Lucien Whiting Powell (1846–1930) was a renowned landscape painter who gave the village of Airmont, Virginia its name for its scenic westward views. Powell, himself, could be considered a native of Airmont, having been born a few miles southeast, near

Upperville, Virginia Upperville is a small unincorporated village in Fauquier County, Virginia, United States, along U.S. Route 50 fifty miles from downtown Washington, D.C. and near the Loudoun County line. Founded in the 1790s along Pantherskin Creek, it was origi ...

Career

Powell served with the Confederate Army, 1863–65 and studied with

Thomas Moran Thomas Moran (February 12, 1837 – August 25, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School in New York whose work often featured the Rocky Mountains. Moran and his family, wife Mary Nimmo Moran and daughter Ruth, took ...

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 ...

. He travelled to Europe in 1876 and studied with Fitz at the

West London School of Art The West London School of Art founded in either 1861 or 1862 as the Marylebone and West London School of Art, was an educational establishment in London, England. The school worked with the Science and Art Department in South Kensington and offere ...

, and studied closely the works of

Joseph Mallord William Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbu ...

. He also studied

Thomas Cole Thomas Cole (February 1, 1801 – February 11, 1848) was an English-born American artist and the founder of the Hudson River School art movement. Cole is widely regarded as the first significant American landscape painter. He was known for hi ...

's works. Powell married Nan Fitzhugh in 1880 and lived in Washington, D.C. from 1885 until his death in 1930 of double

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

. He maintained a studio residence at 1923 G Street Northeast until his death. Landscapes dominated the career of Lucien Powell. Powell enjoyed popularity in the

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, art community and was a member of several local art organizations including the Landscape Club, the Society of Washington Artists, and the Washington Watercolor Club. His paintings were widely collected and exhibited at local and national art exhibitions as well as being lauded in the regional press. Early exhibitions of Powell's works included the Louisville Industrial Exhibition in the 1870s. Mr. Powell was the first artist to hold an exhibition on an ocean liner in 1891. He accompanied a geological survey party to the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

of the

Yellowstone Yellowstone National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in the northwest corner of Wyoming, with small portions extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U ...

in 1901 and visited the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in 1910. Powell was patronized by Senator and Mrs. John B. Henderson, who established a studio for him in their "Castle." Mrs. Henderson grew very fond of Mr. Powell's artistic talent and came to own over seventy of his paintings. A few years after her death, Adam Weschler & Son held her estate auction. This auction, held in 1935, is believed to be the largest known sale of Mr. Powell's works.

J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American attorney and law enforcement administrator who served as the fifth and final director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and the first director of the Federal Bureau o ...

also owned more than a dozen of Powell's works. Some of Lucien Powell's favorite scenes to paint were: Venice, Rock Creek Park in Washington DC, Grand Canyon, scenes from the Holy Land and Egypt and scenes around Northern Virginia. He died on 27 September 1930 at the Washington Sanitarium in

Takoma Park, Maryland Takoma Park is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Washington, D.C., Washington, and part of the Washington metropolitan area. Founded in 1883 and incorporated in 1890, Takoma Park, informally called "Azalea ...

and was buried at the

Congressional Cemetery The Congressional Cemetery, officially Washington Parish Burial Ground, is a historic and active cemetery located at 1801 E Street in Washington, D.C., in the Hill East neighborhood on the west bank of the Anacostia River. It is the only American ...

in Washington, DC.CongressionalCemetery.org records search
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Lucien Whiting 1846 births 1930 deaths 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters American landscape painters People from Upperville, Virginia Painters from Virginia Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists Deaths from pneumonia in Maryland Burials at the Congressional Cemetery People of Virginia in the American Civil War