Charles W. Bartlett

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Charles W. Bartlett
Charles W. Bartlett - watercolor self-portrait, 1933, private collection.jpg
Watercolour self-portrait, 1933
Born(1860-06-01)1 June 1860
Bridport, Dorset, England
Died16 April 1940(1940-04-16) (aged 79)
Hawaii
NationalityEnglish
EducationLondon, Paris
Known forPainting, Printmaking
Patron(s)Anna Rice Cooke
Amritsar, 1916, woodblock print Charles W. Bartlett - Color woodblock print, Charles W. Bartlett. Amritsar. Woodcut, 1916..jpg
Amritsar, 1916, woodblock print
Prayers at Sunset (Udaipur, India), c. 1919, woodblock print 'Prayers at Sunset, Udaipur, India', woodblock print by Charles W. Bartlett, 1919, Honolulu Academy of Arts.jpg
Prayers at Sunset (Udaipur, India), c. 1919, woodblock print
Surf-Riders, Honolulu, 1919, colour woodcut Charles W. Bartlett - 'Surf-Riders, Honolulu'., 1919, Color woodcut, Honolulu Academy of Arts.jpg
Surf-Riders, Honolulu, 1919, colour woodcut
Hana Maui Coast, 1920, watercolour and ink Charles W Bartlett's watercolor and ink 'Hana Maui Coast', 1920.jpg
Hana Maui Coast, 1920, watercolour and ink
Amritsar, India, 1923-27, hand-colored etching Amritsar, India by Charles W. Bartlett, etching.jpg
Amritsar, India, 1923–27, hand-colored etching
Afghani Mother and Child (Khyber Pass), 1920 'Afghani Mother & Child, Kyber Pass, 1920, Bartlett.jpg
Afghani Mother and Child (Khyber Pass), 1920

Charles William Bartlett (1 June 1860 16 April 1940) was an English painter and printmaker who settled in Hawaii.

Contents

Biography

Bartlett studied metallurgy and worked in that field for several years. At age 23, he enrolled in the Royal Academy in London, where he studied painting and etching. After three years of study in London, he entered the private studio school Académie Julian in Paris, where he studied under Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1836–1911) and Gustave Boulanger (1824–1888). [1]

In 1889, he returned to England and married Emily Tate, but shortly thereafter, his wife and infant son died in childbirth. Bartlett then traveled to Europe, spending several productive years in the Netherlands, Brittany and Venice with his friend and fellow artist Frank Brangwyn (1867–1956). Brangwyn is believed to have introduced Bartlett to Japanese prints. [2] Bartlett produced some of his most important early works on the Continent, especially studies of peasants painted in broad areas of colour. He was invited to join the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in France in 1897. In 1898, he returned to England and married Catherine "Kate" Main. Bartlett returned to the Continent with his second wife, and in 1908, he helped found the Société de la Peinture a l'Eau in Paris. Several Continental museums acquired his paintings at the Paris exhibitions of the Société de la Peinture a l'Eau. [3]

Bartlett made several trips to Brittany and the Netherlands with the Dutch painter Nico Wilhelm Jungmann (1872–1935), which provided the former with material for future paintings of peasants, whose dignity derived from the simple placement of shapes. [2]

In 1913, with financial backing from his wife's well-to-do family, the Bartletts traveled to India, Ceylon, Indonesia, China, and Japan. He arrived in Japan in 1915, where he met woodblock print publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō (1885–1962), who was a major force in early 20th-century Japanese art (shin-hanga). In 1916 Watanabe published 21 woodblocks from Bartlett's designs, including six prints of Japanese landscapes. In 1917, Bartlett and his second wife left Japan for England; however, they stopped off in Hawaii, where they remained—never returning to England. He did visit Japan in 1919, where he created sixteen shin-hanga prints for Watanabe.

Anna Rice Cooke (1853–1934), who founded the Honolulu Museum of Art, became Bartlett's advocate and patron. [4] In 1928, Bartlett helped to found the Honolulu Printmakers along with local artists Alexander Samuel MacLeod, John Melville Kelly, and Huc-Mazelet Luquiens. [5] Charles Bartlett died in Hawaii at the age of 79 on 16 April 1940.

Collections and exhibitions

The Bradford Museums and Galleries (West Yorkshire, UK), the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery (Bristol, England), the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Library of Congress (Washington, D. C.), and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (University of Oregon) are among the public collections holding work by Charles W. Bartlett.

The Honolulu Museum of Art holds a large collection of Charles Bartlett's paintings and prints, and has held eight solo exhibitions of his work: [6] [7]

Notes

  1. Miles, Richard, 2001, p. 14
  2. 1 2 Miles, Richard, 2001, p. 37
  3. Miles, Richard, 2001, p. 40
  4. Miles, Richard, 2001, p. 19
  5. Miles, Richard, 2001, p. 22
  6. Academy News, Honolulu Academy of Arts, September/October 2009, p. 3, 8,9
  7. Academy News, Honolulu Academy of Arts, November/December 2009, p. 3

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References

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