The Ipswich Painters
An Introduction and Brief Biographies
The “Ipswich Painters,” as they were known, included Edna Baylor, Arthur Wesley Dow, Henry Kenyon, Arthur Kimball, John Mansfield, Carl Nordstrom, Jane Peterson, Francis Richardson, and Theodore Wendel-all of whom chose to live in Ipswich. (Dow was born here and called Ipswich his residence throughout his life.) All were born in the nineteenth century and survived several decades into the twentieth. Most of them were here when Dow was alive. Some were summer residents (Kimball), some became more or less permanent (Baylor and Peterson). Others were full time residents (Kenyon, Mansfield, Nordstrom, Richardson, and Wendel.)
All were inspired by the open spaces, the “ancient” houses and old bridges of the town. Many concentrated on the marshes and the rivers and creeks which flow through them. A few painted portraits of people, but most of these artists were looking at nature. Baylor and Peterson combined portraiture and nature with their “flower portraits.” These men and women congregated here, knew each other, exhibited together, but were not of one mind. Their painting styles were different as were their life styles. Some were part of the national art scene, others were well know locally, but each one was serious about art and left a legacy of paintings. The commonality for all was Ipswich. The names of their houses reflect their reverence of place. Baylor’s “Oblivion,” Kenyon’s “Riverbank,” Peterson’s “Rocky Hill,”
Richardson’s “Meadowview,” and Dow’s “Bayberry Hill” describe the place they were fortunate to call home.
All of these artists were trained elsewhere. Mansfield was the oldest and the first to go to Europe for study. Dow, Kenyon, Richardson, and Wendel studied in Paris and knew each other there. Peterson traveled abroad many times, studying in Madrid, Paris, and London, but also studied under Dow at Pratt Institute. On the other hand, the School at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston was the training ground for both Baylor and Nordstrom. Kimball was a music professor at Oberlin College, but returned during the summer months to join this vibrant community of artists in the early decades of the twentieth century.
Most of these painters were proficient in more than one medium. Many used successfully oil, watercolor, pastel, ink, and pencil to create images.
Photography was in its infancy and some of these artists (Nordstrom and most notably Dow) experimented in that field. There must have been a rich exchange of ideas among these talented artists.
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| Edna Ellis Baylor (1882-1966) was born in Hartford, Connecticut. After her parents’ early death she persuaded her guardian uncle to send her to the School at the Museum of Fine Arts on the condition that she win first prize in painting-which she did. She later studied with Frank Benson and Edmund Tarbell. She moved to Ipswich in 1930. She chose flowers as her favorite subject throughout her life. Her grandchildren remember the wonderful smell of fine oil paints and turpentine in her studio on the north side of her house. Her painting of peonies was on the cover of the French magazine Revue du Vrai et du Beau (September 1927). Inside, it was noted that she painted flowers as if they were portraits, true and beautiful. Her exhibitions included the North Shore Arts Association, the National Academy of Design, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. |
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Arthur Wesley Dow (1857-1922) was born in Ipswich and interpreted images of the town throughout his lifetime. In Dow’s early years, although his family’ s funds were limited, his curiosity and intelligence were well appreciated. By age nineteen Dow recognized his artistic ability as he worked on illustrations for The Antiquarian Papers. After studying art in Worcester and Boston, he set his sights on Europe. Saving money from teaching and gathering financial support from Massachusetts’s patrons, Dow sailed for Paris in 1884 where he enrolled at the Academie Julian. During winters of rigorous academic training and summers spent on the north coast of France, Dow produced not only prize-winning entries into the Salon, but also paintings to exhibit and sell on return visits to the United States.
The 1890s were years of active change for Dow. In 1891 he founded the Ipswich Summer School of Art, which for fifteen years enrolled up to 200 students annually. He married Minnie Pearson in 1893. She had been, and would continue to be, his confidante and advisor throughout their life together; she played an active role in Dow’s printmaking and taught at the Ipswich Summer School. At the same time, Dow became disenchanted with the academic style. His reaction to the fledgling collection of Japanese works at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts revolutionized his thoughts on the theories of art. By incorporating Japanese techniques with the purity of design of the arts and crafts movement, Dow single-handedly changed the method of teaching art in America. The publication of his book Composition in 1899 and other |
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academic papers solidified his pivotal role. After a few years as Assistant Curator of Japanese Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, he taught at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. From 1904 until his death he was the Director of the Fine Arts Department at the Teachers’ College at Columbia University in New York City.
Dow’s early style of painting reflected his Boston and Parisian academic training. Most early painting is tonal in character, but even then his interest in design, color, and harmony is evident. Dow’s fascination with light, especially twilight, remained a constant throughout his life. He painted the variation of color and intensity of the Ipswich Marshes, the cliffs of Gay Head, and the Grand Canyon with equal skill. He traveled extensively, but returned regularly to Ipswich where a thriving art colony, which included Henry Kenyon, John W. Mansfield, Francis H. Richardson, and Theodore Wendel, existed.
