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for Carlton Theodore Chapman
American, 1860 - 1925
Although born in the Midwest, Carlton Chapman came from a line of New England shipbuilders, and he spent much of his youth in and around the family shipyards in Maine. Around 1876 he ran away from home to work on a Great Lakes schooner for a year. Following this adventure, he attended Oberlin College before going to New York to study art. He was enrolled in the Academy's antique class from 1882 to 1884 and also took instruction at the Art Students League. In 1886 he went to Paris, where he attended the Académie Julian, working under Gustav Boulanger and Jules-Joseph Lefebvre, but he returned to America within the year. During the 1880s he usually spent summers by the sea, in Gloucester, Massachusetts, or Mount Desert, Maine. Occasionally, he gave summer sketch classes.
Given his nautical background and experience, it is not surprising that Chapman's specialty became depictions of ships at sea, particularly marine battle scenes. His paintings and illustrations of battles from the War of 1812 and the Spanish-American War were particularly well known. During the latter conflict, Harper's Weekly chartered a yacht that Chapman captained in the waters off Cuba. As a correspondent, he regularly sent back articles and illustrations that appeared in Harper's 1898 issues. Chapman's illustrations were often used in books on naval warfare. He was a skilled etcher and watercolorist and a published poet.
Chapman's paintings were first accepted in an Academy annual exhibition in 1884, and he contributed consistently every year thereafter until his death. His eulogy, read into the Academy minutes of April 22, 1925, took special note of his place in the fellowship of New York artists: "He belonged always with the group of Sherwood Studio men and was one of the few who through all the changes of time remained faithful to the old building, while he also assiduously frequented the Century Club. He was affectionate in character, genial, emotional and generous, in sum a kindly comrade."
Given his nautical background and experience, it is not surprising that Chapman's specialty became depictions of ships at sea, particularly marine battle scenes. His paintings and illustrations of battles from the War of 1812 and the Spanish-American War were particularly well known. During the latter conflict, Harper's Weekly chartered a yacht that Chapman captained in the waters off Cuba. As a correspondent, he regularly sent back articles and illustrations that appeared in Harper's 1898 issues. Chapman's illustrations were often used in books on naval warfare. He was a skilled etcher and watercolorist and a published poet.
Chapman's paintings were first accepted in an Academy annual exhibition in 1884, and he contributed consistently every year thereafter until his death. His eulogy, read into the Academy minutes of April 22, 1925, took special note of his place in the fellowship of New York artists: "He belonged always with the group of Sherwood Studio men and was one of the few who through all the changes of time remained faithful to the old building, while he also assiduously frequented the Century Club. He was affectionate in character, genial, emotional and generous, in sum a kindly comrade."
