Fitz Henry Lane and the Sea

The artist I have chosen to write about today is Fitz Henry Lane. This artist is not a new artist but recently discovered by me. I discovered Lane while reading a guidebook on masterworks of American Art.






Fitz Henry Lane lived from 1804 – 1865. Fitz Henry Lane was known as Fitz Hugh Lane for several years. There was an error in recording his name was discovered recently. Lane was a self-taught American artist. He was a printmaker and marine painter. He worked as an apprentice at a Boston Lithographic firm.



After working in Boston for a short while where he established himself as a printmaker, he returned later to Gloucester where he was born. Lane spent most of his life in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He entered many exhibitions and was commissioned to do seascapes and ship portraits.



Lane produced many beautiful marine paintings during his life time. Some believe the reason his paintings were so popular was because of his great sense of light and his attention to detail. His paintings reside at several major museums including the Timken Museum of Art in San Diego as well as the Boston Museum of Art.

Discovering Joshua Johnston

 

I have added Joshua Johnston to my list of newly discovered artist.   Joshua Johnson is known as America’s first recognized free African American visual artist.  He was born in the West Indies about 1765 and received his freedom in 1790.

Johnston focused on portrait painting to wealthy plantation owners.  The aristocratic landowners and merchants in Maryland and Virginia during this time desired their portraits to reflect their English heritage.   His work has been compared to Charles Wilson Peale.  Johnston’s work clearly showed to popular eighteenth-century British styles. 

Joshua Johnston’s paintings from the early days have survived over the years.  Johnston painted portraits until his death in 1830.   There are more than 80 paintings by Johnston exists today  in private collections or museums and galleries.