William lester stevens biography
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We laughed and hand fun. Friends and neighbors were convinced that all of his work, no matter how big, was painted outside, on the spot. Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975, vol. Greenfield, Massachusetts: Greenfield College Foundation, 1977. He did a number of covers for The American Legion Magazine and won prizes in New Haven, Springfield and Rockport.
Except for summer trips made in the 1960s to Lubec, Maine, Campobello Island and Grand Manan Island, Stevens lived and painted in Conway for the rest of his life.
Primarily an oil painter, Stevens also used watercolor and acrylics.
Biography courtesy of The Charleston Renaissance Gallery, www.antiquesandfineart.com/charleston
Stevens, along with his friend Aldro Hibbard, was instrumental in organizing the Rockport Art Association in 1921 with the goal of making art more accessible to common people.
He later gave lessons and held one-man shows in Charlotte and Asheville, North Carolina, where his work was well-received. We took long walks together in the winter. One such detour took him through a farmer’s backyard, and there he was caught drying clothes on the front bumper of his vehicle.Stevens was a compulsive painter, working every day.
He impressed his commanding officers with his talent and, as a result, an extended stay was arranged for him during which time he could further study the work of the masters in the European museums.
Arriving home after the war, Stevens received an invitation from John Pepper, of the Boston Art Club, to do a one-man show. 13).
Stevens continued to create views of New England until almost the final day of his life, June 10, 1969.
On windy days, he’d tie a rock to the easel or stake down the canvas. NRS
References:
Falk, Peter Hastings. Later in his life Stevens also organized the Conway Festival of the Hills and the Berkshire Arts Festival.
Stevens was a member of the Boston School, traditionalists and impressionists, opposed to abstraction in art.
In 1934, he abandoned Rockport to the growing tourist population and moved to Springfield, and then to Conway, Massachusetts, where he remodeled an old farmhouse and constructed a studio which looked north towards Mount Monadnock.
Although influenced by Tarbell, Stevens' wide range of brushstrokes and impressionist style prevented him from being classified as a "Tarbellist," as many of Tarbell's followers were labeled.
Stevens joined the Army in 1917 and was sent to Europe where he continued to paint and sketch. William Lester Stevens died on June 10, 1969.
Source:
American Art Review, October 2003
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We didn’t need much and probably seemed a ‘peculiar’ pair. Stevens could produce a painting in a couple of hours, sometimes painting three pictures in one day. One time, he found a road to his favorite motif blocked, so he drove down the nearby railroad tracks. In 1906, the National Academy of Design showed a work by Stevens, and three years later he received a scholarship for study at the Museum School in Boston.
He understood the importance of placing himself where he could create the best composition and "took the liberty of moving objects so that the composition would meet his desires." This is perhaps why Stevens would later conclude that "fine pictures are the result of fine minds (Greenfield, p.