The Collection of Paul Gregory and Janet Gaynor. CLAUDE HOWELL (American, 1915-1997). Nets, 1953. Oil on canvas. 2...

Description

The Collection of Paul Gregory and Janet Gaynor

CLAUDE HOWELL (American, 1915-1997)
Nets, 1953
Oil on canvas
23-1/2 x 29-1/2 inches (59.7 x 74.9 cm)
Signed and dated lower right: howell 53
Inscribed and title on verso, upper stretcher bar: NETS CLAUDE HOWELL

The mid-century modernist Claude Howell has often been characterized as the "Dean of North Carolina Painters." Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, he had a powerful influence on the arts in his home state through his murals, easel paintings, and work as an arts educator at Wilmington College. His art courses became the foundation for the school's formal art department. While he sought artistic training in New England and in Europe, he always called Wilmington home, and the North Carolina coastal fishing community provided him with endless inspiration for a lifetime of paintings, including the present work from 1953.

From the time he was a teenager, Howell knew he wanted to pursue an artistic career. When he graduated from high school in 1931, however, America was in the depths of the Depression and he had no money for art school. He went to work for the Atlantic Coastline Railroad, and painted during his free time. He spent his summer vacations in the art colonies of Rockport, Maine and Woodstock, New York, training with Jon Corbino, Bernard Karfiol and Charles Rosen, all of whom were significant early influences on his painting.

In 1937, Howell received the first public recognition for his work when one of his paintings was accepted in the North Carolina Association of Professional Artists' first juried exhibition. A few years later, a winter landscape was accepted in the third North Carolina Artists Annual and won a $200 Purchase Award from the International Business Machines Corporation. These early successes lead to his participation in the New York World's Fair exhibitions, and in 1940 he became the first artist from North Carolina to show work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

During his lifetime, Howell had one-man shows at the North Carolina Museum of Art, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, and Georgia Museum of Art. His work is represented in the permanent collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art, Norfolk Museum, Pasadena Art Institute, Corcoran Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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