ORIGINAL AND VINTAGE .............HARRY HAMBRO HOWE.............'NORTH AMERICA' SAILING SHIP, OIL ON CANVAS, 24" x 18".............

This is a 24" x 18" Original and Vintage oil on canvas by the Massachusetts painter Harry Hambro Howe, 1886-1968. The image is of the 'North America' sailing ship, so stated on the reverse and a label at bottom on the reverse. Signed at lower right. Framed. According to the label the 'North America' was built by Donald McKay in East Boston in 1856 and it sank off the Cape of Good Hope in 1871.

The Biography Follows:

The son of Captain T Bailey Howe, master of a Nantucket whaler and painter,

Harry Howe became an oil painter of marine and landscape subjects.  He was

born in Boston and remained based there most of his life, although he traveled

widely.  He took art lessons from his father.


One of his favorite subjects was clipper ships such as his "John Bertram" and

"Witchcraft", which were built respectively in Medford, Massachusetts in 1851 and

Boston in 1850.  This subject was popular in the East among persons who

appreciated their importance to the history of that city. Among his landscape

subjects were Mount Chocorua in New Hampshire, Gloucester in Massachusetts,

Clearwater in Florida, and the Upper Kennebec River in Maine.


Exhibition cities included Houston, Texas in 1940 at the Rose Room of the Rice

Hotel. According to The Houston Chronicle review of that show, February 4, 1940:

"Harry Howe . . .would rather paint boats than anything. . . he studied in Maine

and New Hampshire" . . . His landscapes are mostly of the Maine country and

scenes of the Presidential Range, Mounts Monroe, Washington, Adams, Baldface

and Chocorua".


In that same review, the artist was quoted as saying: "When my father taught my

brother and me to paint, the darker, heavier paints were the vogue of the day.  I

always wanted to get into the lighter tones, and when I began to express my own

ideas rather than those of my father, I developed brighter, more cheerful scenes. 

Today economics influences art.  The modern trend of building has reduced the

size of rooms, therefore, the heavy dark paintings which had to be viewed from a

distance to be appreciated are becoming passe. . .Such pictures are only

appropriate for museums exhibits, where there is plenty of room."


When asked for an opinion on modern art, Mr. Howe's only response was that if

he "were hit real hard on the head with a hammer, he might be able to produce

something in the abstract, but so long as he remained normal, he just couldn't

see it."


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I am the grand daughter of Harry H. Howe. My grand father was an artist with a

home in Buckfield, Maine. He painted all summer and traveled in the winter

selling his paintings. He would stop in Ann Arbor at my parent's home. He carried

the paintings in cardboard tubes; they were of landscapes and ships.


My grandmother Meta Singelton Howe (Harry's wife) and grandpa traveled to art

shows where he sold his paintings. He also painted for the Dupont Corp. and did

custom paintings for large business offices. One time I remember him saying he

returned to an office and some one had added a bird in the tree. I asked him if he

was offended and was told NO as long as they paid for it they could add what

they wanted.


Grandpa had a stroke in 1958 and was brought to live with us in Ann Arbor, and

he died 10 years later; he is buried in the local cemetery. Harry was taught

painting by his father T Bailey Howe. He was seen in ads for Devoe paints in the

National Geographic back in the "30's"

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The following, submitted September 2004, is from Martha Vincent, great

granddaughter of Harry Hambro Howe.


He died when I was five years old, but I remember him as strange old man in a

wheelchair, who loved giving me rides. He was a stroke victim at some point, and

didn't paint after that, to my knowledge.


According to the paperwork I have, one newspaper clipping from Sunday,

February 4, 1940, from the "Houston Chronicle", Harry H. Howe's exhibit was

opening the following day in the Rose Room of the Rice Hotel. The article states

that Mr. Howe spent most of his life on the New England coast and the sea was in

his blood, for his father was Capt. T. Bailey Howe, master of a Nantucket whaler,

the Isabella. The elder Mr. Howe also was an artist, and taught his son how to

paint.


This story coincides with everything I was told as a child. I have another clipping

from an advertisement my great grandfather did for Devoe artists' materials. In his

promotional blurb for the company Harry writes, "I find Devoe Artists' Oil Colors

give the best results. And I know that they hold up beautifully, because both my

father and grandfather used Devoe colors exclusively. Paintings they he did many

decades ago are, today, as brilliant as ever, free from any signs of fading or

cracking."

 
As ever this is guaranteed 100% money back, to be as represented.