in ink, lower right, "Joe Jones"
Pen and ink and wash in cream woven paper.
14 x 20.125 in. (35.5 x 51 cm)

For a biography on Joe Jones download here Joe Jones

NICHOLLS, Rhoda Carelton Holmes. (1854-1930)

The Bermuda Verandah. (1913).
Signed lower left, “Rhoda Holmes Nicholls”.
Watercolour on paper.
11 ½ x 8 in. (29 ¼ x 20 ¼ cm.)

Biography

Rhoda Holmes Nicholls, a vicar's daughter from Coventry, England, was a painter of figures, florals and landscapes, and was especially noted as a watercolorist. She was a prize-winning artist who exhibited widely in many late 19th and early 20th-century expositions in the United States. Though born in Coventry, England in 1854, she came permanently to America in 1884 with her husband, American artist Burr Nicholls, whom she married in England in that year.

She studied at London's Bloomsbury School of Art and the Kensington Museum. She sacrificed a Queen's scholarship to travel instead to Rome, where she became a member of the Circello Artistico, a group of artists of various nationalities who shared mutual criticisms. She studied there with Cammerano and Vertunni. She was only the second woman ever to be elected to the Rome Watercolor Society, and was also a member of a group of artists of shared interests called the Circello Artistico. Her paintings soon won wide recognition and were exhibited in Rome and Turin, at the Royal Academy in London, and elsewhere.

After living for three years on her brother's ostrich farm in South Africa, she returned to England, where in 1884 she married the painter Burr H. Nicholls and moved to the United States.

In the United States Rhoda Nicholls quickly established a reputation, winning medals at the New York Prize Fund Exhibition in 1886, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, the Atlanta (Georgia) Exposition in 1895, and other major shows including the Cotton States on 1895 in Atlanta, Nashville in 1897, the Pan-American in Buffalo in 1901, Charleston SC in 1902, St. Louois in 1904 and the Panama-Pacific in 1915 in San Francisco. Several of her watercolors were widely reproduced, notably "Those Evening Bells." Her other well-known paintings include "Cherries," "A Rose," "The Scarlet Letter," "Searching the Scriptures," "Prima Vera, Venezia," and "Water Lilies."

Among her professional memberships were the National Association of Women Artists, the New York Watercolor Society, the American Water Color Society, the New York Arts Club, Pen and Brish Club, the Women’s Art Association of Canada and the National Arts Club. She exhibited in fourteen exhibitions of the National Academy of Design from 1884 to 1917, eleven annual exhibitions of the Pennsylvania Academy between 1884 and 1903, and twenty-five exhibitions of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1888 to 1918. She also exhibited with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, the Corcoran Gallery and with the Brooklyn Art Association.

In addition to her own work, she taught art classes for many years at the William Chase School in Shinnecock, Long Island, New York, and later at the Art Students' League in New York City. She also conducted summer classes in Gloucester and Provincetown, Massachusetts, and Kennebunkport, Maine. She was referred to as “an inspired and an inspiring teacher.” Nicholls worked on the staffs of the "Art Interchange" and the "Art Amateur" and was co-editor of "Palette and Brush". In 1924 a major show of her watercolors was mounted at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C.

She died in Stamford, Connecticut, on September 7, 1930.

Source: Jules and Nancy Heller, "North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century".
Paul Sternberg, "Art by American Women"
"Encyclopedia Britannica

OLSEN, Herbert.

Tucker’s Town, Bermuda.
Signed lower right, "Herb Olsen A. N. A." and enscribbed, "Bermuda".
Watercolour on paper.
15 x 22 in. (38.35 x 55.9 cm)

PROVENANCE:
Estate of the artist, USA

Biography

Herbert Olsen was born in Chicago in 1905, he studied at the Art Institute and the American Academy of Arts in Chicago and taught there for 10 years. He later moved to Westport, Connecticut where he lived until he passed away. He conducted his famous art lessons from his studio which was located there as well.

