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STEVENS, William Lester (1888-1969)
William Lester Stevens was the
youngest member to exhibit in New York’s National Academy, with 5 paintings
accepted at
age 18, in 1906. Stevens
was born in Rockport, Massachusetts, and is considered one of Cape Anne’s
leading painters. He
was compulsive about painting
outdoors daily, often tying his easels down with rocks on windy days. He
was prolific, producing
over 5000 paintings during his
lifetime, and receiving more awards than any other living artist of the
era. He also taught at Princeton
and Boston Universities.
His bold brushwork, loaded
with color, and often with black-outlined subject matter, depicted the farms,
quarries, and fishing
industry of Cape Anne, as well
as North Carolina, where he worked shortly. The presented work embodies
the best of Stevens’
strong compositions and
coloration, with the usual slashing directional brush strokes. Its life
under glass makes the condition
pristine, with brilliant
colors.
Stevens is represented in 15
museums, including The Smithsonian. He has been the subject of one
monograph in book form
(W. Lester Stevens, N.A.
(Judith Curtis), and one by American Art Review, October 2003.
Birthplace: Rockport, MA
Death place: Greenfield, MA
Addresses: Rockport, MA, until 1934; Boston,
Springfield, Conway, MA
Profession: Landscape painter, teacher
Studied: with Parker S. Perkins in Rockport;
Boston Museum of Fine Arts School; in Europe after WWI
Exhibited: National Academy of
Design, 1906 (at age 18); Art Institute of Chicago, 1911-38; Pennsylvania
Academy of
Fine Arts Annual, 1912-37; Corcoran Gallery biennials,
1914-28 (5 times, incl. 4th prize, 1921); Connecticut Academy of
Fine Arts, 1924 (prize); 1927 (prize); American
Watercolor Society, 1928 (prize); New Haven Paint & Clay Club, 1929
(prize), 1933 (prize), 1942 (prize); Springfield AL, 1925
(prize), 1932 (prize), 1953-55 (prizes); Quincy, 1932 (medal);
Springville, UT, 1931 (prize), 1941 (prize); Women's
Club, MA, 1930-33 (prizes),1934 (prize), 1937 (prize), 1938 (prize);
Salons of Am., 1934; Meriden Art & Crafts Assn.,
1938-42 (prizes); Washington Landscape Club, 1939 (prize);
Washington Watercolor Club, 1942 (prize); Washington Art
Club, 1941 (prize); Rockport Artists Association, 1953 (prize),
1956 (prize), 1957 (prize); North Shore Artists
Association, 1953 (prize); Ogunquit, ME, 1952-54 (prizes), 1956 (prizes);
Gloucester, MA, 1958 (prize).
Member: National Academy; Associate member
of the National Academy of Design, 1935; American Watercolor Society;
Rockport Artists Association (founder, 1923); Gallery on
Moors; Springfield (MA) AL; Guild Boston Artists; Philadelphia
Watercolor Club; NY Watercolor Club; New Haven Paint
& Clay Club; Gloucester Society of Artist; North Shore Artists
Association, 1923-69;
Boston Watercolor Club.
Work: Canton Art Institute;
Hickory Museum of Art; Asheville Museum of Art; Rochester Memorial Art Gallery;
Springfield
Museum of Fine Arts; Boston Arts Club; Birmingham (AL)
Public Library; Gloucester (MA) High School.; Rockport (MA) High
School; Tewksbury (MA) State Sanitarium; Mint Museum Art;
WPA murals, USPOs, Dedham, Rockport, both in Massachusetts;
Boston City Club; Louisville (KY) Art Museum; Springville
(UT) Arts Association; Wilson, Wolcott, Gavin schools, all in Boston
Comments: He left Rockport in
1934 for western Massachusetts, settling in Conway in 1944. Nicknamed
"Steve," he was
considered eccentric, and compulsive about painting
outdoors every day. He produced about 5,000 paintings. After a summer
painting on Monhegan, he said "I’ve done 60 and got
6 good ones!" His early works have a heavy impasto in oil while his later
works are often of light washes in acrylic on Masonite.
He taught for short periods at Boston University and Princeton, but held
frequent classes at his Conway studio as well as in
Washington, DC and at the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts. He took his students
to
Asheville, NC, New Orleans, Charleston SC, Quebec and
Gaspe, Canada; and in the 1930s Stevens ran a summer art school
at Grand Manan.
Sources: Who’s Who 1959;
Charles Movalli, article in American Artist (Apr., 1986, p.52); WW47;
Curtis, Curtis, and Lieberman, 116, 186;
Falk, Exh. Record Series; info. courtesy North
Shore AA.
This biography is drawn from the "Who
Was Who in American Art" , the reference book on the cultural life in the
United States.
Museums:
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Louisiana State University Museum of Art
Rockport Art Association
George Walter Vincent Smith Museum
Museum of Fine Arts-Springfield
Colby College Museum of Art
Asheville Art Museum/Crawley Museum
The Hickory Museum of Art
Rochester Memorial Art Gallery
Hunter Museum of American Art
Museum of Art at Brigham Young University
Springville Museum of Art
Wright Museum of Art
The Washington County Museum of Fine Arts