Lucien Whiting Powell (1846–1930) was a renowned landscape painter who gave the village of

Airmont, Virginia Airmont is an unincorporated community in the Loudoun Valley of Loudoun County, Virginia, United States. It is located at the crossroads of Snickersville Pike (Virginia Secondary Route 734) and Airmont Road (Virginia Secondary Route 719) approxim ...

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 town in Fauquier County, Virginia, United States, along U.S. Route 50 fifty miles from downtown Washington, D.C., near the Loudoun County line. Founded in the 1790s along Pantherskin Creek, it was originally ...

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 too ...

at the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and Private university, private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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

West London School of Art West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

, 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 turbulen ...

. He also studied

Thomas Cole Thomas Cole 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 his romantic landscape and history painting ...

'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 inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

. 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. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, are 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 (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) 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 ...

of the

Yellowstone Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellow ...

in 1901 and visited the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Ho ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

, and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in 1910. Powell was patronized by Senator and Mrs.

John B. Henderson John Brooks Henderson (November 16, 1826April 12, 1913) was a United States senator from Missouri and a co-author of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. For his role in the investigation of the Whiskey Ring, he was con ...

, 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 law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation ...

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, and part of the Washington metropolitan area. Founded in 1883 and incorporated in 1890, Takoma Park, informally called "Azalea City", is a Tree C ...

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, SE, in Washington, D.C., on the west bank of the Anacostia River. It is the only American "cemetery of national m ...

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