He was a member of the American Watercolor Society, Philadelphia Watercolor Club, Baltimore Watercolor Society, National Academy of Design and many other important art associations.

He is listed in International Who’s Who and Who’s Who in American Art. He had many one man shows and his work has been exhibited in every major museum in the U.S. He won over 70 awards including First Prize at the National Academy of Design 1951; A Gold Medal from the Hudson Valley Art Association in 1963 and 1962; Both Gold and Silver Medals at the National Swedish American Art Association in 1951-53; First Prize in Springville, Utah for the National Invitational Exhibit in 1960-1965; the Edwin Palmer Award of $1000.00 at National Academy of Design in 1964; The First Prize from the Salamagundi Club; the Benton Bowles Purchase Award from the American Watercolor Society; a First Prize, All–New England Show, Silvermine, Connecticut; Twice purchased by the Ranger Fund, National Academy of Design.

In 1966 Herbert Olsen was chosen as one of the 58 Living American watercolorist represented in the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition covering 200 years of Watercolor painting in America.

He wrote five books each one considered outstanding in its field: "Painting the Marine Scene in Watercolor", 1967; "Herb Olsen’s Guide to Watercolor Landscape", 1965; "Painting Children in Watercolor", 1960; "Painting the Figure in Watercolor", 1958; and "Watercolor Made Easy", 1955.

SENAT, Prosper, L. (1852 – 1925)

Along the Road, Bermuda.
Signed, "Proser L. Senat", inscribed, "Bermuda", and dated 1908
Gouache on paper.
23 x 31 in. (58.5 x 78.8 cm)

Biography

Prosper Louis Senat was a painter, born in Germantown, Philadelphia in 1852. Senat studied in Philadelphia, in New York, at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris under E.L.Hampton, and at the South Kensington School in London under Gerome. S His speciality was to paint landscapes in watercolor and for years in Europe he painted the coast-lines of Cornwall & Brittany as well as painting on the coast of Maine. Primarily associated with the East Coast, he was a resident of Pasadena in 1905-10. He died in Germantown, Philadelphia in September 1925.

He exhibited both at national and international levels in his lifetime including at The Brussels Exposition in 1880, at The Naples National Exposition in 1889, at The Vienna National Exhibition in 1893, in Chicago in 1893, in Atlanta in 1895, and also at the Colombian Exhibition. At the expositions in Chicago and in Atlanta on both occasions he won medals. Senat was a member of The Salmagundi Club, The Art Club of Philadelphia, and The Philadelphia Society of Artist, and The Artists' Fund Society. Examples of his work can be found at The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Delaware Art Museum and The Joslyn Art Museum. Senat and his wife were frequent visitors to Bermuda in the early 1900’s. During their visits to the island they stayed at the Princess Hotel where Senat exhibited his work on numerous occasions.

In a local Bermudian newspaper (Royal Gazette April 7 1908) the following advertisement appeared:

“Final Exhibition of Mr. Senat’s Bermuda Water Colors”-

“Mr. Prosper L. Senat, who is returning, with Mrs, Senat on Saturday next, will make a final exhibition of his winter’s work, at the Hotel Hamilton tomorrow, Wednesday, 8^th inst., from 10am until 6:30pm.

In addition to the watercolors remaining un-sold there will be shown most of those already disposed of, which it is his custom to take to the States for delivery, together with a large and interesting collection of Black and White compositions which it is Mr. Senat’s custom to make a preliminary to his more important works, and seldom seen out of his studios.”

In fact we now know that Senat worked in Bermuda many more times after this supposed "final exhibition". He is known to have executed works up umtil the early 1920's and it is probable that these too were exhibited.

Additionally, according to a catalogue from The Bermuda Society of Arts entitled, “Loan Exhibition from Private Collections, July 27th- August 30th, 1963”, Prosper Senat was a “professional painter” and frequent guest at the Princess Hotel, where he often held a Spring Exhibition.

