Pot Cove

Walter Farndon was an English-born plen-air painter best known for his harbor and shore scenes.

Born in 1876 in Coventry, England, Farndon came to the U.S. where he studied with Robert Henri. Creating during a time when many changes were taking place in the art world, Farndon “managed to retain the essential pleasure of creation.” Considered a “Painter’s Painter,” he captured landscapes all along the Eastern seaboard—from New Jersey to Nova Scotia—in a bold, intimate style, in addition to portraits and figures.

Farndon’s career began in the 1890s when he worked painting watercolor motifs at a carpet factory. He applied several times to the school at the National Academy of Design before finally being accepted in 1898, and eventually becoming a National Academician.

In addition to our club, Farndon also belonged to the New York Water Color Club, the American Watercolor Society, the Allied Artists of America, the American Artists’ Professional League, the Guild of American Painters, the New York Society of Painters, the Grand Central Art Galleries and the Salmagundi Club, among others. He exhibited his work and won numerous prizes throughout New York, and at the Pennsylvania Academy, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Corcoran Gallery and the Boston Art Club.

Farndon died in 1964 at the age of 91.