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.
George Picknell
Painting/Drawing
1864 – 1943
- Biography/Description of Work
Painter. A landscape specialist and brother of the noted painter William Lamb Picknell, George became widely known for his renderings of Connecticut and of rural France. Picknell lived in Boston, MA, for much of his boyhood. He studied art in Paris at the Academie Julian under Jules Lefebvre and Benjamin Constant from 1887 until 1890. On his return to the U.S., Picknell worked for some years as an illustrator in Boston and New York. Then he returned to Paris and remained about 15 years, resuming his studies with the intention of becoming an easel painter. He exhibited at the Salon and at important exhibitions in Nice and Toulouse. He was a founding member of the American Artists Association in Paris. He appears to have returned to America in about 1911, the year in which a solo exhibition of his work was held at the John Herron Institute in Indianapolis. He was active in Freehold, NJ, before settling in Silvermine, CT, in 1912. He was a founding member of the Silvermine Guild of Artists and exhibited as well at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Chicago Art Institute. He was also a member of the Salmagundi Club and the American Federation of Arts. During World War I, Picknell and his wife, SGA artist Florence Picknell, operated the Fine Arts Theater in Westport, CT. In 1945, two years after his death, his work was exhibited at the Silvermine Guild’s 50th Anniversary Exhibition. A writer for the Norwalk Hour thought the Picknell works on view showed the ‘majesty of nature.’
- Sources view
- Uconn database, http://www.askart.com/askart/p/george_w_picknell/george_w_picknell.aspx, http://www.childsgallery.com/artist_bio.php?artist_id=1497, http://www.mutualart.com/Artist/George-W--Picknell/AE03E533B166F4AB, http://www.imamuseum.org/exhibition/george-w-picknell-paintings George W. Picknell Obituary - New York Times - 1943-4-3
- Associated Resource(s)
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