Paul Dougherty did not always aspire to be an artist.  Rather, he followed in his father’s footsteps and entered law.  He studied at New York Law School in 1898, and around this time he also studied privately with artist Robert Henri.  As a connoisseur of art, Dougherty set out to travel through Europe in 1900, and spent five years visiting museums, painting and studying masterpieces.  Although he had little formal art training, Dougherty’s work received high critical acclaim.  His powerful seascapes were compared to those of Winslow Homer.  According to John Sloan, “Everything came to him; all his pictures sold, he won all the prizes.”

Dougherty spent 1917 painting on Monhegan Island in Maine, and by the 1920s he began spending winters first in Tucson, Arizona, and then in Carmel, California, until the end of his life.   He was made a member of the National Academy of Design, the Society of American Artists, the National Arts Club, the Carmel Art Association, the Woodstock Art Association and the American Water Color Society.  Dougherty exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1901, and in the United States at many important venues, including the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Corcoran Gallery, the Art Institute of Chicago and the National Academy of Design, where he was awarded a gold medal in 1913 and the Palmer Prize in 1941.  His work is included in numerous collections around the country.  Robert C. Vose, Sr., (Vose Galleries of Boston) thought very highly of Dougherty’s work, and held shows of his paintings in 1911-12, 1914 and 1920.

Condition: Very good. Not lined, one small spot inpaint center. Some craquelure in sky.
Reference: See Who Was Who In American Art (1999).