| James Dexter Havens |
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James Dexter Havens (American, 1900-1960) noted artist, printer, wood engraver, etcher, block-printer, illustrator, painter, graphic designer and sculptor known especially for his for his atmospheric woodblock prints in the tradition of Margaret Jordan Patterson (Indonesian-American, 1867-1950) and Eliza Draper Gardiner (American, 1871-1955) and for his landscape paintings. He was considered part of the color woodblock revival in America. His prints and paintings often featured animals, nature scenes, people, landscape, cityscape, seascape or maritime scenes characterized by minute details and careful design. Havens was a member of many art societies, print-making organizations, and clubs. He was one of the twenty-two founding members of the Print Club of Rochester, NY, initially serving as treasurer and served for many years as director. The logo that he designed for the Club is still in use today. His works are in many public & private collections and museums.
Havens studied at the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute (known today as the Rochester Institute of Technology RIT), in Henrietta, NY under Alling MacKaye Clements (American, 1891-1957), and at the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY. He also took summer classes at the Charles H. Woodbury (American, 1864-1940) Summer School in Ogunquit, ME (circa 1935), and studied privately with Thomas Fogerty (American, 1873-1938) for etching, Troy Sylvanus Kinney (American, 1871-1938), John Edward Costigan (American, 1888-1972), and Grant Tyson Reynard (American, 1887-1968).
From the early age of fourteen, Havens was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes and doctors only gave him about two years to live. Bedridden for most of the time, he began drawing as a way to pass the time and combat the boredom. Though ill, he still was able to complete high school and three years at the University of Rochester. Havens was a life-long sufferer of disease, but he earned a footnote in history when in 1922, on the verge of death, he became the first person to be successfully treated with insulin injections in the United States. His father, head of the legal department at Eastman Kodak, learned of research being carried out in Canada and obtained a supply of insulin even before it was available in the US. Insulin therapy dramatically improved the quality of his life and he finished studying art at Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute.
“In the early 1920s, Attorney James S. Havens—the artist’s father—who had already served as a U.S. Representative to Congress (1910-11) and was head of its legal department of the Eastman Kodak Co.—was searching for something to help his desperately ill son. Through his high offices at Kodak, he rubbed shoulders and played golf with a great many men in all sorts of fields. Among these men was Professor JJR Macleod, who headed the lab at the University of Toronto where Frederick Banting and Charles Best were doing the first research on insulin in 1921-22. Through the intervention of Professor Macleod, young Jim Havens, became the first American to undergo insulin therapy. By the time he received treatment, he weighed less than 74 pounds at the age of twenty-two. Initially, the insulin—administered by Dr. John R. Williams of Rochester—was ineffective and it was only after Frederick Banting traveled to Rochester and injected the young man himself that the diabetes was finally brought under control. In fact, when Banting finished injecting Havens, the young man enjoyed the first full meal he’d had in many years.[1]
Self taught as a printmaker, Havens made his first prints, mainly in the form of bookplates and greeting cards, in the late 1920s. On July 18, 1927, he married Gladys (Corland) Havens and together, they had a son, James C., and a daughter, Bettina “Tina” Havens (Letcher), who eventually married a professor of physics at the University of Rhode Island. By the mid-1930s, Havens was a fairly accomplished printmaker, usually working in color, creating both linoleum cuts and woodcuts. During this period, he built a home/studio for himself and his family in Fairport, New York, five miles southeast of Rochester.” [2] –Kevin Murphy
Chronology:
1900- Born, January 13th, Rochester, NY.
1914- Havens was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes.
1922- Became the first person successfully treated with insulin injections in the United States.
1927- Married, July 18th to Gladys (Corland) Havens, they had a son, James C. and a daughter, Bettina “Tina” Havens (Letcher),
circa late 1920’s- Havens made his first prints, mainly in the form of bookplates and greeting cards.
circa mid 1930’s- Havens builds his home and studio in Fairport, NY.
1934- Co-founded the Print Club of Rochester, Rochester, NY.
