{{Short description|American painter (1817–1907)}} {{distinguish|text=the Pennsylvania lawyer, judge and politician Benjamin Champneys}} {{More footnotes needed|date=August 2019}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox artist | name = Benjamin Champney | image = Benjamin Champney (JJH-BC).jpg | imagesize = | caption = ''Benjamin Champney'' | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date |1817|11|20}} | birth_place = New Ipswich, New Hampshire, US | death_date = {{death date and age |1907|12|11|1817|11|20}} | death_place = Woburn, Massachusetts, US | resting_place = Woburn, Massachusetts | field = Painting, lithography | training = Pendleton | movement = | works = | patrons = | influenced by = | influenced = | awards = }}
'''Benjamin Champney''' (November 20, 1817<ref name=Champney>Champney (1900)</ref> – December 11, 1907) was a painter known for his role in White Mountain art of the 19th century. He began his training as a lithographer under celebrated marine artist Fitz Henry Lane at Pendleton's Lithography shop in Boston. Most art historians consider him the founder of the "North Conway Colony" of painters who came to North Conway, New Hampshire, and the surrounding area during the second half of the 19th century. His paintings were often used to make chromolithographs that were subsequently sold to tourists who could not afford Champney's originals. He exhibited regularly at the Boston Athenæum and was a founder of the Boston Art Club.
==Early life== Champney was born in New Ipswich, New Hampshire.<ref name=Cyclopaedia>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QsdKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA289 |title=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography |volume=IV |publisher=James T. White & Company |pages=289–290 |year=1893 |access-date=2020-12-05 |via=Google Books}}</ref> He first visited Conway in 1838. In 1841, Champney went to France to study, returning to Boston in 1846, and then returned to Europe almost at once to paint a panorama of the Rhine River. He returned to Boston in 1848 and exhibited the panorama there in December. It was subsequently exhibited in Worcester, Massachusetts, New Haven, Connecticut, and New York City. In 1854, he went on a painting trip to Germany and Switzerland with John Frederick Kensett. The panorama, unfortunately, was destroyed by fire in New York City in October 1857.
==Allure of North Conway== In 1850, Champney returned to the White Mountains with his friend, Kensett. Their enthusiasm and paintings drew large numbers of Boston and New York artists to the Conway area. In 1853, Champney married and bought a house between Conway and North Conway. It would be his summer home for over fifty years. His studio was a noted social center, and was visited by many people from all parts of the country.
In 1855, Champney became a founder of the Boston Art Club, and, in 1856, its president.
On August 4, 1888, ''The White Mountain Echo'' reported: "Champney's studio is as much visited as ever this summer, and there are many new pictures to see. Of the landscapes, there is a view from the new carriage road up ''Humphrey's Ledge'' that is beautiful, and another a scene in ''Crawford Notch'', and still another, a picture of ''Mount Chocorua'' from Tamworth; there are some lovely new flower pieces ... But perhaps the very prettiest is the old-fashioned pitcher in the kitchen window ..."
==Later life and legacy== In 1900, he published an autobiography, ''Sixty Years' Memories of Art and Artists''.<ref name=Champney/>
Champney died at his home in Woburn, Massachusetts, on December 11, 1907.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25938772/the-boston-globe/ |title=Famous Artist Gone |newspaper=The Boston Globe |location=Woburn, Massachusetts |page=16 |date=1907-12-12 |access-date=2020-12-05 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Examples of his paintings can be viewed today at the New Hampshire Historical Society<ref>[http://nhhistory.org/cv/tour06.htm ''Saco River, North Conway'']</ref> in Concord, New Hampshire; the Currier Museum of Art<ref>[http://collections.currier.org/Obj7065?sid=13919&x=52732 ''Picnic on Artists Ledge'']</ref> in Manchester, New Hampshire; the White Mountain Museum & Gallery in North Conway, NH and at the Winn Memorial Library in Woburn, Massachusetts.
Champney's brother, George Mather Champney, was the first Librarian of the Winn Memorial Library in Woburn, Massachusetts. Many of Benjamin Champney's artworks were given to the library on behalf of George Mather Champney. Several of these works are on display in the library's Frizzell Study Hall; the rest are stored in the library's Glennon Archives.
In recognition of his unique and lasting contribution to the arts and culture of Boston, a gaslit cobblestone alley, Champney Place, is named in his honor in historic Beacon Hill, Boston.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}} He is mentioned on a New Hampshire historical marker (number 38) along New Hampshire Route 16 in Conway.<ref name=ByNumber>{{cite web |url=https://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/markers/documents/markers_bynumber.pdf |title=List of Markers by Marker Number |website=nh.gov |publisher=New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources |date=November 2, 2018 |accessdate=July 5, 2019}}</ref>
==Image gallery== <gallery> Image:1849 Champney Rhine HorticulturalHall Boston.png|Advertisement for exhibition of works by Champney at Horticultural Hall, School Street, Boston, 1849 Image:Benjamin Champney - Saco River, North Conway.jpg|''Saco River, North Conway'' Image:1873 NorthMoatMtn byBChampney NHHistoricalSociety.jpg|''Winter Scene, North Moat Mountain'', New Hampshire, 1873 Image:1878 MoatMtn byBChampney NHHistoricalSociety.jpg|''Moat Mountain from Walker's Pond'', New Hampshire, 1878 Image:bc008t.jpg|''Autumn Landscape'', 1867<br>A typical early painting by Champney Image:1858 MtChocorua byBChampney MFABoston.png|''Mount Chocorua'', New Hampshire, 1858 </gallery>
==Sources== *"Beauty Caught and Kept: Benjamin Champney in the White Mountains". ''Historical New Hampshire'', Vol. 51, Nos. 3&4, Fall/Winter 1996. *Campbell, Catherine H. ''New Hampshire Scenery'', Canaan, NH: Phoenix Publishing, 1985. *Champney, Benjamin. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130406043519/http://whitemountainart.com/ChampneysBook/bc_book.htm ''Sixty Years' Memories of Art and Artists''], Woburn, MA: Wallace & Andrews, 1900.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Benjamin Champney}} * [http://www.worldcat.org/wcidentities/lccn-nr88-10387 WorldCat] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20130222034021/http://whitemountainart.com/ArtistGalleries/gal_bc.htm White Mountain paintings by Benjamin Champney] * {{Cite Americana|wstitle=Champney, Benjamin |short=x}} * {{find a Grave|62663601}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Champney, Benjamin}} Category:1817 births Category:1907 deaths Category:People from New Ipswich, New Hampshire Category:American landscape painters Category:Painters from Boston Category:19th-century American painters Category:American male painters Category:20th-century American painters Category:People from Woburn, Massachusetts Category:People from North Conway, New Hampshire Category:People from Conway, New Hampshire Category:19th-century American male artists Category:20th-century American male artists Category:20th-century American lithographers Category:Hudson River School painters