biografia di Marcus A. WATERMAN (1834-1914)

Birth place: Providence, RI

Death place: Moderno, Italy

Addresses: NYC, 1857-70; Prov., RI, 1862, 1867, 1869; Boston area (1870s-1909); Brescia, Lombardy (1909-on)

Profession: Landscape and figure painter

Studied: Brown University (A.B., 1857)

Exhibited: Centennial Expo, Phila., 1876 ("Gulliver in Lilliput"); NAD, 1861-77; Brooklyn AA, 1864, 1872; PAFA Ann., 1861-62, 1866, 1876; Boston AC, 1883-1909; Corcoran Gal. biennial, 1910

Member: ANA, 1861; AWCS; Boston PCC

Work: BPL; RISD; BMFA; Portland (ME) Pub. Lib.; Providence Pub. Lib.; Worcester MA; MMA

Comments: His studio was in NYC, 1857-70; then N. Easton, MA, and he finally in Boston in 1875 (with Frank Hill Smith and Thomas Robinson). He also traveled frequently to Vermont and Cape Cod. In 1878, he sold many of his paintings at a Williams & Everett auction (Boston) to finance his overseas trips, and from 1879-84 he traveled to Algeria (twice), France, Holland, and Spain. In 1908 he married, and the next year he and his wife settled in Italy, her native country. He made one or two return trips to the U.S. He was best known for his New England forest scenes, Cape Cod marines, and a series of scenes from the Arabian Nights, based on his Algerian experiences.

Sources: G&W incorrectly says he was in NYC until 1874 because of Downes" article, "An American Painter: Mark Waterman," in American Magazine of Art (Jan., 1923, six repros.); Art Annual, XII (1915), 498, obit; Art News (April 11, 1914), 4, obit.; Clark, History of the NAD, 273; Cowdrey, NAD; Rutledge, PA; Falk, PA, vol. II; Clement and Hutton; CAB; WW13; Early American Book Illustrators (Princeton Univ. Lib., 1958); add'l info courtesy Richard McGrath, Southington, CT