Edward Mitchell Bannister, 1828-1901

No. 4417 Painting of Savin Hill by Bannister

No. 15878 Edward Mitchell Bannister

Noted New England landscape painter Edward Mitchell Bannister was among the first African Americans to win major recognition as an artist. When he was about twenty years old, Bannister settled in Boston, where he studied anatomical drawing at the Lowell Institute with artist/lecturer William Rimmer, worked as a barber, and began painting portraits. Bannister’s first great success as an artist came in 1876, when his landscape painting Under the Oaks won first prize at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. When the awards committee realized Bannister was African American, he recounted, “an explosion could not have created more of a sensation in that room.” Afterwards, a rapid succession of honors and awards enabled Bannister to devote all his time to painting.  Bannister’s paintings captured the wild beauty of the American landscape: picturesque plains, open prairies, desolate beaches, and turbulent seas.

 

 

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Posted on

December 26, 2021