Stokely Webster
Encyclopedia
Stokely Webster was best known as an American Impressionist Painter
who studied in Paris. His paintings can be found in the permanent collections of many museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art
in New York, the National Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian Institution
, the White House
, Gracie Mansion
in New York, the Senate Office Building, and the Museum of the City of New York
.
to travel with his family to Paris, France where he was enthralled by the paintings of the French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists
and embarked on his own fledgling efforts at plein-air cityscapes.
In 1922 he spent a year in France
where he saw Monet at work in his Giverny garden and viewed his paintings at the Luxembourg Palace. He decided at that time to be a painter. His first studies were that same year with Lawton Parker, an American artist who had studied with Jean-Léon Gérôme
and James McNeill Whistler
. He taught young Webster the century-old traditions of painting, generally accepted up until World War II.
After returning to America in 1924, he dedicated the next ten years to educating himself through a succession of art-school courses, studying architecture at Yale University
and spending two years in Chicago, Illinois working as a textile designer.
Webster was a student at Columbia University
, National Academy of Design
, and the Yale School of Fine Art.
.
In 1936 he studied for six months with Robert Henri
's disciple Wayman Adams, learning portrait painting and landscape technique, which combined the high-valued colors of Impressionism with the methods of Henri and John Singer Sargent
. A one-man exhibition, which opened in New York the same year he completed the painting Times Square, drew praise from The New York Sun, "Mr. Webster paints in the way that at one time was thought the only way to paint, using the flowing strokes and well-thinned-out pigments that came to us through Sargent via Frans Hals and Velasquez." A reviewer for the New York Herald Tribune
endorsed that opinion, comparing Webster's technical skills to those of Sargent, while others praised his expertise at capturing the momentary impression of a place and his exceptionally convincing and precise use of light as the force defining its mood, climate, and urban disposition.
Webster's joy at this reception, which buttressed his ambition to focus on painting full time, was savored only briefly. The outbreak of World War II
had soon shifted him to the assembly line at Grumman Aircraft Corporation, leading to his pursuit of an engineering degree at Columbia University and seven years of steady employment designing airplanes.
He returned to painting in 1948, having sublet a spacious studio, formerly owned by George Luks
, in Manhattan
. A fire ravaged this building four years later, however, destroying more than sixty of his canvases and cheating Webster of his successful re-entry into the city's art world. The incident prompted him to relocate to Huntington, Long Island, where he became involved as a designer, and then president, of a gyroscope manufacturing company. Webster's creative inclinations eventually lured him back into active painting, and the decades of the 1960s and 1970s saw him creating both landscapes and figural studies and exhibiting that work internationally in an array of salons and galleries. During this time, Webster's paintings were acquired by, or donated to, museums in the United States.
During the 1960s, he painted many portraits of his wife, Iva, as well as his daughter, Stephanie (dancer, who later married novelist Martin Brooks), and his granddaughter, Kathryn (novelist and photographer K. S. Brooks
).
In 1983, Webster and his wife took up residence in Flagler Beach, Florida
after many years as Long Island, New York residents. Mrs. Webster died later that year. . He remarried in May 1984 to long-time friend Audrey Coutant and relocated to Southport, Connecticut.
His commitment to painting lyrical seascapes and city scenes in an Impressionist manner continued unabated, and museum exhibitions featuring recent work by the artist were still being organized into the mid-1990s.
Webster traveled to Boston in May 1993 to attend the National Invitational exhibit “State of the Art ’93,” sponsored by the New England Fine Arts Institute, as both he, and his granddaughter, K.S. Brooks, were exhibiting works at the same show.
Two books were published about Stokely Webster during his life: “Stokely Webster Paintings, 1923-1984,” published in 1985 by the Museum of Arts and Sciences, Daytona Beach, Florida; and “Stokely Webster and his Paris…New York, London and Venice,” published in 2001 by Connecticut River Press.
Webster died in 2001, Southport, Connecticut
.
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
who studied in Paris. His paintings can be found in the permanent collections of many museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
in New York, the National Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
, the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
, Gracie Mansion
Gracie Mansion
thumb|250px|Western sideGracie Mansion is the official residence of the mayor of the City of New York. Built in 1799, it is located in Carl Schurz Park, at East End Avenue and Eighty-eighth Street in Manhattan...
in New York, the Senate Office Building, and the Museum of the City of New York
Museum of the City of New York
The Museum of the City of New York is an art gallery and history museum founded in 1923 to present the history of New York City, USA and its people...
.
Youth
As a child, Stokely Webster left his birthplace of Evanston, IllinoisEvanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
to travel with his family to Paris, France where he was enthralled by the paintings of the French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1910 to describe the development of French art since Manet. Fry used the term when he organized the 1910 exhibition Manet and Post-Impressionism...
and embarked on his own fledgling efforts at plein-air cityscapes.
In 1922 he spent a year in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
where he saw Monet at work in his Giverny garden and viewed his paintings at the Luxembourg Palace. He decided at that time to be a painter. His first studies were that same year with Lawton Parker, an American artist who had studied with Jean-Léon Gérôme
Jean-Léon Gérôme
Jean-Léon Gérôme was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academicism. The range of his oeuvre included historical painting, Greek mythology, Orientalism, portraits and other subjects, bringing the Academic painting tradition to an artistic climax.-Life:Jean-Léon Gérôme was born...
and James McNeill Whistler
James McNeill Whistler
James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American-born, British-based artist. Averse to sentimentality and moral allusion in painting, he was a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake". His famous signature for his paintings was in the shape of a stylized butterfly possessing a long stinger...
