Benjamin Curtis Porter

Background

He was born on August 29, 1845 at Melrose, Massachussets, United States, the son of Charles and Julia (Curtis) Porter.

Education

He began the study of his art under Albion H. Bicknell and Dr. William Rimmer, in Boston, and continued it independently during four sojourns in France and Italy, in 1872, 1875, 1878, and 1881.

Career

Soon after opening his first studio in Boston, in the early seventies, he met with great success as a portraitist, and before long he had more commissions than he could fulfil. His early works included a number of crayon heads somewhat in the style of those by S. W. Rowse. From the first he had the knack of making a pleasing counterfeit presentment of the beautiful women and children of the period, the members of those fortunate families which, in Dr. Holmes's phrase, could afford the expensive luxury of beauty. A discerning critic of 1880 pointed out the fact that he was peculiarly sensitive to the pictorial possibilities of his sitters.

In 1883 he opened a studio in New York, afterward dividing his time between New York and Boston. In the summer he usually went to Newport, Rhode Island, where his services were in constant demand. The list of his sitters resembles a page from the Social Register. He found time to paint a few subject pictures such as "The Hour Glass, " and "The Mandolin Player, " and essayed at least one historical piece, "Henry V and the Princess Kate. "

At the time of his death at his New York home, in 1908, he was in his sixty-third year.

Achievements

• Benjamin Curtis Porter is best known as a painter of portraits. His most famous works: "Lady with Dog", "Portrait of Mrs. Thomas F. Cushing of Boston". Medals came to him from the Paris Exposition of 1900; from the Buffalo Exposition of 1901, and from the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904.

Membership

Porter was a member of the National Academy of Design, the Society of American Artists, the National Arts Club, the National Sculpture Society, and the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

Connections

In 1887 he married Mary Louise Clark of Bridgeport, Connecticut. They had one son.

Father:

Charles Porter

Mother:

Julia (Curtis) Porter

Spouse:

Mary Louise Clark

teacher:

Albion H. Bicknell

teacher:

William Rimmer