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.
Alexander Crane
Architecture/Design, Education/Curation, Painting/Drawing
1904 – 1953
Watercolor and weaving
- Biography/Description of Work
Crane studied at Harvard and the University of Berlin. A resident of Farmington and Cheshire during the 1930s and 1940s, he founded the Connecticut Water-Color Society, organizing the first of its annual exhibitions at the Wadsworth Atheneum in 1938. He hung the show with Sanford B. D. Low and Chick Austin, a former roommate at Harvard and newly curator at the Wadsworth. A modernist, he encouraged experimental watercolor painting in the annual shows. Other creative pursuits included weaving and ceramics. He was executive secretary of the Society of Connecticut Craftsmen from 1942-1945. From 1946 to 1952, he taught painting, drawing, scupture and design at the North Carolina State College School of Design.
- Sources view
- http://www.alexandercraneartist.com/ Alexander Crane Obituary - NY Times - 1953-7-15 UConn artists database (connart).
- Associated Resource(s)