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Ad Code: 3
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An example of work by Arthur Vidal Diehl
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
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Biography from Provincetown Art Association And Museum:
| Arthur Vidal Diehl was born in London in 1870, the youngest of 6
children. His father was the director of an Opera company and his
mother a published novelist. Fabled to have conducted his father's
orchestra at 16, by the time he was 19 he had abandoned his education
at Oxford University and gone off to roam around Europe stopping
briefly to study painting in Milan. He exhibited at the Royal Academy
in London before leaving for the US in 1891, where he arrived broke but
in possession of a wealth of talents.
He turned to piecework in order to make some money, painting the tops
of snuff boxes was one of the jobs he took, but he was also able to
pick up work singing, acting, directing and playing music. His first
wife died young in 1894 and he was married again by the time he went on
tour with the Barrymores. At this time he established his studio in
Englewood, then Lakewood, then Asbury Park, New Jersey. Unfortunately
his second wife died in 1903.
It was possibly through his theatrical connections that he eventually
arrived in Provincetown in 1912 with his third wife. He summered on
Cape Cod every year after that until his death in 1929. His first
studio was at the Pamet Coast Guard Station in Truro. He later had a
studio in the Provincetown Art Shop, where he painted swiftly under the
gaze of many onlookers, while he kept up a stream of comment. He is
said to have been able to produce up to 25 paintings in a day and he
always sold them directly and never to dealers. Diehl was always
completely indifferent to price and artistic reputation, and painted
voluminously as the only way to assure an income for his family.
He was in Provincetown when World War 1 broke out and he tried to
enlist in the British Army in Boston but was deemed to old for service.
Instead he wrote a patriotic book of poems called Tommy Rhymes which
was written in cockney slang as a salute to his old home and friends.
The end came on January 12th at the Truesdale Hospital in Fall River.
Arthur Diehl is buried in the Moody lot at Gray Gables cemetary in
Bourne.
From the artist archives of The Provincetown Art Association & Museum |
Biography from AskART:
| Best known for his sand dune and harbor scenes of Cape Cod, Arthur
Diehl was born in England and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1899.
He came to America in the 1890s and became so associated with Cape Cod
that Fox Movietone in 1921 made a short movie of him painting at
Provincetown.
He also had studies in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey; Boston, Worcester, and Truro, Massachusetts; and St. Augustine, Florida.
He
worked rapidly, often finishing his paintings as he talked to
prospective buyers. He was also a talented singer and piano player.
Source:
Peter Falk, Who Was Who in American Art |
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
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