Champney, James Wells, 1843-1903

James Wells Champney (July 16, 1843 – May 1, 1903) was an American genre artist and illustrator noted for his portraits, oriental scenes and American landscapes. </p>


Champney was born in Boston, the son of Benjamin and Sarah Wells Champney. His mother died when he was quite young and he was raised by relatives. At the age of 16 years he began his career as an apprentice wood engraver and earned a living making wood engravings. At the outbreak of Civil War he left the apprenticeship and enlisted in the 45th Massachusetts Volunteers. He was at Gettysburg and during his service he contracted malaria and was discharged. After the war he taught drawing for a short period and in 1866 he travelled to Europe where he studied under the genre painter, Edouard Frère in Ecouen. He later studied with Van Lerius at the Royal Academy in Antwerp. He returned to America in 1870 and opened an Academy, but was soon drawn back to Europe, settling in Rome for a time and visiting Paris.</p>

In 1873 he eloped with Elizabeth Williams, his former student of drawing, to save her from an arranged marriage. For three years following their marriage the couple travelled through Europe and were living in France when their first child was born. The family eventually settled in Deerfield, Massachusetts.</p>

James and Elizabeth became productive collaborators. Elizabeth contributed many articles and illustrations to magazines such as Scribners and Harper's and also authored several series of travel books, often with her husband providing the illustrations. James' etchings and illustrations were very popular and were used to illustrate books not only by his wife, but by other notable authors.</p>

In 1879 the Champneys purchased a second home on New York's fashionable Fifth Avenue, where James established a studio. He also maintained a studio at Deerfield, Massachusetts. Although he spent most of his time working at his New York studio, his favourite place of work was the studio at Deerfield.</p>

In 1880 the couple secured a contract to illustrate a series of articles for Century Magazine. For this endeavour the pair embarked on travel to North Africa, Spain and Portugal, visiting localities such as Tangier and Tétouan in Morocco, that had not been covered by any of the illustrated magazines at that time. In Europe they encountered the works of the Spanish realist, Mariano Fortuny and the French painter, Henri Regnault, and spent much of their time following in the artists' footsteps across Spain, France and Morocco. Between 1880 and 1890, the Champneys made several trips to Europe, and in 1890 Champney opened a studio in Paris.</p>

From around 1885 Champney focussed almost exclusively on pastels. He exhibited pastel works at the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago (1893, 1898). In 1882 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member.He was also a member of the Salmagundi Art Club.

The Champney's marriage was a very happy one. James died on 1 May 1903 in a New York elevator accident. He was survived by his widow; a son, Edouard Frère Champney (b. 1874 France), an architect of Washington and a daughter, Mrs John Humphreys, known as Marie Champney (b. 1877), a painter of miniatures.

Biographical/Historical Note

Painter and illustrator; New York, N.Y. Born in Boston, Mass. Genre painter of rural scences and country home life. Studied with Edouard Frere and at the Antwerp Academy, 1868. Exhibited at the Paris Salon, 1869.

James Wells Champney was born in Boston on July 16, 1843. His professional art instruction commenced at the Lowell Institute, where he studied drawing. At age 16, he apprenticed with a local wood engraver. During the Civil War, joined the army and served in the 45th regiment of Massachusetts' volunteer militia. After the war, he continued his artistic training, studying drawing at Dr. Dio Lewis's school in Lexington, Massachusetts, and then traveled to Europe to study under painters Edouard Frere in Paris and Jozef Van Lerius at Belgium's Antwerp Academy. Settling again in Boston where he worked as a struggling painter, in 1873 he was commissioned by Scribner's Monthly to make sketches of the American South that encompassed 20,000 miles and 500 drawings. In 1875, he married Elizabeth Williams, and their family grew to include son Edouard Frere and daughter Maria Mitchell. </p>

After exhibiting his painting "Not so ugly as he looks" at the Paris Salon, he returned to Massachusetts where he built an elaborate studio in Deerfield and accepted an art professorship at Smith College. In 1878, Scribner's Monthly sent Mr. Champney to Brazil to sketch the country featured in a series of articles. Upon his return, he opened a studio in New York where he distinguished himself as a watercolor painter, which resulted in memberships in the prestigious American Water-Color Society and the Salmagundi Sketch Club. During the 1880s, his growing interest in photography led to a popular lecture series in which he critiqued prints, discussed lantern slides, and emphasized the aesthetic advantages of Pictorialism. His growing influence in the photographic community is evidenced by his active membership in the Society of Amateur Photographers of New York and the Camera Club. In his review of Dr. P. H. Emerson's book Naturalistic Photography, published in an 1889 issue of The Cosmopolitan, Mr. Champney advocated a diverse education for the serious photographer that included art history, scientific proficiency in chemistry and optics, and "a passionate study of nature." </p>

Mr. Champney's studio emphasized the manipulation of lighting achieved by an 8 x 10 foot plate-glass window and pulling down a white curtain to eliminate top light. He raised a dark curtain over his sitter's head to create the desired background. Mr. Champney preferred to feature his sitter in contrasts of soft light and shadow. Positioning his camera toward the window, he could vary lighting intensity by hanging a plate-glass mirror over his dark curtain, and with the lighted sitter facing the window, he photographed the sitter's mirrored reflection. Sadly, the life and burgeoning photographic career of James Wells Champney were brought to an abrupt and tragic end on May 1, 1903 when he fell from an elevator shaft at the Camera Club of New York.

James Wells Champney
Birth 16 Jul 1843
Death 1 May 1903 (aged 59)
Burial
Old Deerfield Burying Ground
Deerfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts, USA