With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Russell Cheney
Painting/Drawing
1881 – 1945
American Impressionist who studied under William Merritt Chase, Cheney was allied with painters of “The Eight” or “Ash Can School” during the 1930s and exhibited in Chicago, New York, and Hartford. His canvas subjects were landscapes, portraits, still lifes and interiors.
- Biography/Description of Work
A member of the extended Cheney family of industrialists of Manchester, Connecticut, Russell Cheney graduated from Yale in 1904, and subsequently studied at the Art Students League. He went to the Academie Julien in Paris in 1907, returning to Manchester upon his father’s death. He did not enter the family silk mill business, rather continued his studies under William Merritt Chase at the Art Students League. He painted at his Manchester studio c.1916 through the 1920s, and then traveled widely in the United States and Europe. He met his partner, F. O. Matthiesson on a trans-Atlantic crossing in 1924. Later in life, Russell Cheney painted in Maine and in the southwest. He suffered from depression and died of tuberculosis.
- Sources view
- www.russellcheney.com
- Associated Resource(s)