Painting

Title:

Chauncey F. Ryder

Object Name:

Painting

Object ID:

2016.046

Creator:

Ipsen, Ernest L. (1869-1951); Grieve, Maurice

Date:

1922

Description:

Portrait of artist Chauncey F. Ryder (1868-1949), by Ernest L. Ipsen (1869-1951), 1922. Oil on canvas. Half-length portrait of seated man; semi-profile view with head turned to his right. He wears a brown coat and white scarf, and holds a cane on his lap; right hand gloved and left hand bare. Signed, upper right corner, front: "E. L. Ipsen / 1922". Carved wood Arts and Crafts style gilt frame with relief-molded leaves. "M. GRIEVE CO. / HAND CARVED / NEW YORK LONDON" stamped on back of frame, top center.

Material:

Textile

Dimensions:

H-40.5 W-31.25 inches

Provenance:

Gwendolyn W. English, the donor, is the daughter of Frances W. English, the adopted daughter of Chauncey F. and Mary Ryder.

Born in Danbury, CT, Chauncey F. Ryder (1868-1949), the son of Benjamin F. and Esther Ann (Hazen) Ryder), showed an early interest in drawing. In 1890, he moved to Chicago from New Haven with his family, and in 1891, married Mary Keith Dole. In 1897 he enrolled in the night school of the Art Institute of Chicago. Ryder eventually abandoned his business career to study art. In 1901, he won a scholarship to study at the Academie Julian in Paris, where he worked with painters Louis Joseph Raphael Collin (1850-1916) and Jean Paul Laurens (1838-1921). Ryder stayed in France for several years, living in an art colony at Etaples and exhibiting his work at the Paris Salon between 1903 and 1909. An expressive Tonalist painter, Chauncey Ryder also fell under the influence of James Abbott McNeill Whistler, painting moody landscapes with haunting symbolism.

The Ryders returned to the United States in 1907, settling in New York City. His palette lightened and he adopted a more broadly brushed and gestural style. The Ryders became interested in Wilton while visiting Standard Oil Company Treasurer Charles E. Bushnell at Wilton Center in 1910. After painting in the shadow of Mount Monadnock during that summer, the Ryders bought a home and returned to spend each spring, summer, and fall in New Hampshire for the next 39 years. They also occasionally summered on Monhegan Island, ME, and painted at the Old Lyme Art Colony, Lyme, CT.

Shortly after the purchase of the New Hampshire property, Ryder began to produce lithographs, in addition to drypoints, etchings, drawings, and watercolors. He was drawn to New England landscapes, capturing the lost agricultural world of broad meadows, toppled stone walls, and abandoned roads. Ryder developed a stylized feeling for large landforms and decorative tree lines, and a skill for portraying "rhythmic patterns both in his impasto and the compositional structure of his landscapes." He spent most of his time in Wilton, and his distinctive style and presentation of dazzling green tones in his landscapes gained him a wide following of students and customers. In 1914 Ryder was elected an associate member of the National Academy of Design, becoming a full member in 1922.

Credit Line:

Gift of the Frances W. English Trust

People:

Ryder, Chauncey F. (1868-1949)

Subjects:

Artists