Francis Augustus Silva

Luminist painter best known for harbor scenes along the East Coast

By Eve Perry

The Luminist painter Francis Augustus Silva is best known for his poetic, intensely lit scenes of boats and shipwrecks along the East Coast.

I. Biography

The son of an immigrant barber, Francis Augustus Silva was born in New York City in 1835. Silva never received formal training as an artist but manifested artistic talent from an early age. At thirteen he exhibited ink drawings at the Annual Fair of the American Institute of the City of New York. He set up his first studio in 1858, but his career as a painter was put on hold when he joined the New York militia and served in the Civil War. In 1868, Silva was discharged from the military. The same year, he married Margaret A. Watts and had his first exhibit at the National Academy of Design, which marked the start of his painting career.

Throughout most of the 1870s Silva kept a studio in New York City and took frequent painting trips along the East Coast. He developed his brand of dramatically lit, atmospheric Luminism from painting marine subjects at Boston Harbor, Cape Ann, Narragansett Bay, the Hudson River, Boston and especially New York City. His fondness for harbor views surrounding his native city was evidenced in the boat and shipwreck scenes of Brooklyn and Long Island he exhibited at the Brooklyn Art Association exhibitions (1869–1885). Around 1880 Silva moved to Long Branch, New Jersey but kept a studio in the famous Tenth Street Studio Building in New York City. He painted scenes along the New Jersey coasts until his death in 1886.

II. Chronology

• 1835 Born in New York City
• 1848–50 Exhibited ink drawings at the American Institute
• 1858 Set up first studio
• 1868 Married Margaret A. Watts
• 1867 Discharged from military service
• 1868–69 Debuted as a painter at the National Academy of Design’s annual exhibition
• 1885 Painted what many consider his masterpiece, A Summer Afternoon at Long Branch
• (1885; National Gallery of Art)
• 1870 Around this time, Silva began living and working on the Lower East Side where he
• remained for most of the decade.
• 1872 Elected to American Watercolor Society
• 1879 Traveled to Venice around this time
• 1880 Moved to Long Branch, New Jersey; kept studio in New York City
• 1882–86 Rented studio in Tenth Street Studio Building
• 1886 Died at age fifty

III. Collections

• Brood Street Trust, MA
• Brooklyn Museum, NY
• Currier Museum of Art, NH
• National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
• Peabody Essex Museum, MA
• Terra Foundation for American Art, IL
• Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid

IV. Exhibitions

• 1848–50 American Institute
• 1868–86 National Academy of Design
• 1869–85 Brooklyn Art Association
• 1883 Boston Arts Club

V. Memberships

• American Water Color Society
• Artists’ Fund Society

VI. Suggested Resources

• Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, An American collection: works from the Amon Carter
• Museum. New York, N.Y.: Hudson Hills Press, 2001.
• Bair, John, I.H. “Francis A. Silva: Beyond Luminism,” Antiques 118 (November 1980): 1018–1031.
• Falk, Peter Hastings ed. Who Was Who in American Art 1664–1975. Vol. 3. Madison, C.T.: Sound
• View Press, 1999.
• National Gallery of Art. American paintings from the Manoogian Collection. Washington: National
• Gallery of Art; Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, c. 1989.
• Rose, Francesca, ed. An American point of view: the Daniel J. Terra Collection. Chicago: Terra Museum of American Art; Giverny, France: Musée d’art Américain Giverny; New York, N.Y.: Hudson Hills Press, c. 2002.
• Wilmerding, John. American light: the luminist movement, 1850–1875: paintings, drawings, photographs Washington: Harper & Row in association with the National Gallery of Art, 1980.