# Russell Cheney

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{{Short description|American painter}}
{{Infobox artist
| name             = Russell Cheney
| image            = Russell Cheney.jpg
| image_size       = 
| alt              = 
| caption          = Cheney in 1904
| birth_name       = 
| birth_date       ={{Birth date|1881|10|16}}
| birth_place      = Manchester, Connecticut, US
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1945|07|12|1881|10|16}}
| death_place      = Kittery, Maine, US
| resting_place    = East Cemetery, Manchester, Connecticut, US
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| education        = 
| alma_mater       = Yale University<br>Académie Julian<br>Art Students League of New York
| known_for        = Painting
| notable_works    = 
| style            = 
| movement         = 
| spouse           = 
| awards           = 
| elected          =
| patrons          = 
| memorials        = 
| website          = 
| module           =
}}

'''Russell Cheney''' (October 16, 1881 – July 12, 1945) was an [American Impressionist](/source/American_Impressionist), [Post-Impressionist](/source/Post-Impressionist) and New England regionalist painter.

==Early life and education==
thumb|left|Helen Bayne Knapp, F. O. Matthiessen and Cheney at his garden, 1925

The youngest of eleven children, Cheney was born in [Manchester, Connecticut](/source/Manchester%2C_Connecticut), to Knight Dexter Cheney and Ednah Dow Cheney.<ref>{{cite web|last=Barlow|first=Susan|title= Russell Cheney : Manchester artist |url=http://www.manchesterhistory.org/reprints/MHS3_RussellCheney.html}}</ref> He graduated from [Yale University](/source/Yale_University) in 1904, where he was a member of the [Skull and Bones](/source/Skull_and_Bones) secret society.<ref name="robbins">{{cite book | author=Robbins, Alexandra | author-link=Robbins, Alexandra | title=Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power | publisher=[Little, Brown](/source/Little%2C_Brown) | location=Boston | year=2002 | isbn=0-316-72091-7 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/secretsoftombsku00robb }}</ref> Cheney studied at the [Art Students League](/source/Art_Students_League_of_New_York) with [Kenyon Cox](/source/Kenyon_Cox) and [George Bridgman](/source/George_Bridgman) until 1907. He continued his art education in Paris under [Jean Paul Laurens](/source/Jean_Paul_Laurens) at the [Académie Julian](/source/Acad%C3%A9mie_Julian). After his father's death in 1908, he returned to America and continued with Cox and [William Merritt Chase](/source/William_Merritt_Chase) at the [Art Students League](/source/Art_Students_League). In 1909, Cheney was elected president of the League (the same year he exhibited at the [Salon des Artistes Francais](/source/Salon_des_Artistes_Francais)); he resigned a year later but continued to take classes there, studying with Chase as a private pupil. Cheney spent the summers between 1911 and 1914 painting in York and nearby Ogunquit, Maine. In 1912, he studied there with [Charles Woodbury](/source/Charles_Herbert_Woodbury).

==Career==
In 1909, Cheney exhibited his portrait of Professor Candle at the [Salon des Artistes Francais](/source/Salon_des_Artistes_Francais). His first American exhibition was shown at the Fourth Annual Exhibition of the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts in 1914.<ref>{{cite web|last=Candee|first=Richard M.|title= Rediscovery of a New England Master : Russell Cheney (1881 -1945)|url=http://www.antiquesandfineart.com/articles/article.cfm?request=894}}</ref> His first New York exhibition was in the Babcock Galleries in 1922, and a catalogue of his paintings was published the same year. His work was also exhibited at the [Boston Museum of Fine Arts](/source/Boston_Museum_of_Fine_Arts) and the [San Francisco Museum of Art](/source/San_Francisco_Museum_of_Art)

Cheney illustrated [F. O. Matthiessen](/source/F._O._Matthiessen)'s book ''Sarah Orne Jewett'' (1929), a work on the life and work of [writer of the same name](/source/Sarah_Orne_Jewett).

Cheney was a member of the Connecticut Association of Fine Arts, Colorado Springs Art Society, and the San Francisco Art Society.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Parks |first1=Elton |section=Russell Cheney |title=Vicennial Record of the Class of Nineteen Hundred and Four, Yale College |series=Genealogy Collection |date=1924 |publisher=Published under the Direction of the Class Secretaries Bureau |location=New Haven |pages=130–131 |url=https://archive.org/details/vicennialrecordo00unse/page/134/ |access-date=19 June 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Cheney's health was poor and he spent two years in a Colorado tuberculosis sanatorium and subsequently spent winters in warm climes. He was the longtime partner and lover of author [F. O. Matthiessen](/source/F._O._Matthiessen), who was also a Yale graduate and became a member of Skull & Bones in 1923. Russell was supported by his family and later when the family business was dissolved he was supported by Matthiessen.<ref name="Hyde">{{cite book | title=Rat & the devil |publisher=Allyson |location=Boston | year=1978 |isbn=1-55583-110-9}}</ref>  Matthiessen was twenty years Russell's junior. Russell's death was due to [mesenteric](/source/mesenteric) [thrombosis](/source/thrombosis). He was buried in East Cemetery in Manchester, Connecticut. He was survived by Matthiessen and two sisters, Ednah Cheney Underhill of Santa Barbara, California, and Mrs. Halstead Dorey of Boerne, Texas.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*{{cite book|title=Russell Cheney, 1881-1945: a record of his work|author=Francis Otto Matthiessen|year=1947|publisher=Oxford University Press |oclc=493016}}
*{{cite book|title=Rat & the Devil: Journal Letters of F.O. Matthiessen and Russell Cheney|editor=Louis Hyde|year=1978|publisher=Alyson Publications|isbn=978-1-55583-110-3}}

==External links==
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Russell Cheney |sopt=t}}
*[http://russellcheney.com russellcheney.com]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheney, Russell}}
Category:1881 births
Category:1945 deaths
Category:Yale University alumni
Category:20th-century American painters
Category:American LGBTQ painters
Category:LGBTQ people from Connecticut
Category:Art Students League of New York alumni
Category:Members of Skull and Bones
Category:Deaths from thrombosis

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Russell Cheney](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Cheney) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Cheney?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.