Maxwell Mays was an American painter known for his whimsical depictions of Rhode Island

Rhode Island

The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...

.

Early life and education

Harry Maxwell Mays was born August 13, 1918 in Providence, Rhode Island

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

 to W. Clarke S. Mays Sr and Alice Hill Mays. He was one of three children; he had a brother, W. Clarke S. Mays, Jr., and a sister, Alice Mays Gray. The family was well-to-do, as his father had invented the metal pen clip that was the mainstay of the family business, the Mays Manufacturing Co. As a child, Mays attended Saturday morning art classes at the Rhode Island School of Design

Rhode Island School of Design

Rhode Island School of Design is a fine arts and design college located in Providence, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1877. Located at the base of College Hill, the RISD campus is contiguous with the Brown University campus. The two institutions share social, academic, and community resources and...

. Later, he attended RISD, graduating in 1941.

Career

After serving in a map-making unit in Brazil during World War II, Mays returned to Providence, where he began exhibiting his work at local galleries. His first one-man commercial show was at the Ferargil Gallery in New York in 1948. In the ensuing years he became notable for a number of highly successful art shows and magazine covers, including Yankee Magazine, featuring traditional New England scenes, and was a highly sought-after speaker and storyteller. As a successful businessman, he was treasurer of Mays Manufacturing Company, a family business until its sale in the mid-1980s. He was Past President and Director Emeritus of the Providence Art Club where the main gallery is named in his honor. He led the drive for a major restoration of the historic property in the late 1970s.

Death and afterward

Maxwell Mays died at his home in the Greene

Greene, Rhode Island

Greene is a village and census-designated place in the southwest corner of the town of Coventry, Rhode Island, United States. It is on the Connecticut border, just north of West Greenwich. The name derives from Nathanael Greene, a Rhode Island-born general in the American...

 section of Coventry, Rhode Island

Coventry, Rhode Island

Coventry is a town in Kent County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 35,014 at the 2010 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of . of it is land and of it is water...

 on November 16, 2009.

Awards and honors

Mays received honorary doctorates from Rhode Island College

Rhode Island College

Rhode Island College is a nationally ranked, coeducational, state-supported comprehensive college founded in 1854, located in Providence, Rhode Island, USA...

 and Johnson & Wales University

Johnson & Wales University

Johnson & Wales University is a private, nonprofit, co-educational, career-oriented university with four campuses located throughout the United States. Providence, Rhode Island, USA, is home to JWU's first and largest of four currently operating campuses. Founded as a business school in 1914, by...

. He was named an Honorary Rhode Island Commodore in 1986.