James Wells Champney (1843-1903)
American Romantic & golden age illustrator, genre painter & teacher
J. W. Champney ; J.W. Champney ; James W. Champney
[Born July 16, 1843 in Boston, MA – died May 1, 1903 in Deerfield, MA died in elevator accident in New York, NY]
FAD record control number: 27665
Record level: Person
Record type: Artist
James Wells Champney (1843-1903) biography:
Birth: July 16, 1843 in Boston, MA ;
Death: May 1, 1903 in Deerfield, MA, died in elevator accident in New York, NY ;
Sex: Male
Ethnicity: White
Zodiac: Cancer
Known for: Genre painting ; portraits ; landscapes
Medium: oil ; pencil on paper ; watercolor ; pen and ink ; pastels (from 1877 on) ;
Technique: drawing ; sketching ; painting
Subjects: children ; women ; literary ; domestic scenes ;
Areas: Deerfield / Boston, MA (1843-1862, 1870-1873, 1876-1879) ; Lexington, MA (1864-1866) ; London, England (1866) ; Ecouen, France (1866) ; Antwerp, Belgium (1867-1868) ; Rome, Italy (1869-1870) ; New Orleans, LA (1873-1874) ; Paris, France (1874-1875) ; Northampton, MA (1887-1884) ; New York, NY (1879-1900) ;
Region: North East
Lived: 337 4th Avenue, New York, NY (1879-1891) ; 96 5th Avenue, New York, NY (1892-1900) ;
Father:
Mother:
Relatives: Benjamin Champney (1817-1907), landscape painter, distant cousin ;
Spouse: Elizabeth “Lizzie” Johnson (Williams) Champney (1850-1922), wife, a travel writer ;
Children: Edouard Frere Champney (1874-1929), son ; Maria Mitchel (Champney) Humphrey (1876-1906), daughter ;
Training: Lowell Institute, Boston, MA ; under Oliver Wendell Holmes (1841-1935), anatomy ; Pierre Edouard Frere (1819-1886), Antwerp Academy, Antwerp, Belgium (1866) ; under Jozef Henri Francois Van Lerius (1823-1876)
Instructors: Oliver Wendell Holmes (1841-1935) ; Pierre Edouard Frere (1819-1886) ; Jozef Henri Francois Van Lerius (1823-1876) ;
Work: apprenticed to a wood engraver at age 16 ; illustrated articles “The great south” by Edward King for Scribner’s magazine resulting in more than 500 illustrations ; illustrated articles on American life for a French magazine ;
Taught: Dr. Dio Lewis’s Young Ladies Seminary, Lexington, MA (1864-1866) ; Smith College, Northampton, MA (1877-1884) ; Society of Decorative Art, Hartford (also called Art School of the Art Society of Hartford), CT, one time per week (1878-1885) ;
Students:
Member: Salmagundi Club, New York, NY, 1881-1903 ; American Water Color Society, New York, NY (1873-1903) ; Boston Art Club, Boston, MA (1873-1903) ; National Academy of Design, New York, NY, academician (1882-1903) ; New York Camera Club, New York, NY (ca.1903) ;
Exhibited with: Boston Art Club, Boston, MA ; Salmagundi Club, New York, NY ; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA (1881-1891) ; National Academy of Design, New York, NY ; Paris salon, Paris, France (1875 & 1894) ; Knoedler Gallery, pastels (1897) ; Tennessee Centennial Exposition, Nashville, TN (1897) ; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (1891-1902) ;
Awards:
Milestones: was part of early American impressionism ; joined army during Civil War, 45th Volunteer Regiment of Massachusetts (1862), but was sent home after contracting malaria ; after 1880 worked almost exclusively in watercolor and pastel ;
Notes:
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FAD notes:
Document information
Document permalink:
http://fineartdatabase.org/artist/?p=27665
Digital-born document number:
FAD.2018.27665
Digital document provenance:
Original compiled and researched document by the Fine Art Database, 266 West 21st Street, New York, NY.
Document license:
Creative Commons Corporation shareAlike (sa) license. Some of the information contained within this document may hold further publication restrictions depending on final use. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine.
Image license:
The author of this artwork died more than 70 years ago. According to U.S. Copyright Law, copyright expires 70 years after the author’s death. In other countries, legislation may differ.
Record birth date:
April 29, 2018
[lastupdated]
