Samuel Colman

Background

Colman, Samuel was born on March 4, 1832 in Portland, Maine, United States. Son of Samuel and Pamela (Chandler) Colman.

Education

Studied art, New York, under Asher B. Durand, and 1860-1862, in Spain, France, Italy and London. Returned to Europe again, 1871-1876. Opened studio New New York 1854.

Career

Born in Portland, Maine, Colman moved to New York City with his family as a child. By 1854 he had opened his own New York City studio. His landscape paintings in the 1850s and 1860s were influenced by the Hudson River school, an example being Meadows and Wildflowers at Conway (1856) now in the collection of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College.

He was also able to paint in a romantic style, which had become more fashionable after the Civil War.

One of his best-known works, and one of the iconic images of Hudson River School art, is his Storm King on the Hudson (1866), now in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, District of Columbia. He made his first trip abroad to France and Spain in 1860–1861, and returned for a more extensive four-year European tour in the early 1870s in which he spent much time in Mediterranean locales. Colman often depicted the architectural features he encountered on his travels: cityscapes, castles, bridges, arches, and aqueducts feature prominently in his paintings of foreign scenes.

In 1870 and again in the 1880s he journeyed to the western United States, painting western landscapes comparable in scope and style to those of Thomas Moran. In the aftermath of the Civil War, watercolor painting became more popular.

In 1866, Colman was one of the founders of the American Watercolor Society, and he became its first president from 1867 to 1871.

Colman also became skilled at the medium of etching. Colman"s artistic activities became even more diverse late in life. He also became a major collector of Asian decorative objects, and wrote two books on geometry and art

Colman died in New York City in 1920.

Achievements

• Samuel Colman has been listed as a notable painter by Marquis Who's Who.

Membership

The following year he was elected an associate member of the National Academy, with full membership bestowed in 1862. He was an early member of the New York Etching Club, and published popular etchings depicting European scenes.

Connections

Married Anne Lawrence Dunham, 1862.

Father:

Samuel Colman

Mother:

Pamela (Chandler) Colman

Spouse:

Anne Lawrence Dunham