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James (Colonel) Fairman

James (Colonel) Fairman (1826 - 1904) was active/lived in New York, California.  James Fairman is known for City scene, landscape, marine and figure-genre painting, Orientalism.

James Fairman worked as a landscape painter, critic, lecturer, musician, and teacher. He came to the United States in 1832, studied at the National Academy of Design in 1842, and exhibited drawings at the American Institute in 1846.

After serving as a colonel in the Civil War, he opened a studio in New York City. George Herbert McCord (1848-1909), who later become known for his watercolors, oils, and pastels, is said to have studied with James Fairman in 1866.
Fairman was one of the many artists who painted in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in the late 1800s. In 1871, he went to Europe where he spent the next nine years. In the 19th century, many Americans traveled abroad, and often visited, depicted, or wrote about the Holy Land, where they often found corroboration of just about any ideological or aesthetic viewpoint they chose to maintain.

Fairman returned and became a teacher at Olivel College beginning 1880. His works were shown at the National Academy of   ...  [Displaying 1000 of 2656 characters.]  Artist bio

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Similar artists

.  There are 24 similar (related) artists for James (Colonel) Fairman available:    Arthur Hoeber,  Charles Lanman,  Thomas Sully,  James Renwick Brevoort,  Regis Gignoux,  Frederick DeBourg (De Berg) Richards,  Alvan Fisher,  George Inness Jr,  Frederic (Frederick) Rondel Sr,  John Ross Key,  Edward B Gay,  John Dolph,  James Sword,  DeWitt Clinton Boutelle,  Laura Coombs Hills,  Benjamin Champney,  James McDougal Hart,  Harrison Bird Brown,  Francis Augustus Silva,  Thomas Alexander Harrison,  Joseph Antonio Hekking,  Albert Insley,  James Champney,  George Curtis



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Facts about James (Colonel) Fairman

   James (Colonel) Fairman  Born:  1826 - Glasgow, Scotland
Died:   1904 - New York City
Known for:  City scene, landscape, marine and figure-genre painting, Orientalism

Biography from the Archives of askART

James Fairman worked as a landscape painter, critic, lecturer, musician, and teacher. He came to the United States in 1832, studied at the National Academy of Design in 1842, and exhibited drawings at the American Institute in 1846.

After serving as a colonel in the Civil War, he opened a studio in New York City. George Herbert McCord (1848-1909), who later become known for his watercolors, oils, and pastels, is said to have studied with James Fairman in 1866.
Fairman was one of the many artists who painted in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in the late 1800s. In 1871, he went to Europe where he spent the next nine years. In the 19th century, many Americans traveled abroad, and often visited, depicted, or wrote about the Holy Land, where they often found corroboration of just about any ideological or aesthetic viewpoint they chose to maintain.

Fairman returned and became a teacher at Olivel College beginning 1880. His works were shown at the National Academy of Design and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.


Biography from the Archives of askART

Born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1926. Fairman came to the U.S. with his family in 1832. He studied at the Nantional Academy of Design in 1842 and exhibited drawings at the American Institute in 1844.

He was in England in 1851.

Following two years service in the American Civil War, he had a studio in New York City. In 1871 he returned to Europe and spent ten years studying in Italy, France, Germany, and England.

In 1891 he was a resident of Los Angeles and, while there, made a trip north to paint the Golden Gate and exhibit at the Mechanics' Institute. For many years he was a prominent critic, lecturer, and art teacher at Olivet (MI) College.

Fairman died in New York City on March 12, 1904.

Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"
Art Journal, 1880; City Directory; New York Historical Society's Dictionary of Artists in America (Groce, George C. and David H. Wallace); American Art Annual 1906 (obituary).

Nearly 20,000 biographies can be found in Artists in California 1786-1940 by Edan Hughes and is available for sale ($150). For a full book description and order information please click here.


Biography from Lawrences - Crewkerne

Fairman was born in Glasgow but raised in New York after his family emigrated in 1832. Following in the footsteps of the European Orientalist artists such as Jean Leon Gerome who had toured North Africa in the late 1860's, Fairman visited the Holy Land in 1871 and, inspired as much by aesthetics as by the cultural and historical significance of Jerusalem, he painted the city many times.

In America, his work was shown at the National Academy of Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Brooklyn Art Association, and the American Institute.

Fairman's paintings are now hanging in the Hudson River Museum and the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts.


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