Thomas Chambers

1808 - 1866 American

Pioneering American primitivist marine and landscape painter

Thomas Chambers was an English-born painter who spent most of his life in the United States. He is generally classified as a Primitivist, but has also been called the "First American Modern". Most of his paintings were unsigned, which delayed his recognition. His father was a merchant sailor, and his mother a laundress. His artistic education, if any, is not a matter of record, although he almost certainly worked with his brother, George, who was self-taught but became a prominent marine artist. It is possible that he was apprenticed to an engraver. He emigrated to the United States in 1832, shortly after George was granted the patronage of King William IV. First, he went to New Orleans and filed a declaration of intent to become a naturalized citizen. From 1834 to 1843, he was in the New York City Directory as a painter and restorer. This was followed by a period (1843-1851) in Boston, then he spent some time in Albany before returning to New York, around 1857. Many of his works feature the Hudson River Valley, but he was not influenced by the Hudson River School of painting. He also painted scenes from the Connecticut Valley. He never exhibited, but often sold his paintings at auction. Around 1866, he returned to England, penniless and disabled, where he died in a poorhouse. He was virtually unacknowledged until 1942, when the discovery of a signed painting connected him to a large number of distinctively flamboyant marine and landscape paintings from the mid 19th century that were previously unattributed. His debut exhibition was in New York, that same year, at the Macbeth Gallery. Over sixty-five paintings have now been positively identified as his, and numerous others have been tentatively attributed. Many of his works were loosely based on engravings by other artists; notably William Henry Bartlett, but he is known to have painted en plein aire. He also painted portraits, but none have been identified.