CHARLES WALTER STETSON

Self-taught painter Charles Walter Stetson was born in Tiverton Four Corners, Rhode Island, in 1858. During the 1880s, he was a leading figure in the development of the Providence Art Club, along with Edward Bannister, Sidney Burleigh, and George William Whitaker. In the 1880’s he traveled to the Canadian Maritimes to paint with Whitaker. In 1883, Boston collector Beriah Wall commissioned him to etch copies of his paintings. Sometime during the 1890s, he moved to Pasadena, California, where he found eucalyptus trees, which he called his “dream trees.” He later moved from California to Rome, where he lived for many years and died in 1911. During his life, art critics compared his works to those of Albert P. Ryder; later critics compared him with Inness and Dewing.