biografia di William Lester STEVENS (1888-1969)

Birth place: Rockport, MA

Death place: Greenfield, MA

Addresses: Rockport, MA, until 1934; Boston, Springfield, Conway, MA

Profession: Landscape painter, teacher

Studied: with Parker S. Perkins in Rockport; BMFA Sch.; in Europe after WWI

Exhibited: NAD, 1906 (at age 18); AIC, 1911-38; PAFA Ann., 1912-37; Corcoran Gal biennials, 1914-28 (5 times, incl. 4th prize, 1921); CAFA, 1924 (prize); 1927 (prize); AWCS, 1928 (prize); New Haven PCC, 1929 (prize), 1933 (prize), 1942 (prize); Springfield AL, 1925 (prize), 1932 (prize),1953-55 (prizes); Quincy, 1932 (medal); Springville, UT, 1931 (prize), 1941 (prize); Women's Club, MA, 1930-33 (prizes),1934 (prize), 1937 (prize), 1938 (prize); Salons of Am., 1934; Meriden Art & Crafts Assn., 1938-42 (prizes); Wash. Ldscp. Club, 1939 (prize); Wash. WCC, 1942 (prize); Wash. Art Club, 1941 (prize); Rockport AA, 1953 (prize), 1956 (prize), 1957 (prize); North Shore AA, 1953 (prize); Ogunquit, ME, 1952-54 (prizes), 1956 (prizes); Gloucester, MA, 1958 (prize).

Member: NA; ANA, 1935; AWCS; Rockport AA (founder, 1923); Gallery on Moors; Springfield (MA ) AL; Gld. Boston Artists; Phila. WCC; NYWCC; New Haven PCC; Gloucester SA; North Shore AA, 1923-69; Boston WCC.

Work: Canton AI; Hickory Mus. Art; Asheville Mus. Art; Rochester Mem. Art Gal.; Springfield Mus. FA; Boston AC; Birmingham (AL) Public Library; Gloucester (MA) H.S.; Rockport (MA) H.S.; Tewksbury (MA) State Sanitorium; Mint Mus. Art; WPA murals, USPOs, Dedham, Rockport, both in Massachusetts; Boston City Club; :Louisville (KY) AM; Springville (UT) AA; Wilson, Wolcott, Gavin schools, all in Boston

Comments: He left Rockport in 1934 for western Mass., settling in Conway in 1944. Nicknamed "Steve," he was considered eccentric, and compulsive about painting outdoors every day. He produced about 5,000 paintings. After a summer painting on Monhegan, he said "I"ve done 60 ó and got 6 good ones!" His early works have a heavy impasto in oil while his later works are often of light washes in acrylic on masonite. He taught for short periods at Boston Univ. and Princeton, but held frequent classes at his Conway studio as well as in Wash., DC and at the Springfield MFA. He took his students to Asheville, NC, New Orleans, Charleston SC, Quebec and GaspÈ, Canada; and in the 1930s Stevens ran a summer art school at Grand Manan.

Sources: WW59; Charles Movalli, article in American Artist (Apr., 1986, p.52); WW47; Curtis, Curtis, and Lieberman, 116, 186; Falk, Exh. Record Series; info. courtesy North Shore AA.

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