John Fabian Carlson

“Nature, to the thoughtful, will always remain a vast and delightful storehouse, the fountain of inspiration.”   —J. F. Carlson, 1953

I. Biography

John Fabian Carlson discovered the snow-laden regions of American landscape that would later define his life’s work when his family emigrated from Sweden to Buffalo, NY in 1884.  It was here that Carlson embarked on his artistic career, joining a lithography firm as an apprentice and exploring the wintry environment of upstate New York.  In 1902, Carlson left Buffalo to pursue a scholarship at the Art Students’ League of New York where he met his teacher and lifelong mentor, Birge Harrison.  Following his time at the Art Students’ League, Carlson relocated to Woodstock, NY to further explore the Kaaterskill Mountains and to join one of many artists’ colonies flourishing throughout America at the time.  Carlson reunited with his mentor, Harrison, when he was enlisted as a teacher for the Art Student’s League’s summer school in Woodstock in 1906.  He was promoted to director of the summer school when Harrison retired, until 1918, when he moved to Colorado Springs to co-direct the Broadmoor Academy of Art with fellow artist Robert Reid.  Ever focused on the representation of landscape, Carlson returned to Woodstock to open the John Fabian Carlson School of Landscape Painting where he taught until his death in 1945.

In addition to his numerous teaching positions, Carlson was awarded the status of Associate and later, Academician, of the National Academy of Design.  The artist also described his en plein air method and ability to synthesize nature with a personal sense of design and color in his celebrated publication, “Guide to Landscape Painting.”  Carlson’s works can currently be viewed in the most prestigious collections across the country.

II. Chronology

• 1874 John Fabian Carlson is born May 5th, Kolsebro, Sweden
• 1884 Emigrated with family to Buffalo, New York; studied painting with Lucius Hitchcock at Albright Art School
• 1902 Awarded scholarship by Art Students League, studies under teacher/friend Birge Harrison
• 1906 Teaches in Woodstock, New York at the Art Students League Summer School with Harrison
• 1911 Becomes director of the Art Students League Summer School program until 1918 during its peak years of enrollment
• 1915 Awarded a silver medal at the Panama-Pacific Exhibition in Los Angeles
• 1918 Awarded the Carnegie Prize at the National Academy of Design
• 1920 Moves to Colorado Springs with his wife and two sons to assume co-directorship of Broadmoor Art Academy.  
• 1922 Returns to Woodstock to work for all but the two years he spent teaching with Emil Gruppe, until he dies in 1945

III. Collections

• Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio
• Baltimore Museum of Fine Arts, Maryland
• Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery, Kansas
• The Butler Art Institute, Ohio
• Brooks Memorial Gallery, Tennessee
• Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
• The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
• Dallas Museum of Art, Texas
• Dallas Public Library, Texas
• Fort Worth Art Association, Texas
• Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Georgia
• Lincoln Art Association, Nebraska
• Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Massachusetts
• Museum of Art at Brigham Young University, Utah
• National Academy of Design, New York 
• Oberlin College Collection, Ohio
• Randolph-Macon College, Virginia
• Reading Public Museum, Pennsylvania
• San Diego Museum of Art, California
• Sheldon Museum of Art, Nebraska
• Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC
• The Parthenon, Tennessee
• The Phillips Collection, Washington DC
• The Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio
• Virginia Institute of Fine Arts, Virginia
• Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Maryland
• Woodstock Artists Association Museum, New York

IV. Exhibitions

• 1909, 1912 Katz Gallery, New York, New York
• 1913, 1930 Macbeth Gallery, New York
• 1913 Memorial Art Gallery, New York
• 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco
• 1941 Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Tennessee
• 1943 City Art Museum, Missouri
• 1944 National Academy Galleries, New York
• 1978 Vose Galleries, Massachusetts
• 1979 Grand Central Galleries, Inc., 1979

V. Memberships

• Allied Artists of American
• American Watercolor Society, New York City
• Colorado Springs Art Association, Colorado
• Connecticut Academy of Fine Art, Connecticut
• Louisville Art Association, Kentucky, Honorary Member
• National Academy of Design, New York City, Associate 1929, Academician 1934
• Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Pennsylvania
• Salmagundi Club, New York City
• Salons of America, New York City
• Washington Watercolor Club, Washington, DC

VI. Notes

1. Carlson, John F. Carlson’s Guide to Landscape Painting. Dover Publications, Inc., 1953, 11. 

VII. Suggested Resources

• Cuba, Stanely. John F. Carlson and Artists of the Broadmoor Academy. David Cook Fine Art, 1999
• Falk, Peter Hastings, ed. Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America. Sound View Press, 1999.
• Vose Galleries. John F. Carlson, N.A., 1874-1945, From May 3, 1878. Vose Galleries of Boston, Inc., 1978.
• Shipp, Steve. American Art Colonies, 1850-1930, A Historical Guide to America’s Original Art Colonies and Their Artists. Greenwood Press, 1996.
• Carlson, John F. Carlson’s Guide to Landscape Painting. Dover Publications, Inc., 1953.