Biography from Pierce Galleries, Inc.:
| A.C. Goodwin is known primarily for his luscious dock views, landscapes and cityscapes in and around Boston, Gloucester and New York City. He spent most of his professional life in Boston (before 1920 and from 1928-1929, and again from 1925-until his death) and New York City (1920-1927). He painted in oil and in pastel.
Known as a “Boston painter,” he was a member of no “school” and basically was self-taught. He was a member of the Guild of Boston Artists and the Boston Society of Water Color Painters. He exhibited at the Guild of Boston Artists; the PAFA; Doll & Richards Gallery, Boston; Boston Art Club; Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC; Milch Galleries, NYC and elsewhere.
His work is represented at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Union Club, Boston; St. Botolph Club, Boston; Addison Gallery of Art, Andover, MA; Colby College, ME and elsewhere. He painted en plein air and is best known for the Boston waterfront, street and park scenes.
In 1920, Goodwin painted Washington Square in Manhattan from his studio there. After his marriage failed, the despondent artist returned to Boston and led the life of a Bohemian who drank excessively. Louis Kronberg often roomed with Goodwin, taking care of him and making sure he didn’t drink too much alcohol. Although Goodwin never studied in Paris, he vowed one day he would go to see the French Impressionists’ work firsthand. Tragically, after an excessive drinking binge, Goodwin was found dead in his Boston studio with tickets for Paris in his pocket.
In 1974, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, honored the Impressionist with a solo show, and thereafter his works have been sought after and collected by the finest institutions and individual collectors throughout the world. |
Biography from AskART:
| A painter especially known for street and waterfront scenes of Boston, Arthur Clifton Goodwin did work that captured the subtle nuances of light and color, creating a harmony between and the natural environment. His style reflected American Impressionism, although his subject matter was not typically rural. He preferred painting Boston and particularly scenes where the city met the natural landscape, such as piers, bridges, or the Boston statehouse. His "T" wharf series, representing the pier where boats of largely Portuguese and Italian origin would dock, were quite well known.
Goodwin was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and was raised in Chelsea Massachusetts. He did not begin painting until the age of thirty and became a self-taught Impressionist and also a follower of the Ashcan School led by Robert Henri. After painting in Boston in both oil and pastel for a twenty-year period, Goodwin gained the recognition of famous art figures including John Singer Sargent, Mrs. Jack Gardner, and John T. Spaulding. Childe Hassam was quoted as describing Goodwin as "the greatest painter in Boston."
However, Goodwin's erratic lifestyle frequently cost him patrons as did the inconsistency of his pricing of his paintings.
In 1921, he left Boston for New York City and had a studio on Washington Square where he "developed a reputation as one of the few American Impressionists to prefer urban subjects" (Spanierman) including bridges, parks and avenues. He and his wife then lived in Chatham, New York where he painted many landscapes. In 1929, he returned to Boston and resumed his Bohemian lifestyle. That same year he died suddenly, found in his home by friends with his trunk fully packed and lying beside a steamship ticket to France.
Source:
Michael David Zellman, "300 Years of American Art"
Spanierman Galleries LLC, "Art for the New Collector II"
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Arthur Goodwin is also mentioned in these AskART essays:
Impressionists Pre 1940
San Francisco Panama-Pacific Exhibition 1915
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