BUTLER, Howard R. (1856-1934)

View of the Colorado Street Bridge by Howard R. Butler (1856-1934) 28" x 38", Oil/Canvas Est.: $4,000 - $6,000 Sold by John Moran Auctioneers for $14,950 on 10/13/2009

Howard R. Butler (1856-1934 New Jersey/California)

Known for his landscapes and paintings of solar eclipses, Howard R. Butler was born in New York City and studied at Princeton and Columbia University law school. On a trip to California in 1877, during which he visited Yosemite and met John Muir, he developed an enduring fascination with the West. He would travel throughout the West frequently during his life, executing a series of paintings of Yellowstone Park while on a pack trip in the 1920’s, and many depictions of the Mojave Desert and the Arizona Badlands as well as California coastals.

After graduating and practicing law in New York City for a few years, Butler decided to concentrate on painting as a career. In 1884, he travelled to Mexico where he opened a studio with Frederick E. Church. He then received further instruction at the Art Students League, and in Paris where he mingled with other American artists, including John Singer Sargent, and adopted an Impressionistic style. By 1886 he had received honorable mention at the Paris Salon. Returning to New York, he founded the American Fine Arts Society in 1889 and served as its first president, and in 1902 he was elected to the National Academy of Design.

From 1905 to 1907, and from 1921 to 1926, Butler was resident in California, in both Pasadena and Santa Barbara. Between 1908 and 1920 he lived in Princeton, where he became supervisor of astronomy exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History. In this capacity he painted several eclipses, including the June 8, 1918 solar eclipse observed from Baker, Oregon, the 1923 solar eclipse at Lompoc, California, and the 1925 eclipse at Middletown, Connecticut.