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Addams was born in [[Woodbury, New Jersey]], the son of [[Society of Friends|Quaker]] wool merchant Wellington Isaac Addams and Sarah Neff Addams.<ref name="Geni">[https://www.geni.com/people/Clifford-Addams/6000000078380339003 Clifford Isaac Addams,] from Geni.</ref> He had a sister Florence and a brother Robert.<ref name="Geni"/>
Addams was born in [[Woodbury, New Jersey]], the son of [[Society of Friends|Quaker]] wool merchant Wellington Isaac Addams and Sarah Neff Addams.<ref name="Geni">[https://www.geni.com/people/Clifford-Addams/6000000078380339003 Clifford Isaac Addams,] from Geni.</ref> He had a sister Florence and a brother Robert.<ref name="Geni"/>


Addams studied architecture at the [[Drexel University|Drexel Institute]], then attended the [[Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts]].<ref name="Cleveland"/> He won an 1899 traveling scholarship from PAFA, which enabled him to study in Europe. That same year, Whistler opened an art school in Paris&mdash;nicknamed the "Académie Carmen," because it was run by the artist's former model, Carmen Rossi. Addams enrolled, and became a favored pupil of the celebrated artist.<ref name="Cleveland"/>
Addams studied architecture at the [[Drexel University|Drexel Institute]], then attended the [[Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts]].<ref name="Cleveland"/> He won an 1899 traveling scholarship from PAFA, which enabled him to study in Europe. That same year, Whistler opened an art school in Paris&mdash;the "Académie Carmen," by the artist's former model, Carmen Rossi. Addams enrolled, and became a favored pupil of the celebrated artist.<ref name="Cleveland"/>


Addams met fellow student Inez Eleanor Bate, and they married in 1900.<ref name="Cleveland"/> They helped to run the school and care for Whistler, who was in failing health.<ref name="Neufield"/> After the school closed its doors in 1901, the couple moved to London. They had four children: Dianne (b. 1901), Whistler was her godfather,<ref name="Neufield"/> twins James and Anthony (b. 1904), and Martin (b. ).<ref name="Geni"/> Addams painted portraits and figure works, and made etchings of London and other European cities. He served in the [[Royal Navy]] during World War I, from 1914 to 1919.<ref name="Neufield"/> He deserted his wife and family in 1920, citing her "extreme cruelty" in divorce proceedings.<ref name="Neufield">Ron Neufield, "Asheville City Hall's historic mural revealed," ''The Ashville Citizen-Times'', September 4, 2017.</ref> He returned to the United States alone, while she raised their children in [[Hendon]], London.<ref name="Falk vol 2"/> He settled in the [[Greenwich Village]] section of Lower Manhattan, where he died in 1942.<ref name="Geni"/>
Addams met fellow student Inez Eleanor Bate, and they married in 1900.<ref name="Cleveland"/> They helped to run the school and care for Whistler, who was in failing health.<ref name="Neufield"/> After the school closed its doors in 1901, the couple moved to London. They had four children: Dianne (b. 1901), Whistler was her godfather,<ref name="Neufield"/> twins James and Anthony (b. 1904), and Martin (b. ).<ref name="Geni"/> Addams painted portraits and figure works, and made etchings of London and other European cities. He served in the [[Royal Navy]] during World War I, from 1914 to 1919.<ref name="Neufield"/> He deserted his wife and family in 1920, citing her "extreme cruelty" in divorce proceedings.<ref name="Neufield">Ron Neufield, "Asheville City Hall's historic mural revealed," ''The Ashville Citizen-Times'', September 4, 2017.</ref> He returned to the United States alone, while she raised their children in [[Hendon]], London.<ref name="Falk vol 2"/> He settled in the [[Greenwich Village]] section of Lower Manhattan, where he died in 1942.<ref name="Geni"/>

Revision as of 17:39, 1 November 2018

Clifford Isaac Addams (May 25, 1876 – November 7, 1942) was an American painter and etcher, and a protégé of James MacNeill Whistler.

Biography

Addams was born in Woodbury, New Jersey, the son of Quaker wool merchant Wellington Isaac Addams and Sarah Neff Addams.[1] He had a sister Florence and a brother Robert.[1]

Addams studied architecture at the Drexel Institute, then attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.[2] He won an 1899 traveling scholarship from PAFA, which enabled him to study in Europe. That same year, Whistler opened an art school in Paris—the "Académie Carmen," operated by the artist's former model, Carmen Rossi.[3] Addams enrolled, and became a favored pupil of the celebrated artist.[2]

