Samuel Colman (March 4, 1832 – March 26, 1920) was an American painter, interior designer, and writer, probably best remembered for his paintings of the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

Life and career

Born in Portland, Maine, Colman moved to New York City with his family as a child. His father opened a bookstore, attracting a literate clientele that may have influenced Colman's artistic development. He is believed to have studied briefly under the Hudson River School painter Asher Durand, and he exhibited his first work at the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...

in 1850. By 1854 he had opened his own New York City studio. The following year he was elected an associate member of the National Academy, with full membership bestowed in 1862. His landscape paintings in the 1850s and 1860s were influenced by the Hudson River School, an example being ''Meadows and Wildflowers at Conway'' (1856) now in the collection of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

. He was also able to paint in a romantic style, which had become more fashionable after the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. One of his best-known works, and one of the iconic images of Hudson River School art, is his ''Storm King on the Hudson'' (1866), now in the collection of the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

in Washington, DC. In the 1860s, Colman lived in

Irvington, New York Irvington, sometimes known as Irvington-on-Hudson, is a suburban Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village of the Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town of Greenburgh, New York, Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, Un ...

, where he made a number of paintings featuring the countryside around the village.

Louis Comfort Tiffany Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is associated with the art nouveauLander, David"The Buyable ...

, inventor of Tiffany glass, studied with Colman when he lived there. Colman was an inveterate traveler, and many of his works depict scenes from foreign cities and ports. He made his first trip abroad to France and Spain in 1860–1861, and returned for a more extensive four-year European tour in the early 1870s in which he spent much time in Mediterranean locales. Colman often depicted the architectural features he encountered on his travels: cityscapes, castles, bridges, arches, and aqueducts feature prominently in his paintings of foreign scenes. In 1870 and again in the 1880s he journeyed to the western United States, painting western landscapes comparable in scope and style to those of Thomas Moran. In the aftermath of the Civil War,

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...

painting became more popular. In 1866, Colman was one of the founders of the American Watercolor Society, and he became its first president from 1867 to 1871. Colman also became skilled at the medium of

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other type ...

. He was an early member of the New York Etching Club, and published popular etchings depicting European scenes. Colman's artistic activities became even more diverse late in life. By the 1880s he worked extensively as an interior designer, collaborating with his friend

on the design of Samuel Clemens' Hartford home, and later on the

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

home of Henry and Louisine Havemeyer. He also became a major collector of Asian decorative objects, and wrote two books on geometry and art, one of which was entitled ''Nature's Harmonic Unity'', the other which was entitled ''Proportional Form''. Colman died in New York City in 1920. He was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.

Gallery

File:Colman Storm King on the Hudson.jpg, ''Storm King on the Hudson'' (1866), oil on canvas,

; one of Colman's best known works File:Brooklyn Museum - Late November in a Santa Barbara Cañon, California - Samuel Colman - overall.jpg, ''Late November in a Santa Barbara Cañon, California'' (c.1888), watercolor on paper,

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

File:Brooklyn Museum - On the Viga, Outskirts of the City of Mexico - Samuel Colman - overall.jpg, ''On the Viga, Outskirts of the City of Mexico'' (1892), oil on canvas,

References

Notes Sources
American Watercolor Society's history
Retrieved June 1, 2005.

External links

''American Paradise: The World of the Hudson River School''
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Colman (see index)
''Hudson River school visions: the landscapes of Sanford R. Gifford''
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Colman (see index)
''Nature's Harmonic Unity'' at Archive.orgProportional Form at Archive.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colman, Samuel 1832 births 1920 deaths 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters Hudson River School painters American landscape painters Artists from Portland, Maine Painters from New York City American Orientalist painters Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York) 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists

Life and career

Gallery

See also

References

External links