Granville Perkins

Granville Perkins (1830 - 1895)

Born October 16, 1830 in Baltimore, Maryland, American artist and illustrator Granville Perkins honed his artistic skills studying in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art under American landscape painter and etcher, James Hamilton (1819-1898).

At age fifteen, (1845) Perkins became a scene painter for elaborate theater productions, Havana Opera, working with the Ravel family on plays such as "Mazulua, "The Green Monster" and "Jacko or the Brazilian Ape". He traveled with the Ravels from 1851 to 1856, visiting Cuba, Jamaica, Yucatan and Central America.

During his twenties, Perkins was greatly influenced by the paintings of artist Frederic Edwin Church. Perkins followed Church’s inclination for traveling and voyaged to "exotic" locales such as Cuba, Jamaica and Central America. Perkins’s later compositions frequently referenced his experiences in these foreign countries.

He returned to Philadelphia in 1856 and again studied with James Hamilton. In 1856, Perkins exhibited his first painting, #306 "Cape Croix, Cuba".

From 1856 to 1860, Perkins completed a 55 painting set featuring Philadelphia Firehouses and Fire Stations. It is suspected that Perkins painted the city firehouses while studying the painting of architecture. As for the collection, locations, if not complete addresses are given for all 55 of the stations and houses, as well as the kind of house, specifically engine, hose, or trunk in most cases.

We can only speculate what his intentions were in painting the firehouses of Philadelphia, though perhaps he wished to express the individualization of a common cause by neighbourhood, ethnicity and location across the city. Truly, each house is different from all the others, and the interiors and more importantly, the exteriors display this.

The Granville Perkins Collection is housed at the Free Library of Philadelphia, in the Print and Picture Department.

In 1860, Granville Perkins traveled to New York to work as an illustrator for Harper & Bros. in Franklin Square. While working at Harper & Bros., he continued his studies and was invited to exhibit at the National Academy of Design. Perkins became a frequent exhibitor at the National Academy of Design between 1862 to 1883.

From 1867 on, many of Perkins’ sketches and paintings were included in various publications. In 1867 he was published in "The True Church". In 1868 he was published in "Grant as a Soldier and Statesman: Being a Succinct History of His Military" by Edward Howland. In 1869 he was published in "Ballads of New England" by John Greenleaf Whittier. In 1869 he was published in "Beyond the Mississippi".

In 1870 he went to California from New York, and traveled south by ship around Cape Horn. Before this, his Latin American paintings had primarily been of Cuba, but during the 1870s and 1880s, they were mainly of South American tropical landscapes.

Mastering both oil and watercolor techniques, Perkins traveled the east coast extensively and created scenes in his native Baltimore as well as New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida and Cuba.

In 1871 he entered the paintings "Tropical Scenery" and "Marine View" in the 9th annual St Louis Fair.

In 1872 he went to Highlands NJ to sketch several scenes for the first edition of "Picturesque America" and continued to sketch for them till 1874, ed. William Cullen Bryant, D. Appleton, NY. Perkins is concidered the third prolific of the Picturesue America artists. In 1874 he worked as an illustrator for Frank Leslie's "Illustrated Newspaper", and was published in "Ballads, Lyrics and Hymns" by Alice Cary. From 1874 to 1882, Perkins illustrated for "Harpers Weekly". In 1875 he was published in The History of Our Country and its reprint in 1893.

A member of the American Watercolor Society from 1876 to 1896, Perkins exhibited both his oils and watercolors frequently at the National Academy between 1862 and 1889. He also exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy in 1856 and at the Chicago Art Institute in 1889 and 1894.

Perkins exhibited two watercolor paintings, The Village Church and Coastal Scene at the 36th Reception of the Brooklyn Art Association, held on Monday, April 22, 1878.

1878 1879 Scribner's Monthly Illustrated Magazine

In 1879 Perkins was published in Christmas in Art and Song, and in William Holmes McGuffey's first [-sixth] eclectic reader, Book 4.

In 1881 and 1882, Perkins sent paintings to the Boston Art Club. In 1881 he was published in “Saint Nicholas, Volume 8, Part 2” by Mary Mapes Dodge, and in Edger Allen Poe’s “The Bells”. In 1882 he was published in “The Heart of the White Mountains: Their Legend and Scenery” by Samuel Adams Drake.

In 1884 Perkins was published in: “Bingen on the Rhine” by Caroline Sheridan Norton, in “Lady Clare” by Alfred Tennyson, and in “The Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Volume 5”. In 1887 he was published in “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War”. In 1888 he was published in “Richfield Springs (on Canadarago Lake.), Otsego County”. He continued to submit works to the NAD through 1889. Also in 1889, a feature story appeared on Perkins in American Artists and Their Works, in which Perkins was declared a most celebrated artist.

In 1896 he was published posthumously in “The Courtship of Miles Standish” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Devoting his life to scene painting and illustration, Perkins created views of everyday events and surroundings that have become popular for capturing the authentic flavor of the time in which he lived. Granville Perkins painted until his death in New York City at the age of 65.

Museums:

Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, Connecticut

New York Historical Society

Peabody Museum of Art, Salem, Massachusetts

Listed:

The Annual Exhibition Record of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1888-1950 E. Benezit,Vol.8, pg.224

Dictionary of Marine Artists, Pg.299

Exhibition of the National Academy, 1861-1900, Vol. 2, pg.735

Who was Who in American Art, Falk, pg.479

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