Andrew W. Warren [1823/1834-1873]
American Realist Landscape Painter & Drawing/Etcher
Rocks and Gulls [Mt. Desert Island], 1866
Oil on canvas
10 x 12 inches

Period frame.

BIOGRAPHY
Andrew W. Warren is an American-born Realist painter known for his landscapes, marines, Civil War etchings, and draftsmanship.  Warren was born in Coventry, NY in either 1823 or 1834.  The Archives of American Art list his birth year as 1823, however an obituary from the Chenango Union lists his birth year as 1834.  He worked on his family farm before studying art under the painter Tompkins H. Matteson [1813-1884] in his Sherburne, New York studio.  It seems more likely that Warren’s birth year was 1823 based on his teacher, Matteson studio ran from 1841-1850.  Warren’s work shares many of his teacher’s tighter Academic attributes and draftsmanship.

Beginning in 1854, he exhibited at the National Academy of Design and by 1860, had established a studio in New York City.

Warren’s drawing was so well established that he worked for Harper’s Weekly in 1864/5, covering the last years of the Civil War with the Army of the Potomac at the Petersburg Campaign.  Warren produced many detailed drawings and his first woodcut sketches appear in the November 5, 1864 issue of the magazine.

The artist traveled extensively on prolonged trips throughout Latin America including Nicaragua, Panama, and Chili in the years following the war.  The trip may have been fueled by the possibility of the construction of the Panama Canal.  Warren is known to have visited Panama in 1866 as referenced in his painting The Old Cathedral, Panama, 1866 as well as it was reported that he took a second trip in 1867.  In Chili, he painted numerous landscapes especially at Valparaiso.

Beside Warren’s Latin trips, he spent time on Mt. Desert Island, Maine in 1866.  He was inspired by the nature poet William Cullen Bryant and the Scottish poet, Robert Burns.

In 1871, Warren was listed as a Professor of Drawing at St. John College, Annapolis, MD at the Naval Academy but resigned in 1872 due to his failing health.  He died in 1873 of consumption at the age of 39.

– Original biography written by David Smernoff, From Here To Antiquity, October 13, 2016.

EXHIBITED
– National Academy of Design

SOURCES
– “A. W. Warren, Special Artist for Harpers Weekly.” The Petersburg Project. Updated unknown. Accessed October 13, 2016. http://www.petersburgproject.org/andrew-w-warren-special-artist.html
– Long Island Landscape Painting: The Twentieth Century by Ronald Pisano, May 1990, First Edition, Bulfinch Press, New York, NY.
– Chenango Union, Chenango, NY, “[Andrew W. Warren obituary]”, July 24, 1873.
– The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, MD, “Letter from Annapolis”, Thursday, September 21, 1871, page 4, not illustrated.
– The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, MD, “St. John’s College Commencement”, Friday, July 28, 1871, page 1, volume 69, number 62, not illustrated.