John Fabian Carlson

John F. Carlson
Born
Johan Fabian Carlsson

(1875-05-05)May 5, 1875
Ukna, Västerviks kommun, Kalmar län, Sweden
DiedMarch 20, 1945(1945-03-20) (aged 69)
New York City, New York, USA
Years active1906-1945
Known forLandscape painting
AwardsNational Academy of Design Andrew Carnegie Prize

John Fabian Carlson (1875–1945) was a 20th-century Swedish-American landscape painter, teacher and author. He was known for his meditative winter scenes rendered in the tonalist tradition.[1][2] He was co-founder of the Woodstock School of Landscape Painting and founder of the John Fabian Carlson School of Landscape Painting in Woodstock, NY. In 1928 he wrote Elementary Principles of Landscape Painting which was later reissued as Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting.[3]

Early life and education

Carlson was born on May 5, 1875, in Västervik, Småland, Sweden, the son of Carl Vilhelm Theodor Carlsson and Clara Mathilda Larsdotter Carlsson. In 1889 he moved to Buffalo, NY with his family where he lived until 1901. His formal training began at the Albright School of Art.[4] He studied painting at the Art Students League of Buffalo under Lucius Wolcott Hitchcock, where he won many prizes and a scholarship to the Art Students League of New York.[5] At the Art Students League of New York he studied under Birge Harrison and Frank Vincent DuMond.[3] In 1904, Carlson received a scholarship to study landscape painting at Byrdcliffe Colony with Birge Harrison.[6]

Career

In 1906 Carlson joined Harrison as his assistant in Woodstock.[7]

In April 1911 he was elected associate member of the National Academy of Design,[8] becoming a full member in 1925. In June 1911 he began his seven-year tenure as director of the Art Students League Summer School program in landscape at Woodstock, NY, succeeding Birge Harrison.[9]

He headed the Broadmoor School of Art in Colorado Springs from 1921 to 1922.[10]

In 1923 he returned to Woodstock, NY and founded the John F. Carlson School of Landscape Painting which he led until 1938. He continued to teach at the School of Landscape Painting until his death in 1945.[2]

Selected works

Awards

Collections

Published writings

  • 1928 Elementary Principles of Landscape Painting, National Publishing Society, Mountain Lake Park, Maryland
  • 1953 Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting, Sterling Publishing, NY, reprinted multiple times.

Personal life

He married fellow artist Margaret Goddard on April 19, 1913, in Plainfield, NJ.[21] They had three sons. He died at age 69 on March 20, 1945. He passed away in a Manhattan, New York Hospital following a six-week illness,[11] and is buried in Woodstock Artist Cemetery, Woodstock, Ulster County, NY.

References

  1. 1 2 "Artist John F. Carlson". americanart.si.edu. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved April 25, 2026.
  2. 1 2 John F. Carlson (Active 1906–1945) Quest Royal Fine Art. Retrieved on 25 April 2026.
  3. 1 2 "John Fabian Carlson". nationalacademy.org. National Academy of Design. Retrieved April 25, 2026.
  4. ↑ "John Carlson". art.state.gov. U.S. Departmednt of State. Retrieved May 1, 2026.
  5. ↑ "John F. Carlson". Buffalo Evening News. Vol. Page 23. March 22, 1945.
  6. ↑ Weber, Bruce. "John F. Carlson (1874-1945): Leader of the Woodstock School of Landscape Painting, Part 1". learningwoodstockartcolony.com. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  7. ↑ Alterman, Jim. "John F. Carlson (1875 – 1947)". jimsoflambertville.com. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  8. ↑ "Six New A.N.A.'s Three Painters, Two Sculpters and an Architect Chosen". The New York Sun. Vol. Page 14. April 14, 1911.
  9. ↑ "Former Buffalo Student succeeds Birge Harrison as Teacher". The Buffalo Express. Vol. Page 5. March 20, 1911.
  10. ↑ "Swedish-American Works from the Hillstrom Collection". tfaoi.org. Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc. Retrieved April 28, 2026.
  11. 1 2 "JOHN CARLSON DIES; A PAINTER OF TREES; Noted Landscapist, a Pioneer Settler of Woodstock Colony of Artists, Stricken at 69". The New York Times. Vol. Page 23. March 21, 1945. Retrieved April 27, 2026.
  12. ↑ "National Academy's Exhibition Proves Disappointing-Artist Indignant About Way Pictures are Hung-Seyffert's "Lacquer Screen" Wins Prize". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Vol. Page 56. December 22, 1918.
  13. ↑ "Los Angeles Sees an Eastern Winter". Los Angeles Times. Vol. page 57. November 11, 1923.
  14. ↑ "Carlson Picture Purchased". The Baltimore Sun. Vol. page 45. July 22, 1923.
  15. ↑ "John Fabian Carlson". allenartcollection.oberlin.edu. Oberlin College. Retrieved April 27, 2026.
  16. ↑ "John F. Carlson". Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery. Retrieved April 27, 2026.
  17. ↑ "John Fabian Carlson (1874-1945), Winter Willows, c.1937, oil on canvas, 25 x 30 inches. Brigham Young University Museum of Art". byu.edu. Brigham Young University. Retrieved May 2, 2026.
  18. ↑ "John Fabian Carlson". Carneige Museum of Art. Retrieved April 28, 2026.
  19. ↑ "Autumn Beeches". dma.org. Dallas Museum of Art. Retrieved May 6, 2026.
  20. ↑ "Exhibition of paintings by John Carlson; Feb. 18-Mar. 3, 1930". libmma.contentdm.oclc.org. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved April 28, 2026.
  21. ↑ "Married: Carlson - Goddard". New York Tribune. Vol. Page 7. April 21, 1913.
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