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Artist Biographies

Elijah Baxter

1849 - 1939
Historical Rhode Island artist

baxterLittle is known about the life of Elijah Baxter prior to 1870, other than he was born in Hyannis, Massachusetts. His father was a musician, and it is most probable that Elijah came to Providence at a young age. At the age of 21, when he embarked on his art career, he received letters of introduction from the Secretary of State and Governor of Rhode Island, and the Mayor of Providence, which suggests that his family was well regarded in the Providence community. Baxter went to Europe for his art training, studying under Van Lerins, Van Luppen and Jacobs at the Academie des Beaux Arts in Antwerp, Belgium. After three years of training, Baxter returned to Providence and established his studio in the Wayland Building.

Baxter had a very successful career as a painter of marine and coastal scenes. Early in his career he had the great fortune to be invited by Henry Clewes, a wealthy art patron, to set up a studio on his estate, Spouting Rock, in Newport. The artist excelled, achieving recognition in New England by capturing a medal at the Boston Fifteenth Annual Exhibition in 1878. His work was known for its "originality of design and individuality of color."

His landscapes were uncharacteristically not of the popular Barbizon mode employed by most Providence artists. Instead, he painted with a lighter palette, suggesting a vague anticipation of impressionism. This approach to painting was greatly admired by fellow artist S.R. Burleigh and the noted Providence art patron Issac Bates. He exhibited at the Boston and Providence Art Clubs, The National Academy of Design, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Ten years before his death in 1939, Baxter won the Semi-Centennial Prize for the best oil painting at the Providence Art Club. The canvas, "Fog Threatens", was described as " a sincerely and solidly painted scene in which Mr. Baxter caught the spirit of a threatening day." The piece is now owned by the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art. Upon Baxter's capturing the prize in 1929, S.R. Burleigh jotted the following note of praise to the artist:

"My dear Baxter, Congratulations on getting the Art Club Prize. It would seem that the old guard has never surrendered nor died!"

  • Grace Albee 1890 - 1985 *
  • Percy Albee 1883 - 1969
  • Edward M. Bannister 1828 - 1901
  • Elijah Baxter 1828 - 1901
  • Anna R. Brewster 1870-1952
  • Sydney Burleigh 1853-1931
  • Henry Newell Cady 1849-1935
  • Samuel Roscoe Chaffee 1850 – 1913
  • Antonio Cirino 1888 - 1983
  • Edgar Corbridge 1901-1988
  • F. Usher DeVoll 1873 - 1941
  • William Staples Drown - 1856 - 1915
  • H.A. Dyer 1872 - 1943 *
  • H. Cyrus Farnum 1866-1926
  • Walter Feldman 1925-2017
  • Ruth Forrest 1919-1994
  • John Frazier 1889 - 1966
  • Eliza Gardiner 1871 - 1955
  • Rebecca Russel Greene - 1879 - 1953
  • Mary Helme Hale - 1862-1940
  • James Herbert 1898 - 1970
  • George Hitchcock 1850 - 1913
  • Margarete Koehler-Bittkow (1897-1964)
  • E.C. Leavitt 1842-1904
  • Florence Leif 1913 - 1968 *
  • Steven W. Macomber 1889-1983
  • Edna Martin 1896-1996
  • Frank C. Mathewson 1861 - 1941
  • Maxwell Mays 1918 - 2009
  • Angela O'Leary 1879-1921
  • Gordon Peers 1909 - 1988
  • Henri Schonhardt 1875 – 1953
  • Charles Stetson 1858-1911
  • Emma Swan 1853 - 1927
  • George Whitaker 1840 - 1916
  • Mabel May Woodward, 1877 - 1945

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24 Bridge Street
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 751-2628
info@bertgallery.com

Mailing Address: 24 Corliss Street, #6939
Providence, RI 02940
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