. He taught young Webster the century-old traditions of painting, generally accepted up until World War II.
After returning to America in 1924, he dedicated the next ten years to educating himself through a succession of art-school courses, studying architecture at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and spending two years in Chicago, Illinois working as a textile designer.
Webster was a student at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, National Academy of Design
National Academy of Design
The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, founded in New York City as the National Academy of Design – known simply as the "National Academy" – is an honorary association of American artists founded in 1825 by Samuel F. B. Morse, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E...
, and the Yale School of Fine Art.
Maturity
In 1933, he married renowned ballerina and satirical dancer Iva KitchellIva Kitchell
Iva Kitchell was a concert dancer, dance satirist and comedian.Born as Emma Baugh, Iva Kitchell was adopted by Robert W. Kitchells, at the age of three...
.
In 1936 he studied for six months with Robert Henri
Robert Henri
Robert Henri was an American painter and teacher. He was a leading figure of the Ashcan School in art.- Early life :...
's disciple Wayman Adams, learning portrait painting and landscape technique, which combined the high-valued colors of Impressionism with the methods of Henri and John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent was an American artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era luxury. During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings...
. A one-man exhibition, which opened in New York the same year he completed the painting Times Square, drew praise from The New York Sun, "Mr. Webster paints in the way that at one time was thought the only way to paint, using the flowing strokes and well-thinned-out pigments that came to us through Sargent via Frans Hals and Velasquez." A reviewer for the New York Herald Tribune
New York Herald Tribune
The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...
endorsed that opinion, comparing Webster's technical skills to those of Sargent, while others praised his expertise at capturing the momentary impression of a place and his exceptionally convincing and precise use of light as the force defining its mood, climate, and urban disposition.
Webster's joy at this reception, which buttressed his ambition to focus on painting full time, was savored only briefly. The outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
had soon shifted him to the assembly line at Grumman Aircraft Corporation, leading to his pursuit of an engineering degree at Columbia University and seven years of steady employment designing airplanes.
He returned to painting in 1948, having sublet a spacious studio, formerly owned by George Luks
George Luks
George Benjamin Luks, was an American realist artist and illustrator. His vigorously painted genre paintings of urban subjects are examples of the Ashcan school in American art.-Early life:...
, in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. A fire ravaged this building four years later, however, destroying more than sixty of his canvases and cheating Webster of his successful re-entry into the city's art world. The incident prompted him to relocate to Huntington, Long Island, where he became involved as a designer, and then president, of a gyroscope manufacturing company. Webster's creative inclinations eventually lured him back into active painting, and the decades of the 1960s and 1970s saw him creating both landscapes and figural studies and exhibiting that work internationally in an array of salons and galleries. During this time, Webster's paintings were acquired by, or donated to, museums in the United States.
During the 1960s, he painted many portraits of his wife, Iva, as well as his daughter, Stephanie (dancer, who later married novelist Martin Brooks), and his granddaughter, Kathryn (novelist and photographer K. S. Brooks
K. S. Brooks
K. S. Brooks is best known for her action-adventure spy novels and fine art photography.-Early life:...
).
In 1983, Webster and his wife took up residence in Flagler Beach, Florida
Flagler Beach, Florida
Flagler Beach is a city in Flagler and Volusia counties in the U.S. state of Florida. The population was 4,954 at the 2000 census, with an estimated population of 5,228 in 2004.Flagler Beach is part of the Palm Coast Metropolitan Statistical Area...
after many years as Long Island, New York residents. Mrs. Webster died later that year. . He remarried in May 1984 to long-time friend Audrey Coutant and relocated to Southport, Connecticut.
His commitment to painting lyrical seascapes and city scenes in an Impressionist manner continued unabated, and museum exhibitions featuring recent work by the artist were still being organized into the mid-1990s.
Webster traveled to Boston in May 1993 to attend the National Invitational exhibit “State of the Art ’93,” sponsored by the New England Fine Arts Institute, as both he, and his granddaughter, K.S. Brooks, were exhibiting works at the same show.
Two books were published about Stokely Webster during his life: “Stokely Webster Paintings, 1923-1984,” published in 1985 by the Museum of Arts and Sciences, Daytona Beach, Florida; and “Stokely Webster and his Paris…New York, London and Venice,” published in 2001 by Connecticut River Press.
Webster died in 2001, Southport, Connecticut
Southport, Connecticut
Southport is a section and census-designated place of the town of Fairfield, Connecticut, located along Long Island Sound between the Mill River and Sasco Brook . As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,585...
.
External links
- Museum of the City of New York, Stokely Webster - http://www.mcny.org/collections/painting/pttcat90.htm
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Stokely Webster - http://americanart.si.edu/search/artist_bio.cfm?StartRow=1&ID=5280
- New York Times review of One Man Show - http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE4DD173FF930A25755C0A965958260
- Official Web Site - http://www.stokelywebster.com