Charles Lewis Fussell (1840–1909) was an American landscape painter in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Fussell lived near

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

for most of his life and studied at the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

with his close friend, mentor, and colleague,

Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American Realism (visual arts), realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artist ...

Biography

Early life and education

Charles Lewis Fussell was born in

West Vincent Township, Pennsylvania West Vincent Township is a township in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,567 at the 2010 census. History The township was named after Sir Mathias Vincent. West Vincent was formed in 1832 when Vincent Township w ...

, in 1840 to Edwin and Rebecca (Lewis) Fussell. He was the oldest child of a large

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

family and attended Central High School in

, where he was classmates with

and William Sartain. Fussell later enrolled at the

and was tutored by Peter F. Rothermel. In 1861, Eakins joined Fussell to study at the academy, where they formed a lifelong friendship. Eakins painted a portrait of Fussell in 1905.

Painting career

In an attempt to restore his father's failing health, Fussell's family moved to Townsend's Inlet, New Jersey, in 1868. At the advice of Rothermel, Fussell moved to

Greeley, Colorado Greeley is the home rule municipality city that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Weld County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,795 at the 2020 United States census, an increase of 17.12% since the ...

, in 1870 to paint the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

, while researching the possible climatic benefits for his father's medical condition. He soon returned to Philadelphia to study under Eakins and his family moved to

Media, Pennsylvania Media is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located about west of Philadelphia. It is part of the Delaware Valley, also known as the Philadelphia metropolitan area. ...

, in 1871. Fussell traveled extensively throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, creating many landscape portraits.

Later years

In 1889, Fussell moved to

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

to further his pursuit of landscape painting. Fussell painted scenes at Crow's Hill,

Flatbush Flatbush is a neighborhood in the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood consists of several subsections in central Brooklyn and is generally bounded by Prospect Park (Brooklyn), Prospect Park to the nort ...

Fort Hamilton Fort Hamilton is a United States Army installation in the southwestern corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, surrounded by the communities of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights. It is one of several posts that are part of the region which ...

Sheepshead Bay Sheepshead, Sheephead, or Sheep's Head, may refer to: Fish * '' Archosargus probatocephalus'', a medium-sized saltwater fish of the Atlantic Ocean * Freshwater drum, ''Aplodinotus grunniens'', a medium-sized freshwater fish of North and Central ...

, Rockaway, and other rural areas threatened by imminent

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation in British English) is the population shift from Rural area, rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. ...

. He returned to

, in 1897 and lived with his sister and his aunt,

Graceanna Lewis Graceanna Lewis (August 3, 1821 – February 25, 1912) was an Americans, American naturalist, illustrator, and social reformer. An expert in the field of ornithology, Lewis is remembered as a pioneer female American scientist as well as an act ...

, a known

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to vo ...

and

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

. Fussell continued to paint locally and gave art lessons until his death in 1909.

Painting gallery

Fussell worked in many different mediums including oil paints, watercolors and pen & pencil. From 1863 to 1905, Fussell exhibited 38 paintings at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. His exhibits consisted primarily of landscape paintings, but his early work also included genre subject and

still life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...

pieces. File:Charles Lewis Fussell - Summer afternoon.jpg, ''Summer afternoon'' File:Charles Lewis Fussell - The old Mill (1901).jpg, ''The Old Mill'' (1901) File:Charles Lewis Fussell - The Evans Homestead Haddonfield New Jersey (1901).jpg, ''The Evans Homestead Haddonfield New Jersey'' (1901) File:Charles Lewis Fussell - Spring blossoms (1902).jpg, ''Spring blossoms'' (1902)

References

External links

Schwarz Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fussell, Charles Lewis 1840 births 1909 deaths 19th-century American painters 20th-century American painters Central High School (Philadelphia) alumni Painters from Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni Artists from Delaware County, Pennsylvania Philadelphia articles needing expert attention Quakers from Pennsylvania