Cadwallader Lincoln Washburn
(1866-1965)
Still life with three vessels
Oil on canvas
Signed lower right: Cadwallader Washburn
30" H x 25" W
Provenance: The Collection of Frederick W. Davis
Private Collection, Southern California, by descent from the above

Other Notes: Cadwallader Lincoln Washburn was known as "the silent artist" and was quoted as saying "deafness may sometimes be an inconvenience but never a handicap". Primarily known for his mastery of 'capturing the spirit of the subject' in his more than 900 drypoint etchings and numerous paintings, he had an incredibly varied life and career as not only an artist but a journalist and enthusiastic naturalist.

Washburn lost his hearing at age five and attended Gallaudet College in Washington, DC, an institution for the hearing impaired, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1890. While he originally planned to study natural science and entomology, enlivening his essays with illustrations of spiders, bees, and caterpillars, he discovered a love for drawing at Gallaudet. He went on to study architecture at MIT, and even though he considered this choice a compromise, he won a First Award in Design. Still favoring a more artistic path, Washburn later studied art with William Merritt Chase in New York and traveled to Europe along with Chase and other students, studying with Albert Besnard in Paris and with Joaquin Sorolla in Madrid. During this trip, Washburn became interested in etchings, likely inspired by some of Whistler's etchings seen in Venice, and through trial and error, taught himself and created his first drypoint etching in Paris in 1903. He exhibited regularly at the start of the twentieth century in both Europe and the USA.

As he mastered the art of etching, he also became a war correspondent, along with his brother, for the 'Chicago Daily News', covering the Russian Japanese War of 1904-05. Washburn later traveled to Mexico in 1910 to study architecture and Mexican culture, and while there, covered the Madera Revolution in Mexico from 1910-12. After spending his winters in Mexico, Washburn moved to California, where he exhibited 50 prints at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915, and won a gold medal.

By 1937, failing eyesight forced Washburn to give up etching. Undaunted, he returned to oils and produced some beautiful paintings, marked by a fluid, brushy technique and with an emphasis on light and atmosphere. Washburn married in 1943 and settled in Maine. He returned to studying insects, arguing for the intelligence and communication skills of spiders, bees, and caterpillars. His essay entitled "The Mind of a Spider" became required reading in the 1940s in the Washington D.C. public schools! The last part of his life was spent in Maine, where he died on December 21, 1965 at age 99. "His incredibly varied experiences gave his work an authenticity and universality seldom matched by any modern artist. However great he was as an artist, and he was truly great, he remains most fascinating as a man."

References: The Annex Galleries, Santa Rosa, CA
Frank G Bowe, Jr. 'The Incredible Story of Cadwallader Washburn,' 'The Deaf American,' 23, no. 3 (1970): 3-5.

Visual: Overall generally good condition. Shallow surface scratches and scuffs throughout. Some areas of very fine and unobtrusive stable craquelure throughout. Pinhead-sized spots of grime throughout. A pea-sized surface abrasion with attendant pigment loss in the lower left quadrant near the left edge. A 5" diagonal surface scratch with spots of pigment loss in the upper right quadrant near the upper edge.

Blacklight: Heavy and uneven varnish.

Frame: 32.75" H x 29" W x 3.25" D Condition reports are offered as a courtesy and are typically published in Moran's catalogue or can be made available upon request. The absence of a condition report does not imply that an item is free from defects or restoration, nor does a reference to particular defects imply the absence of others. Buyers are responsible for determining to their own satisfaction the true nature and condition of any lot prior to bidding. Though buyers are not legally required to inspect lots prior to purchase, failure to do so may constitute a waiver of complaint that an item was not delivered in a condition equal to the existent condition at the auction.