'Etaples' by Charles John Dickman, Nocturne With Boats, Académie Julian, Paris Salon, San Francisco

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Signed lower right, 'C. J. Dickman' for Charles John Dickman (American, 1863-1943), titled lower right 'Etaples' and dated 1899.

Born … Read more Signed lower right, 'C. J. Dickman' for Charles John Dickman (American, 1863-1943), titled lower right 'Etaples' and dated 1899.

Born in Germany, Dickman came to the United States as a child, first studying with Virgil Williams at the San Francisco School of Design (what became the San Francisco Art Institute) and then starting a successful engraving and lithography company that brought him financial independence. After 1896, he devoted himself entirely to painting, moving to Paris where he studied with Jean-Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant at the Académie Julian and later in Munich with Carl Marr. He exhibited widely and with great success, both in Paris (Société Nationale des Beaux Arts, 1899; Paris Salon) and in the United States at the Pan Pacific Exhibition (1915), Bohemian Club, SFAA, etc.

Dickman's work may be found in a number of museum permanent collections and he is listed in all references. This exceptionally fine and lyrical painting dates from the latter part of his French period and is one of a group of seascape nocturnes that the artist painted in the fishing village and artist's colony of Etaples, on the channel coast south of Calais.

References:
Who Was Who in American Art, Falk, Sound View Press, 2001, Vol. I, p. 913; Fink, American Art in the Nineteenth Century Paris Salons, p. 337; Mallett, Index of Artists, p. 111; Hughes, Artists of California, p. 148; et al. See less