Brushing Up on Forgotten Artist

He was a cigar-chomping Yankee whose luminous seascapes and evocative portraits achieved national prominence before sliding into obscurity after his death in 1936.

But James Britton is making a posthumous comeback, thanks to Ursula Britton of Ventura and Barbara Britton of New York. The pair have crisscrossed the country offering exhibits, seminars and interviews designed to reacquaint America with their grandfather’s vivid portrayals of life in New York and New England in the 1920s.

They call the effort “The Grandfather Project.”

“This has taken over our lives,” Ursula Britton said. “It’s pretty much full time these days.”

For decades, hundreds of Britton’s paintings languished in his family’s closets until Ursula met an art professor at Ventura College who urged her to exhibit them.

After spending thousands of dollars getting the paintings cleaned, repaired and framed, the sisters’ 1997 exhibit at Ventura College was an instant hit.

“The exhibit turnout was huge,” said Debra McKillop, former director of Ventura College Art Galleries. “People were thrilled to see that caliber of work, and a number of pieces were purchased. . . . I was overwhelmed by the amount of work there actually was.”

The show sparked a renewed interest in Britton’s work that seems to have increased every year. Since 1997, the sisters have done shows in New York, Connecticut and, starting last week, at the Ventura County Maritime Museum.

“James Britton, with the efforts of his granddaughters, will rise to be one of the great 20th century artists,” said Donna Granata, who heads Focus on the Masters, a nonprofit program benefiting local artists. “This is how an artist is made, historically. They have to be perpetuated. It is not enough that they create the work, but someone must spearhead it when they are gone.”

Ursula Britton, 55, said the paintings fell out of favor when the American impressionist and realist schools of art were eclipsed by European modern art.

“My grandfather was forever championing American painters,” she said. “His comeback in Ventura is testament that his work still speaks for itself.”

James Britton was born in Hartford, Conn., in 1878 and did much of his work from the third floor of his home in Sag Harbor, an old whaling port on the eastern end of Long Island. He was fascinated with cloud formations and the changing colors of light above the sea. The skies, he once said, “are the life of a picture.”

Using a palette knife, he applied thick slabs of paint to form billowy clouds and slivers of blue sea.

He often wrote diary entries as he painted:

“Last day of this June 1925 has a magnificent sky and a fresh breeze . . . It is now close to sundown and the water out my window is the most delicious blue imaginable. I have tried to paint some of it and I thank heaven for the privilege.”

Britton belonged to both the American impressionist and Ash Can schools, the latter specializing in realistic, sometimes gritty urban scenes.

Along with painting, he was a prolific writer, art critic and musician. His family has donated his diaries to the Smithsonian Institution.

“There was a lot happening at the turn of century,” Granata said. “The modernists were coming in; changes were occurring. Britton was not a wealthy man. He had trouble supporting his family, but his main passion was not selling his art. He was focused on painting.”

His granddaughters, who have about 400 paintings between them, recently gave a presentation at the late Jackson Pollock’s New York home, held shows in Sag Harbor and had an exhibit of his landscapes titled “Summertime” in Litchfield County, Conn.

Britton died before his grandchildren were born.

“We felt we knew grandfather because our father talked about him a great deal,” said Ursula Britton, who has lived in Ventura since 1989. “He was larger than life, and very free with his opinions. He was a very active ghost in the family.”

The exhibit at the maritime museum is titled “James Britton: Sag Harbor in the 1920s.” It includes portraits of the town in its whaling and bootlegging days. It also has a few self-portraits of Britton wearing his trademark red hat.

“He rarely left his studio,” said Barbara Britton, 56. “He painted what he could see outside his window. He was fascinated by skies and cloud formations and different colors throughout the day as colors changed.”

McKillop believes that Britton’s work will enjoy a resurgence.

“Will he be as famous as Monet? Probably not,” she said. “What is good is always new. The pendulum swings in and out. I see that style coming back--impressionist painting has held up over time. It will be very popular with collectors who love that era.”

Neither granddaughter became a painter. Ursula is a paralegal for a Los Angeles law firm; her sister designs gardens for city dwellers in Manhattan.

“My grandfather has nothing to worry about from me,” Ursula said.