Catherine Stockwell, Birds in Florida Landscape. Oil on board, 15 ¾ by 20 inches.
*Catherine Stockwell was perhaps Florida’s most prolific impressionistic artist. Her earliest art training was at Stetson University in Deland, where at age 13 she was a student of Florida landscape painter Harry Davis Fluhart. The earliest Stockwell paintings are signed Catherine Haynes. After marrying Dr. Stockwell about 1918, she bore two daughters and managed to raise her family. She devoted much time and travel to painting local scenes plein air. These paintings are generally signed Stockwell; however sometimes the Stockwell signature will be surrounded by one or two letters “S.”
Stockwell’s earliest works are done in a distinctive post-impressionist style, with areas of texturing, and paint buildup, achieved by use of the pallet knife. These early paintings are moody, and often incorporate a darker palette and greater detail than is found in her later works. These early paintings often depict the final minutes of a sunset, on a Florida swamp, or river landscape. They clearly show the influence of her brilliant teacher and mentor, Harry Davis Fluhart. Stockwell’s later works depart from the Fluhart formula, and are generally of a lighter, brighter color; more loosely painted, and employing the use of many shades of green and brighter colors.
Some of Stockwell’s favorite subjects were views of Alexander Springs, Lake Eustis, Trout Run, New Smyrna Beach, Juniper Springs, The Dora Canal, and the picturesque “Loop” area in Ormond Beach. A trip to Palm Beach produced paintings containing coconut palms. The local Negro community was also of special interest to her. Local Negro children would be paid a nickel to pose for a small portrait, in the days when a nickel meant a lot in a poor rural community. Dr. Stockwell would generously provide free medical care to those who could not afford to pay. Stockwell’s Negro portraits are a true and unembellished record of those she painted. The Negro carpenter who proudly holds his hammer, the young girl in her yellow “Sunday Best” dress, the elderly lady who proudly wears her tall blue hat, the delighted child with a juicy slice of watermelon…all have a poignancy forever captured in canvas and paint. They are a wonderful reminder of a simpler time in rural Florida. Her negro cabin scenes are among some of her most interesting and desirable works.
Stockwell also painted floral still life’s; capturing in paint the large waxy blooms of the Magnolias, the delicate petals of the Cherokee Rose, oranges and blossoms, and bouquets of native wildflowers. In addition to painting Florida scenes, Stockwell and family would travel north in the summers, where she captured New England scenes with her ever present paintbrush. But Stockwell’s heart was clearly in Florida, and her Florida works are unquestionably her best work. Over the length of her career, Catherine Stockwell won many awards and prizes for her paintings. Several retrospective exhibits of Stockwell paintings have been held since her death, the first in Cocoa Beach in the 1980’s and most recently at the Maitland Art Center. At the time of her death, Catherine Stockwell’s charming moss-draped old Spanish style home studio in Eustis, was filled with a lifetime accumulation of art, antiques and memories. Sadly, her home and studio are now gone…replaced by a parking lot.
Born: 1895.
Died: 1983, Eustis.
Education: Stetson University, 1917, with Harry Fluhart.
Membership: Mt. Dora Art League; Florida Federation of Art.
Exhibits: Wright Studios, Deland, 1923; Volusia County Fair, February, 1928, member fine arts division; Volusia County Fair, February, 1930, 2nd prize landscape, 1st prize professional, 2nd prize figure, 2nd prize marine, 2nd prize interior, 1st prize, sketch from nature; Florida Federation of Art, 11th Annual Exhibition, St. Augustine, December 2-5, 1937, Florida, New Smyrna; Florida Federation of Art, 1938, 11th Annual Circuit Show; Howey Academy Student Center, One Woman Show, February, 1965; Billie King Thomas Gallery, Cocoa Village.
Directory: Listed in the Eustis, Florida City Directory, 1960, as an artist with a studio at 407 South Bay. *Biography written by George K. Arnold, May 2006.