Addams met fellow student Inez Eleanor Bate, and they married in 1900.[2] They helped to run the school and care for Whistler, who was in failing health.[4] After the school closed its doors in 1901, the couple moved to London. They had four children: Dianne (b. 1901), Whistler was her godfather,[4] twins James and Anthony (b. 1904), and Martin (b. ).[1] Addams painted portraits and figure works, and made etchings of London and other European cities. He served in the Royal Navy during World War I, from 1914 to 1919.[4] He deserted his wife and family in 1920, citing her "extreme cruelty" in divorce proceedings.[4] He returned to the United States alone, while she raised their children in Hendon, London.[5] He settled in the Greenwich Village section of Lower Manhattan, where he died in 1942.[1]

Painter

Addams first exhibited at PAFA's 1907 annual exhibition.[5] John Sloan commented on one of his works: "Clifford Addams is a theme of interest. His nude in the show is a fine thing. If Whistler had done it, it would be a great Whistler."[6] After meeting him, Sloan wrote: "Clifford Addams seems to be not at all the weird eccentric we have heard him described during the last six years. Either he has changed or Dame Rumor is a liar, the last most likely."[6] Addams exhibited sporadically at PAFA from 1907 and 1937. His Odalisque, exhibited in 1913, is fully clothed and coolly appraises the viewer, rather than the other way around.[7] PAFA awarded him its 1925 Temple Gold Medal for Washington Square, New York.[8]

His At Play, a scene of a young woman in a kimono toying with a songbird perched on her finger, was a traditional subject, but Addams painted it with modernist brushwork.[9] It was exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1922, at PAFA in 1923,[8] and at the National Academy of Design in 1924, where it was awarded the Thomas B. Clark Prize.[10]

In 1928, he completed five murals for the City Council Chamber of City Hall in Asheville, North Carolina.[4] "These depict the story of the Indians and the early white settlers."[11]

His paintings are in the collections of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and private collections.

Etcher

Addams was a superb draftsman, and became a master etcher, manipulating his copper plates with variated inkings and wipings. Etchings such as An Obscure Turning, Venice come in daylight and night time versions, depending upon how Addams chose to apply the inks.[2] He visited Venice for the first time in 1913, and had a triumphant London exhibition of the resulting etchings in Spring 1914.[2] He joined the Royal Navy later that year, and sketches he made during his service were adapted into etchings of ships and naval battles, after the war.[2]

Addams's exhibition of 46 etchings at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco was awarded a bronze medal.[2]

His etchings are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and other museums. A posthumous exhibition of his etchings and drypoints was held at a London art gallery in 1984.[12]

Selected works

Paintings

  • Portrait of the Artist's Wife (1906), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts[13]
  • Decoration (c.1912), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts[14]
  • Odalisque (c.1913), unlocated
  • At Play (c.1922), unlocated
  • Washington Square, New York (c.1925), unlocated. Awarded PAFA's 1925 Temple Gold Medal.

Etchings

  • Etching: Waterloo Place (1912)
    Etching: Waterloo Place (1912)
  • Etching: Limehouse (c.1912)
    Etching: Limehouse (c.1912)
  • Etching: Venetian Craft (c.1913)
    Etching: Venetian Craft (c.1913)
  • Etching: An Obscure Turning, Venice (c.1914)
    Etching: An Obscure Turning, Venice (c.1914)
  • Etching: On Deck, HMS Princess Royal (c.1920)
    Etching: On Deck, HMS Princess Royal (c.1920)

References

  1. ^ a b c d Clifford Isaac Addams, from Geni.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g David Adams Cleveland, "Clifford Addams, 1876–1942," Adventures in Scholarship (2015).
  3. ^ "Carmen Rossi," The Correspondence of James MacNeill Whistler, from University of Glasgow.
  4. ^ a b c d e Ron Neufield, "Asheville City Hall's historic mural revealed," The Ashville Citizen-Times, September 4, 2017.
  5. ^ a b Peter Hastings Falk, ed., The Annual Exhibition Record of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Volume II, 1876–1913 (Madison, CT: Sound View Press, 1989), p. 63.
  6. ^ a b John Sloan, New York Scene, 1906–1913 (New York: Harper & Row, 1965).
  7. ^ Odalisque, from PAFA.
  8. ^ a b Peter Hastings Falk, ed., The Annual Exhibition Record of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Volume III, 1914–1968 (Madison, CT: Sound View Press, 1989), p. 63.
  9. ^ The New York Times, Feb 18, 1923, p. 11.
  10. ^ The New York Times, March 30, 1924, p. 12.
  11. ^ Robert Topkins and Mary Alice Hinson (n.d.). "Asheville City Hall" (pdf). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved 2018-11-01.
  12. ^ Clifford Addams: Catalog of Etchings and Drypoints (London: N.K. Lott & H.J. Gerrish, Ltd, 1984).
  13. ^ Portrait of the Artist's Wife, from PAFA.
  14. ^ Decoration, from PAFA.
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