Aiden Lassell Ripley
American, 1896 - 1969
Although music was Aiden Lassell Ripley’s intended vocation, the study of wildlife and the natural landscape had fascinated him ever since his childhood. Upon graduating from high school in Wakefield, Massachusetts, Ripley determined that painting was his true calling. In 1917, he attended classes at the Fenway School of Illustration and continued his training at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School under Philip Hale. Showing great promise, he was awarded the Paige Traveling Fellowship and spent the years of 1924 and 1925 touring France, North Africa and Holland. While not trained in watercolor, Ripley took up this medium during his trip abroad for he felt it was more practical and easier to transport. Upon his return to the United States, he settled in Lexington, Massachusetts, and was once again caught up in the local scenery.
In a December 1952 letter to the original owner, Ripley recalls the inspiration behind Freighters: “It began as my search for subjects usually does by my driving around with my wife and our pointer dog on a good day when the light is interesting and in this case when there was still some late snow which is likely to help in making a good pattern. We headed as we often have for the East Boston water front…It was a cold day too cold to work outside but I finally got the car into a position so…I could make a small water color sketch which is pretty much the same as the large picture in the general composition and color…I can’t think of anything I have ever found there that hit me as strongly as the Freighters.” Ripley reiterated the story in a January 1953 American Artist magazine article and in the 1955 book Watercolor Methods. The view captured is from the East Boston side of Boston’s Inner Harbor looking towards Charlestown, with the top of the Bunker Hill monument rising over the buildings of Charlestown Navy Yard.
Ripley’s achievements as an artist were widely recognized by museums and societies alike, as he showed his work at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the National Academy of Design in New York, among other venues. He became best known for his watercolors of sporting scenes and depictions of everyday rural New England life, and received numerous prizes, including the Harriet Sanford Stuart Memorial Purchase prize, awarded to Freighters during the American Water Color Society exhibition in 1952. Locally he showed his watercolors at the Boston Art Club, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Guild of Boston Artists, of which he was elected a member in 1925, as well as annually at Vose Galleries as part of the Boston Society of Watercolor Painters from 1928 to 1935. Today, Ripley’s work can be found in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago and the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and in 2008, a retrospective exhibition was organized by the Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis, Massachusetts.
In a December 1952 letter to the original owner, Ripley recalls the inspiration behind Freighters: “It began as my search for subjects usually does by my driving around with my wife and our pointer dog on a good day when the light is interesting and in this case when there was still some late snow which is likely to help in making a good pattern. We headed as we often have for the East Boston water front…It was a cold day too cold to work outside but I finally got the car into a position so…I could make a small water color sketch which is pretty much the same as the large picture in the general composition and color…I can’t think of anything I have ever found there that hit me as strongly as the Freighters.” Ripley reiterated the story in a January 1953 American Artist magazine article and in the 1955 book Watercolor Methods. The view captured is from the East Boston side of Boston’s Inner Harbor looking towards Charlestown, with the top of the Bunker Hill monument rising over the buildings of Charlestown Navy Yard.
Ripley’s achievements as an artist were widely recognized by museums and societies alike, as he showed his work at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the National Academy of Design in New York, among other venues. He became best known for his watercolors of sporting scenes and depictions of everyday rural New England life, and received numerous prizes, including the Harriet Sanford Stuart Memorial Purchase prize, awarded to Freighters during the American Water Color Society exhibition in 1952. Locally he showed his watercolors at the Boston Art Club, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Guild of Boston Artists, of which he was elected a member in 1925, as well as annually at Vose Galleries as part of the Boston Society of Watercolor Painters from 1928 to 1935. Today, Ripley’s work can be found in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago and the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and in 2008, a retrospective exhibition was organized by the Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis, Massachusetts.
(1896-1969) An ardent conservationist, Aiden Lassell Ripley was known for his sporting and wildlife scenes. Born in Wakefield, Massachusetts, he became an accomplished musician while still a boy. Although he contemplated a career in music, he enrolled in the Fenway School of Illustration, studying there until he joined the army at the start of World War I. Upon his return he studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School under Philip Hale and Frank Benson. In 1924 Ripley was awarded a fellowship enabling him to travel for two years in France, Holland, and North Africa, where he began to experiment with watercolors and plein-air painting. After his return to Boston in 1926, Ripley traveled the East Coast painting landscapes and occasional commissions for historical mural paintings. In the 1930s he settled in Lexington, Massachusetts, where he remained until his death. His work was widely exhibited, appearing in shows at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the National Academy of Design, the New York Water Color Society, and the Metropolitan Museum, among others. He received many prizes and awards during his career, and today his work is found in many prominent American museums.
Biography courtesy of Roger King Gallery of Fine Art, www.antiquesandfineart.com/rking
Biography courtesy of Roger King Gallery of Fine Art, www.antiquesandfineart.com/rking
Aiden L. Ripley studied for one year at the Fenway School of Illustration in 1917 but left to join the Army when WWI began. Upon returning, he attending the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School to study with Philip Hale and F. Benson from 1919-24. There he was quite influenced by the Boston School, of which Edmund Tarbell was associated with. In his final year of school he received the Paige Traveling Fellowship. He spent two years abroad in France, Holland and Northern Africa. Ripley was known for his watercolors of New England, sporting scenes and outdoor life. The spontaneity in brushwork and light colors reveal a move away from tradition academicism. He occasionally received commissions and produced a series of fourteen murals based on the life of Paul Revere for the Paul Revere Insurance Company. In the mid 1930s, Ripley settled in Lexington MA. He continued to paint until old age and worked to preserve wildlife and endangered species.
Biography courtesy of The Caldwell Gallery, www.antiquesandfineart.com/caldwell
Biography courtesy of The Caldwell Gallery, www.antiquesandfineart.com/caldwell