TUCKER, Ethel. (1874 – 1962)

Somerset Bridge. (1948).
Signed lower left, “Ethel Tucker” and dated, “1948”.
Watercolour on paper.
8 x 12 in.(20 ½ x 30 ½ cm)

Biography

The Tucker sisters, Catherine (Kate) and Ethel, were born in Bermuda towards the end of the 19th Century and spent most of their lives there as painters and shop owners. However, they were in New York City, where they received formal art training at the New York School of Applied Art. Their mother, Leonora Tucker, had art talent, and it is written that the girls inherited her talent. Their father was George Somers Tucker, a Speaker of the Bermuda House of Assembly and Alderman for the city of Hamilton, Bermuda, and in 1933, Catherine Tucker bequeathed a large sum of money in memory of her father to the Corporation of Hamilton to build a new City Hall.

From Bermuda, Ethel Tucker was the first to go to New York, and when she returned home for a visit, her younger sister, Kate, decided to go back with her, and they remained in the city for eleven years. To earn money the first two years while attending the School of Applied Art, they made Cotillion favors in the evening.

In 1910, they opened The Little Green Door Tea Garden at Barr's Bay on the waterfront, and it remained in business for 29 years, attracting many visitors including Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling and Eugene O'Neill. In 1911, they opened a Little Green Door shop in Hamilton, Bermuda, and from there sold their paintings, which led to so much popularity that they responded positively to suggestions of having the images placed on postcards, Christmas cards, playing cards, scarves, brass bells, embroidered linens and notepapers. Further expansion of their shops was in Lake Muskoka, Ontario in 1915; Lake Placid, New York in 1916; and St. Augustine, Florida in 1917. In 1928, they opened the first antiques shop in Bermuda.

Both women were noted for brightly colored floral landscapes, waterscapes and botanical images, with most of them being scenes of Bermuda but some being English subjects such as landscapes of Kent. Their earliest paintings, pre World War I, were were printed on postcards in Germany. After the War, they selected J. Salmon printing company of Kent, England, and this association remained for the remainder of the lives of the women.

Over 100 postcard images have been found, and watercolor originals are in the collection of Queen Elizabeth, having been obtained by her uncle, the Duke of Windsor, who bought 20 paintings from the Tucker women when he visited Bermuda.

Catherine signed her paintings C.F. Tucker.

In 1958, the sisters closed their shops and went into semi-retirement. And the market for their type of painting dissolved as modernist art styles became much more popular than the sweet, somewhat sentimental realism of the Tucker artwork. The Bermuda National Gallery has watercolor paintings by the Ethel and Catherine Tucker, and the artworks are roughly 7 X 10 inches in size.

Sources:
Jean Cullen, Postcard Traders Association, http://www.postcard.co.uk/themes_tucker.php
http://www.postcardcollections.fsnet.co.uk/artists/bng.htm

For additional biography biography information download here Ethel Tucker

TUCKER, Ethel. (1874 – 1962)

Ponciana Blooms at King’s Point Mangrove Bay. (1947).
Signed lower left, “Ethel Tucker” and dated, “1947”.
Watercolour on paper.
8 x 12 in.(20 ½ x 30 ½ cm)

Biography

Catherine signed her paintings C.F. Tucker.

Sources:
Jean Cullen, Postcard Traders Association, http://www.postcard.co.uk/themes_tucker.php
http://www.postcardcollections.fsnet.co.uk/artists/bng.htm

For additional biography biography information download here Ethel Tucker

TURNER, ROSS STERLING. (1847-1915)
Bermuda.
Signed lower left, “Ross Turner”.
Inscribed centre left, “Bermuda”.
Watercolour and body-colour on paper.
9 ¼ x 13 ¼ in. (23.5 x 33.75 cm)

Biography

Ross Turner was born on June 29th, 1847 in Westport, New York. He was recognised as a superior watercolourist and painter, particularly in the areas of landscape and figure painting. When he was a child, his family relocated from Westport to Williamsport, Pennsylvania. After an early career as a mechanical draughtsman with the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C., Turner began painting in 1873.