1934-36- Exhibited, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA.
1934-43- Exhibited, Philadelphia Print Club, Philadelphia, PA.
circa 1935- Took summer classes at the Charles H. Woodbury (American, 1864-1940) Summer School (“The Art of Seeing-Woodbury Course in Observation”), Ogunquit, ME.
1935-36- Exhibited, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO.
1936- Exhibited, Society of Independent Artists, NY, NY. Exhibited, at the Print Club of Rochester (Ewald Eiserhardt Purchase award), Rochester, NY.
1938- Exhibited, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA. Exhibited, at the Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO. Exhibited, at the Society of Independent Artists, NY, NY. Exhibited, at the American Watercolor Society, NY, NY.
1939- Exhibited, Print Club of Rochester (Ewald Eiserhardt Purchase award), Rochester, NY. Exhibited, at the University of Rochester (Fairchild Award), Rochester, NY.
1941- Exhibited, American Watercolor Society, NY, NY. Exhibited, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA.
1942- Exhibited, National Academy of Design (now the National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts), NY, NY.
1944- Exhibited, National Academy of Design (now the National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts), NY, NY.
1945- Exhibited, Albright Art Gallery (now the Albright-Knox Art Gallery) (prize), Buffalo, NY. Exhibited, Audubon Artists, NY, NY.
1946- Exhibited, Albright Art Gallery (Print Prize), Buffalo, NY.
1946-48- Exhibited, Philadelphia Print Club, Philadelphia, PA.
1947- Exhibited, Audubon Artists, NY, NY. Exhibited, Society of American Graphic Artists, NY, NY. Exhibited, Brooklyn Museum (Purchase Award), Brooklyn, NY.
1948- Commissioned to design color woodcuts for the annual membership prints of the Prairie Print Makers, Lindsborg, Kansas. Exhibited, Audubon Artists, NY, NY.
1949- Exhibited, Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Commissioned to design the annual membership prints for The Woodcut Society of Kansas City, MO, and the Print Club of Rochester, of Rochester, NY. Exhibited, Woodcut Society, Kansas City, MO. Exhibited, Print Club of Rochester (Ewald Eiserhardt Purchase award), Rochester, NY. Exhibited, Rochester Memorial Art Gallery (prize), Rochester, NY. Exhibited, Rochester-Finger Lakes Exhibition (Gould Purchase Award), for a watercolor, Rochester, NY.
1950- Exhibited, American Color Print Society, Philadelphia, PA, and was also commissioned to design the annual membership prints for the American Color Print Society.
1950-52- Exhibited, Audubon Artists, NY, NY. Exhibited, at the Society of American Graphic Artists, NY, NY.
1951- Elected an Associate Member at the National Academy of Design (now the National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts), NY, NY. Exhibited, Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Exhibited, Print Club of Rochester (Ewald Eiserhardt Purchase award), Rochester, NY.
1952-55- Exhibited, National Academy of Design (now the National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts), NY, NY.
1953- Exhibited, Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Exhibited, at the Audubon Artists, NY, NY.
1955- Exhibited, group show, Audubon Artists, NY, NY. Exhibited, Society of American Graphic Artists (prize), NY, NY.
1958- Exhibited, Pasadena Art Museum (prize), Pasadena, CA.
1959- Exhibited, Print Club of Rochester (Ewald Eiserhardt Purchase award), Rochester, NY.
1960- Died, November 30th at his home at the age of sixty from colon cancer, Fairport, NY.
circa early 1980’s- Haven’s daughter-in-law, Anne Havens, “estate-stamped” all of his completed works and sold them.
2000- Exhibited, solo retrospective show, “Woodblock Prints by James Havens: A Centennial Celebration”, December 8th through March 4, 2001 at the Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, about 40 woodblock prints from the collection of the Memorial Art Gallery, plus a number of works on loan from Rochester’s Strong Museum, Rochester, NY.