Dow produced oil paintings, photographs, ink wash drawings, and wood block prints until his death in 1922. Japanese wood block printing especially intrigued him; by using different colors on the same wood block, he could change both seasons and moods. His works were exhibited widely during his lifetime, and his reputation both as an art educator and an artist continue to grow. His exhibitions included the Art Institute of Chicago, St. Botolph’s Club, National Academy of Design, Boston Art Club. |
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| Henry Rodman Kenyon (1861-1926) was born in Centerville, Rhode Island and attended Rhode Island School of Design. In the 1880s he studied in Paris at the Academie Julian with both Richardson and Dow, where they developed friendships that continued throughout their lives. After returning to the United States, he and his wife Caroline settled in Ipswich in 1901. He was a prolific painter, concentrating on small landscapes in oil during his time in Ipswich. He was a familiar figure tramping through the marshes with paints and easel. His wife, Caroline, who was also an artist, painted portraits in pastel. His exhibits included the Paris Salon, the National Academy of Design, and the Gallery on the Moors. |
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| Arthur Smith Kimball (1856-1937) was a summer resident of Ipswich. Different from the rest of these painters, Kimball’s primary career was in music. He was a professor of singing at the Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College from 1833-1924 and coauthor of a book of hymns. In the summer he seemed to devote his leisure time to painting and produced airy landscapes of Ipswich’ s open spaces. |
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| John Worthington Mansfield (1849-1933) was born in Norwich, Connecticut, and was the oldest of the group of artists known as the Ipswich Painters. Interested in painting from his youth, he sailed to Europe at age 21 to study art in Germany, Austria, and Italy. He ultimately was drawn to Paris where he studied at atelier Bonnat. Upon returning to the United States, he studied at the National Academy of Design. In 1887 he moved to Ipswich with his wife, Helen. He was a versatile artist, using oil and watercolors. He was a skilled etcher and also tried his hand at miniatures. Travels to New York resulted in many beautiful oils of Niagara Falls and the woodlands. He taught at the New England Conservatory of Fine Arts. Mansfield's exhibitions included the National Academy of Design, the New York Society of Etchers, and the Boston Art Club. |
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| Carl Harold Nordstrom (1876-1965) was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts of Swedish ancestry. From 1904-27, Nordstrom operated a photographic studio in Cambridge. During this period he studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. On forays to the country with his art teachers, Eric Pape and George L. Noyes, Nordstrom came to Ipswich. In 1918, he and his wife, Agnes, purchased property on Nabby’s Point along the Ipswich River. In 1921, the construction of a house was begun. Nordstrom assisted in both design and construction. Personal touches such as Chinese dragons and Celtic crosses remain in the garden. He closed his photography studio and opened the Nordstrom Summer Art School on Rocky Neck in Gloucester in 1927. He worked in oils, watercolor, and pencil. He painted in the White Mountains, along the coast of Rockport and Gloucester, and extensively in Ipswich. He was a much beloved and familiar figure in Ipswich teaching its citizens, his students and friends, to respect and appreciate nature. His exhibitions included Rutgers University, the Boston Art Club, and the Gloucester Society of Artists. |
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Jane Peterson (Jennie Christine Peterson, 1876-1965) was born in Elgin, Illinois, into humble circumstances. Her heritage, like Nordstrom’s, was Scandinavian. She drew from nature in her childhood and was eager to continue her studies in New York. With $300 borrowed from her mother, she enrolled at Pratt Institute in 1895, where she studied with Dow. After graduating in 1901, she held several teaching positions but ultimately gave up teaching to travel widely through Europe, as well as Turkey and North Africa. She was independent and adventurous, and made many important friends such as Louis Tiffany and Percival Lowell who helped her financially. During these years of travel, she studied with Joaquin Sorolla, a Madrid painter, who inspired her to lighten her palette. She also seems to have been influenced by her friend Maurice Prendergast by whose side she often painted. In 1925, the New York Times declared her “one of the foremost women painters in New York.” Her paintings are colorful and joyful, featuring street and harbor scenes and flowers.
Peterson married late in life to a wealthy New York lawyer, M. Bernard Phillip, who was 25 years her senior. Their home in Ipswich, “Rocky Hill,” was where they spent four summers together. After her husband’s death, she continued to spend her summers here. It was the period in her life when she most concentrated on her beloved “flower portraits.” (See Baylor.) She had more than 80 one-woman shows during her lifetime; her work is in the permanent collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Wellesley College, and the High Museum. |
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| Francis Henry Richardson (1859-1934) was born in Boston and studied draftsmanship and architecture as a young man. Setting his goals on becoming a serious painter, he studied with William Morris Hunt in Boston. In 1886 Richardson sailed to Paris to continue his art education at the Academie Julian. Like Dow, his goal was to win a price at the Salon. After receiving that, he returned to the United States permanently in 1900. In 1901, he and his wife, Frances, built a house for their family in Ipswich. But he continued to maintain a studio in Boston. In France, many of Richardson’s large Salon paintings featured people in a setting, but in Ipswich he concentrated on landscapes and only a few portraits. He was equally adept at oil, watercolor, and pastels. His exhibitions included the National Academy of Design, Pennsylvania Academy, Detroit Museum of Art, Salamagundi Club and others, receiving the Philadelphia Art Society medal in 1902 and the Boston Art Club Purchase Price in 1903. |
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Theodore Wendel (1859-1932) was born in Midway, Ohio, and studied painting at Cincinnati’s University School of Design and McMicken School of Art. In 1878, he traveled to Europe and enrolled at the Royal Academy in Munich winning a medal the following year. In Munich he met Frank Duveneck who was to have a lasting influence on Wendel’s painting. By 1885, he was in Paris studying at the Academie Julian where Dow, Kenyon, and Richardson would all study. In 1899, he had returned to the United States and settled in Ipswich with his wife, Philenia Stone. Like Richardson, he kept a studio in Boston.
He exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy, the Society of American Artists, and others, receiving medals at the Pennsylvania Academy in 1909 and at the San Francisco Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915. |
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