"Edward Mitchell Bannister"(1828-January 9,1901)

Was a painter who concentrated on pastoral landscape scenes depicting the beauty and serenity of nature.He was the first Black artist to receive a national award.He was born and raised in the

small seaport town of St.Andrews,New Brunswick,Canada.He was the son of a black man from Barbados and a white woman from Canada.All British provinces abolished slavery shortly after his birth,giving him the latitude to develop his interest for art,studying the major established artists,while living as a free black man.His mother encouraged his interest in art,and he made his earliest studies,in drawing and watercolor,at the age of ten.Harris Hutch introduced Edward and his brother to the classics of music,literature,and art.During these formative years,spent every opportunity doodling with crayons and charcoal.Both of Edward parents died passed away before he was sixteen.After working as a cook on vessels on the eastern seaboard,he moved to Boston with his brother in 1848,where set him up as a barber serving the black community.During the 1850s and 1860s he learned the technique of solar photography,a process of enlarging photographic images that were developed outdoors in daylight,which he continued to practice while working in Boston and New York.By the mid 1860s,he was studying under Dr.William Rimmer at the Lowell Institute and painting landscapes,portraits,religious,and genre subjects.Edward loved visiting museums,libraries,and art galleries.Envisioning the potential for photography as an art form,he became and early painter of photographs.Edward married New York businesswoman Christina Carteaux after meeting her through a black drama,group,and it was her stature that probably,allowed and encouraged him to become a full time,established painter. He never took formal art training,he was one of a few blacks who attended the Lowell Institute evening program.Financial freedom allowed him to open his own studio,and he painted in a vigorous Bardizon mode,focusing on natures changing moods.Often he included well-drawn and painted figures reacting to the drama of a nature scenes,as in Approaching Storm(1886,oil on canvas).By 1870,when he and Christina moved to Providence,Rhode Island,his landscapes were showing the influence of the Barbizon style,and his work had reached a maturity,infused with his spiritual and emotional responses to nature.His work flourished and his paintings were collected by such patrons as George Thomas Downing (1819-1903),a wealthy local entrepreneur,and the black soprano Matilda Sissieretta Jones (1868-1933).Edward was the only New England artist to win a bronze medal at the 1876 World Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia for his creation,Under the Oaks,(untracted).Edward drew inspiration from Millet and the Barbizon School.While he was conscious of his rights as an American citizen,he did not bring politics into his art but aimed recognition for his achievement in landscape painting.He exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1879.He was one of the most respected artists in Providence,which was home to many pastoral landscapes artists.Edward was one of the founders of the Providence Art Club,which later assisted in the development of the Rhode Island School of Design.During the Civil War,he became an advocate of rights for the Union Black Soldiers.Edward and his wife remained in Providence until his death.He died of a heart attack while attending a prayer meeting at the Elmwood Avenue Free Baptist Church in Providence.He and Catherine never had children.