Memberships: Associate Member of the National Academy of Design (now the National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts), NY, NY; Society of Independent Artists, NY, NY; Washington DC Watercolor Club, Washington, DC; Society of Washington Printmakers, Washington, DC; Boston Printmakers, Boston, MA; The Boston Society of Independent Artists, Boston, NY; The Boston Print Club, Boston, MA; Print Makers Society of California, Los Angeles, CA; Academic Artists Association, Springfield, MA; American Color Print Society, Philadelphia, PA; Prairie Print Makers, Lindsborg, KA; American Watercolor Society, NY, NY; Society of American Graphic Artists (SAGA), NY, NY; The Washington Water Color Club, Washington, DC; The Woodcut Society, Kansas City, MO; The Rochester Art Club, Rochester, NY; The Print Club of Rochester, Rochester, NY; The Albany Print Club, Albany, NY; The Color Block Printmakers; Southern Printmakers Society, Birmingham AL; and The American Artists Professional League, NY, NY.
Honors & Prizes: American Artists Group prize, Society of American Graphic Artists Exhibition, NY, NY, (1955); Ewald Eiserhardt Purchase awards, the Print Club of Rochester, Rochester, NY, (1936, 1939, 1949, 1951, 1959); University of Rochester Fairchild award, Rochester, NY, (1939); Purchase award, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, (1947), Gould purchase award for his watercolor, Rochester-Finger Lakes Exhibition, (1949) and three others between 1939-59, Rochester, NY; and the Print Prize, at the Buffalo Albright Art Gallery (now the Albright-Knox Art Gallery), Buffalo, NY, (1946).
Museum Collections: Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; The Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, CT; The Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY; Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile AL; George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, Springfield, MA; Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ; Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, CA; Museum of Art and Archaeology, Museum of Nebraska Art, Kearney, NE; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO; the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA; and the Wright Museum of Art, Beloit, WI.
Galleries: Arnot Art Gallery (Herbert Arnot Inc.), NY, NY; Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY; and the Saint Joseph College Art Gallery, West Hartford, CT.
Public Collections: University of Missouri Columbia, Columbia, MO; William Smith College, Geneva, NY; Arlington Public Library, Arlington, MA; Rochester Institute of Technology, Henrietta, NY; Rochester Print Club, Rochester, NY; The University of Maine, Orono, ME; and the The New York Public Library, NY, NY.
Publications: The Artists Bluebook:34,000 North American Artists to March 2005, AskART.com Inc., Lonnie Pierson Dunbier (Editor), 2005; Davenport's Art Reference: The Gold Edition, by Ray Davenport, 2005; Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975, 3 volume set, 1999, and Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975 Artists Active Between 1898-1947, 1985, both by Peter Hastings Falk (Editor); Annual Exhibition Record, 1914-68, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, by Peter Hastings Falk (Editor), 1989; Charles Woodbury and His Students, by Ogunquit Museum (Editor), 1998; A Spectrum of Innovation: Color in American Printmaking 1890-1960, by David Acton, 1990; The Society of Independent Artists: Exhibition Record 1917-1944, by Clark S. Marlor, 1984; 30 Years of American Printmaking, by Gene Baro, 1976; History of the National Academy of Design, 1825-1953, by Eliot Clark, 1954; and the Index of Artists: International-Biographical, Two Volumes: Includes 1940 Index, by Daniel Trowbridge Mallet, 1935.
For possible additional information or images from this artist, please visit the AskArt link
(Rewritten & compiled chronologically by Mark Strong of Meibohm Fine Arts, Inc., East Aurora, NY, 01/2009. Sources: Info and prior biographical submissions with permission from AskArt.com, prior submission from Wharton Fine Art, Inc., prior submission & paragraphed quotes [1], [2] by Kevin Murphy submitted October 2005, prior submission by Traditional Fine Art Online, Inc.; Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975, 3 volume set, by Peter Hastings Falk (Editor-in-Chief), 1999; Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc. website www.tfaoi.com exhibition article “Woodblock Prints by James Havens: A Centennial Celebration”; Wikipedia, “James D. Havens”.)
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