In 1876 Turner travelled to Europe, ultimately bound for Germany. Once in Munich, he enrolled at the Royal Academy and studied with Karl von Piloty. Eventually he became part of the circle that gathered around the American Frank Duveneck. Although not officially a student of Duveneck’s, Turner was considered one of his “boys”; others in the group included William M. Chase, Walter Shirlaw, and Frank J. Currier. Like them Turner developed a thick, painterly, realist style. In particular, he was greatly influenced by Currier, and did a portrait of him which is now in a private collection. Turner also struck up a friendship with Constantin Bolonaci (1837-?), a Greek painter whose marine subject matter influenced his work.

In 1879, 1880 and 1881 Turner travelled to Venice, Florence, Rome and Naples with various members of the Duveneck fraternity, including Joseph de Camp and Charles Mills. Turner’s work became increasingly concerned with the effects of colour and light as shown in his atmospheric harbour scenes, views of Venetian canals, and later, in his Bermuda landscapes. Turner returned to Boston in the spring of 1882, and soon became an important member of Celia Thaxter’s art colony on Appledore Island, where he was almost certainly a member of the inner circle. The warm summer days were spent painting alongside highly regarded American painters including Childe Hassam, J. Appleton Brown and Arthur Quartley. Along with Childe Hassam and J. Appleton Brown, he was allowed to build his own studio on Appledore Island. Hassam’s influence is readily apparent in the short, colourful brushstrokes exhibited in Turner’s A Garden is a Sea of Flowers, in the collection at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

In 1885 Turner married Louise Blaney, the older sister of the artist Dwight Blaney (1865-1944), and the couple settled in Salem, Massachusetts. A strong friendship developed between Ross Turner and Dwight Blaney. Records indicate that Ross Turner, Louise Blaney and Dwight Blaney were together in Bermuda in the 1890’s (possibly 1895) or the early 1900’s; furthermore, it is probable that Turner visited Bermuda more than on this one occasion . During the 1890’s this circle of friends had expanded to include George C. Wales, John Leslie Breck and Joseph Decamp. Breck had first painted with Turner in East Goucester in September, 1885 and five years later after his return from Giverny painted in Turner’s own garden in Salem. Blaney and Wales had been architectural draughtsmen at the Boston firm of Peabody and Stearns; Blaney, Breck and DeCamp were members of the St. Botolph Club where Turner exhibited. Turner frequently commuted to Boston, where he maintained a studio and also taught, both at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Normal Art School. Turner also had a studio in Wilton, New Hampshire, and spent his summers there.

In December of 1890, Turner was among the artists who participated in what was perhaps the first group exhibition held at the Harcourt Studios in Boston. At this writing, the 1890 exhibition is the only evidence of Turner’s presence in the Harcourt Building. Turner was a member of the Boston Art Club (Vice President), the Boston Watercolor Club, the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts, the American Watercolor Society, the New York Watercolor Club, and the Copley Society. In addition to exhibiting his pictures at these organisations, he also showed his pictures annually at the influential Boston gallery Doll and Richards, which supported noteworthy painters such as Winslow Homer, J. Appleton Brown, Francis Hopkinson Smith and Charles H. Davis. He also exhibited at the Boston Art Club, the Peabody Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from1882 to 1902, and the Art Institute of Chicago from 1895 to 1913. He won prizes at the National Academy of Design in 1886 and the American Watercolor Society in 1908, and a silver medal at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, NY in 1901. He became a charter member of the Guild of Boston Artists in 1913.

Turner was the author of such books as “Art for the Eye”, “School Room Decorations” and others. He travelled frequently in search of new subject matter. He died on February 12, 1915 in Nassau, Bahamas.