Lot 156: William Lester Stevens O/C Charleston, SC Cityscape, Meeting Street

William Lester Stevens (American, 1888-1969) oil on canvas Charleston, South Carolina street scene that depicts Meeting Street with St. Michael’s Church at right and palms and other trees in the foreground. Signed “W. Lester Stevens.,” lower right. Housed in a giltwood frame with foliate corners. Sight: 15 1/2 in H x 19 1/2 in W. Framed: 22 in H x 25 3/4 in W. Note: Although he produced at least four watercolor depictions of various locations in the city, this is Stevens’s only known oil painting of Charleston. Artist Biography: “Rockport, Massachusetts-born William Lester Stevens attended the Boston Museum School as a student of Edmund Tarbell, Frank Benson, Philip Hale and William Paxton. Although he is most commonly associated with the Boston School of painters, Stevens also painted for a period in Charlotte and Asheville, NC, where he gave lessons and held one man shows. In 1921 Stevens and his friend Aldro Hibbard were instrumental in organizing the Rockport Art Association. Stevens was best known for his traditional and impressionist landscapes. He was prolific, and by 1964 had won more awards than any other living artist.” Source: American Art Review, Oct. 2003; Falk, Peter Hastings (ed.) Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975.

PROVENANCE: Private Southern collection. 

CONDITION: Overall very good condition, with negligible craquelure to a few areas of thicker pigment, especially clouds. Not examined out of frame. Frame with minor abrasions.