By Charles H.Ramsey Jr. of Westport CT.


Marker & Crayon on Paper.


Charles H. RamseyJr. was born in August of 1929 at Norwalk Hospital, Norwalk, Connecticut to afather who was an advertising copy writer and a mother, Alice Harvey Ramsey(1894-1983), who was an artist and cartoonist and cover Artist for the NewYorker Magazine. The family lived in Westport Connecticut on Canal Street andCharles attended Westport CT schools. While attending Staple High School healso attended art classes at the Silvermine Arts Center in nearby New Canaan.After high school he joined the army and served during the Korean War from 1951to 1952. During this time, while he was stationed in Killeen Texas, the USO puton a display of his artwork to entertain the troops.

 
Upon his honorable discharge he returned home and studied under Harry Sternbergat the Arts Students League in New York City. He then went on to study underSperry Andrews at the Silvermine Arts Center. He was accepted to the RhodeIsland School of Design in 1953 and graduated in 1957. While painting in thelate 1950s he also furthered his love for composing music by studying inCambridge Massachusetts under Mary Church. He has composed both classical andjazz works.
 
Returning to Connecticut in the early 1960s he joined the Silvermine Guild ofartists and also continued his studies under Gail Simon Hicks and SperryAndrew.
 
In the interview with Charles for this biography at the age of 82, he reflectedon his career. He stated that during the 1960s and 1970s there was a conflictbetween Abstract art and Realism and artists were expected to choose one or theother. He indicated that this conflict was meaningless and he pursued a pathwaythat incorporated both. But Charles went a bit further.  His works for themost part are playful and incorporate not only some realism and abstraction butat times call upon surreal images to endow them with excitement and intensitywhile passing on a message to the viewer.  

A large body of his artwork is done in ink and crayon and was created over theyears as he traveled throughout the world. He has a love for railroads androller coasters, and these are among his most creative and important works. Inlooking through the many works still in his possession, one cannot but beamazed at how these pictures provide a documentary of the artist's life and forthose of us of his generation who loved the old amusement parks, world fairsand sites throughout the United States including Alaska. But his documentarydoes not stop in the United States; the imagery continues throughout thecontinents of Europe, Asia, South America and other points around the world. AsJames Daugherty wrote about Charles Ramsey so many years ago when reviewingCharles' works, "Ramsey's canvasses have a rugged and dynamic strokegiving rich textures to impact warmth and life." His gift as an artistwill give joy and admiration for many generations.
 

Charles washighlighted in an article in Art News in 1960 in a review of a show atthe Ahda Ardst Gallery in New York City. He exhibited at the Bruce Museum inGreenwich, Connecticut in 1962, the New Britain Museum of Art in 1970, theMuseum of Art Science and Industry in 1973, and the Brownstone Gallery inBrooklyn New York in 1975. Through the years he also exhibited at theSilvermine Arts Center and Rowayton Art Center both in Connecticut.

His works are in the permanent collections of Bruce Museum in Greenwich CT andthe New Britain CT Museum of American Art.