Charles Ethan Porter
Charles Ethan Porter was an American painter who specialized in still life painting. He was the only African American artist at the turn of the century who painted in still life. Born to a free African American, his early interest in drawing was matched by inspiration found in his mother’s garden and the Connecticut fields and woodlands. He saved money from odd jobs to attend art school.
As he became famous, his fruit and flower paintings were purchased by area collectors. Even Mark Twain bought his work and hung it prominently in his dining room; landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church visited his studio, acquired a painting, and complimented his use of color.
Porter succeeded well enough to fund a trip to Paris, where he spent two years. He returned to Connecticut in 1883. The painting we present today belongs to this period. For the next several years, he created some of his best work, combining technical virtuosity with sophisticated composition, meticulous realism, and rich colors. But soon after, tastes changed and Porter’s precise, academic style looked old-fashioned as Impressionism became the prevailing trend.
After 1910, in his later years, Porter’s work deteriorated precipitously; scholars speculates that racism, poverty, and illness played a part in his decline. Suffering from nephritis, he died in 1923.
P.S. Did you know each type of flowers in art carried a special meaning? Learn more about the secret language of flowers.
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