Lot # : 97 - Cladius E Delbos (Amer-British 1879-1949) Painting

Cladius Edmond Delbos (American -British, 1879-1949) Regional Landscape Oil Painting. The rural scene with houses oil on canvas painting is signed lower left E. C. Delbos. In good condition. Inspection by UV light reveals no damage or repair. This is a major work by Delbos. The majority of works by the artist are genre scenes of sheep and shepherds. Painting measures 36 inches high by 42 inches wide. Frame measures 44 inches high by 50 inches wide. From Askart: Delbos was a landscape painter and etcher born in London, England in June 1879. His cousin was the painter Henri Regnault and Delbos himself was a student in Paris, France of the artist Adolphe Dechenaud (June 28, 1868 -1929) with whom he shared a birthday. He was the elder brother of American painter Julius Maximilian Delbos (1879-1970) who also like his brother worked for a time as a teacher of art, music and French at schools in Connecticut, New Hampshire, and New York City. Their nephew, Claude Meyer Delbos, was also an artist who lived and worked in France. Though Delbos depicted many European scenes during his career, including those at Pont Aven, Brittany, San Gimignano, Italy, and in Devonshire, England, he became known in America for his scenes of Massachusetts, in particularly of the villages and towns of Gloucester, Lanesville, and Rockport. In fact, he was part of a group of "artist activists" in Gloucester, where he had a summer home and studio during the 1930s named "Tighnamara," which was located at Bass Rocks. The group included Delbos himself and fellow artists John Barry, Theresa Bernstein, Frederick L. Stoddard, and William Meyerowitz. They were influential in helping to establish, in 1933, an art exhibition that featured the work of Cape Ann artists which were featured at local businesses in the center of Gloucester. The Michigan History Magazine noted during his lifetime that Delbos was " . . . well-known for his landscape paintings and etchings." He and his wife were very active in several art groups. Delbos himself was a member of the Artists Market; the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts; The Detroit Symphony Society; the Fine Arts Society; the Gloucester Society of Artists; the Grosse Pointe Artists Association; and the Detroit Museum of Arts Founders Society. He was a donor of money and objects to multiple museums, including the Detroit Institute of Arts (where he gave a Rohlfs tempera and Guercino drawing), and the Toledo Museum of Art (where he donated an oil by William Frederick Mayor). Delbos was also was a benefactor who helped to mount a major exhibition of paintings by Polish artists at the end of World War II (Polish Paintings: a Loan Exhibition, June 1st to July 1st 1945, at the Detroit Institute of Arts in association with the Friends of Polish Art). Delbos exhibited widely, and there are doubtless more exhibitions yet unknown that could be added to the following list of known exhibitions in which he participated during his lifetime: Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts, Detroit, MI (u.d.); Exhibitions in New York City, NY, (u.d.); Gloucester Society of Artists, Gloucester, MA (u.d.); Royal Academy, London, England, (possibly, u.d.); Royal Institute of Oil Painters, London, England, 1908; Salon of the Société des Artistes Français, Paris, France, 1913, 1927; Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France, 1927; National Academy of Design, New York City, NY, 1928 (Twice), 1931; John Hanna Gallery, Detroit, MI, 1928 (Solo), 1929 (Solo); Annual Exhibition for Michigan Artists at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI, 1930-1935, 1936 (Prize), 1937 (Oils and Etchings), 1938 (Jury Member), 1939-1940; Annual Philadelphia Watercolor Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, 1930. During his lifetime he received at least two awards for his artistic achievements: The Hal H. Smith Etching Purchase Prize (1932), and the Mrs. Standish Backus Purchase Prize (1936).