Charles Henry Gifford

American (1839-1904)

Charles Henry Gifford was born in the seaport town of Fairhaven near New Bedford in 1839.  The son of a ship’s carpenter, he was first apprenticed to that trade, then learned shoemaking, but abandoned both to fight in the Civil War. Returning to Fairhaven, Gifford devoted himself to painting.  He was essentially self- taught but was exposed to the works of Alfred van Beest, William Bradford, Albert Bierstadt, R. Swain Gifford and Albert Pinkham Ryder in New Bedford. Many years later Gifford wrote: “What set me to painting was…seeing an exhibition of Bierstadt’s paintings…I was so enthused that I came home, got some cloth and paint and went right to work”. He painted along the New England Coast, including Nantucket, Cuttyhunk, and the Elizabeth Islands, and inland to the White Mountains, Niagara Falls and Lake George.