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.
Charles Harold Davis
Education/Curation, Painting/Drawing
1856 – 1933
An American Impressionist, Davis was founder of the Mystic Art Association, today known as the Mystic Museum of Art. A figurative painter, his leadership nonetheless allowed the Mystic Art Association to become an important center for painters of both modernist and traditional approaches who enjoyed living or summering in the Mystic area.
- Biography/Description of Work
Born in Amesbury, Massachusetts, Charles Davis became a pupil at the school of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and went to study in Paris in 1880. Upon his return in 1890, he settled in Mystic. He worked in an Impressionist style, and took up the cloud-scapes for which he became best-known. The recipient of many awards, including a silver medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1889, he became a full member of the National Academy of Design in 1906. Other artists followed Davis to Mystic, and he eventually became a leading figure in the art colony that developed there, and founded the Mystic Art Association in 1913. He is represented by important works in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; the Pennsylvania Academy, Philadelphia, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
- Sources view
- King. Noelle Warden. Mystic as Muse: 100 years of inspiration. Mystic Art Association, 2013.
http://mysticarts.org/about/our-history/
http://www.spanierman.com/Davis,-Charles-Harold/bio/thumbs/biography
http://www.antiquesandfineart.com/articles/article.cfm?request=318
Curbstones Clapboards & Cupolas: Four Self-guided Walking Tours. 1995. Mystic: Mystic River Historical Society. - Associated Resource(s)