William Preston Phelps (1848-1923)
William Preston Phelps is one of a number of American painters who, despite their talents, but because of personal circumstances, have tended to disappear in the canonical account of American art. Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1848, Phelps began his career as a self-taught sign painter . His obvious abilities, however, soon encouraged a group of local businessmen to sponsor his further training at the Royal Academy in Munich, where he became a founder of the Munich Art Club, whose members included Frank Duveneck, William Merritt Chase, and Walter Shirlaw. In 1890, after spending several years in Boston, Phelps moved to his family’s farm near Dublin, New Hampshire, where he came to be known as “the painter-poet of Mount Monadnock.” It was during this period of his career that Phelps is said to have created his best work – natural New England landscapes, many with views of Mt. Monadnock and its surrounds.
p4A acknowledges the assistance of Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers and Bruce Chambers, Ph.D. in preparing this note.