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for Henry Ward Ranger
1858 - 1915
Henry Ward Ranger attended Syracuse University for about a year before moving to New York at age 20. A pianist and organist, he worked as a music and theatre critic while learning to paint in watercolors. After marrying actress Helen E. Jennings in 1883, he left for a European stay of several years, spending time in Holland and France where he was exposed to the Barbizon landscape style. European painters whom he befriended such as Anton Mauve and Josef Israels served as Ranger's only teachers; when filling out the education blank of an NAD membership card, he wrote, "I owe very much to the friendship & advice of Painters met while living abroad."
Ranger returned to the United States in 1888, but he continued to make regular summer trips to Holland through the 1890s, often purchasing Dutch paintings for his friend, dealer William Macbeth. In time, he came to be known as the leader of the tonal school of landscape painting. Much of his work was accomplished while in his country residences of Old Lyme and Noank, CT. Near the end of his life, winters were spent in Puerto Rico and Jamaica. He lingered for long periods of time over his later canvases and was in ill health during the last three years of his life.
A successful businessman, Ranger had accumulated a fortune of over $400,000 which he left to the National Academy with instructions that this "Ranger Fund" be used to buy works by living American artists (two thirds of whom had to be over 45 years old) for extended loan to museums and libraries across the country. During a specified period following the death of each artist, the National Museum of American Art may select these works for its collection. If the NMAA elects not to take it, the painting becomes the property of the original museum or library. Since its inception, the Ranger Fund has presented hundreds of paintings to eligible institutions.
Note: The National Academy possesses nine sketchbooks by Ranger and considerable archival material relating to the disbursement of his estate.
Ranger returned to the United States in 1888, but he continued to make regular summer trips to Holland through the 1890s, often purchasing Dutch paintings for his friend, dealer William Macbeth. In time, he came to be known as the leader of the tonal school of landscape painting. Much of his work was accomplished while in his country residences of Old Lyme and Noank, CT. Near the end of his life, winters were spent in Puerto Rico and Jamaica. He lingered for long periods of time over his later canvases and was in ill health during the last three years of his life.
A successful businessman, Ranger had accumulated a fortune of over $400,000 which he left to the National Academy with instructions that this "Ranger Fund" be used to buy works by living American artists (two thirds of whom had to be over 45 years old) for extended loan to museums and libraries across the country. During a specified period following the death of each artist, the National Museum of American Art may select these works for its collection. If the NMAA elects not to take it, the painting becomes the property of the original museum or library. Since its inception, the Ranger Fund has presented hundreds of paintings to eligible institutions.
Note: The National Academy possesses nine sketchbooks by Ranger and considerable archival material relating to the disbursement of his estate.
