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Charles Ethan Porter was an American painter who specialized in still life. He was the only African-American artist at the turn of the century to specialize in still life painting. As a free African American, his early interest in painting matched the inspiration he found in his mother’s garden and the fields and woodlands of Connecticut. He worked odd jobs to save money for art school.
As he became famous, his fruit and flower paintings were purchased by local collectors. Even Mark Twain bought his work and hung it prominently in his dining room; the landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church visited his studio and bought a painting, and praised his use of colour.
Porter’s success was enough to fund a trip to Paris, where he remained for two years. He returned to Connecticut in 1883. The painting we present today belongs to this period. Over the next few years he produced some of his best work, combining technical virtuosity with complex composition, detailed realism and rich colour. But tastes changed before long, and Porter’s rigorous, academic style seemed dated as Impressionism became mainstream.
After 1910, Porter’s later works declined sharply. Scholars have speculated that racism, poverty and disease were responsible for his decline. He died of nephritis in 1923.
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45.72 × 40.64 cm
National Gallery of Art
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