In Memory

Alfred C Chadbourn - Class Of 1939

Alfred C Chadbourn

Alfred C. ''Chip'' Chadbourn, 76, a well-known Maine painter whose artwork is exhibited all around the world, died July 13, 1998 at an area hospital after a long illness. Mr. Chadbourn's paintings are in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., Chicago Art Institute, National Academy of Design and the Portland Museum of Art. He also sold paintings into the private collections of Sir Laurence Olivier, Prince Ranier of Monaco, Red Skelton, Raymond Burr, Jacques Cousteau, Jackie Gleason, Walter Cronkite and the late Maine philanthropist Elizabeth B. Noyce. His paintings were greatly influenced by French impressionism, and he was best-known locally for his colorful images of coastal Maine and still lifes of food. He also created scenes for L.L. Bean catalog covers. ''His appeal was broader than anyone I've seen,'' said Portland artist and art dealer Thomas Crotty, whose Frost Gully Gallery represented Chadbourn. ''People of very sophisticated tastes and people who are just starting out can relate to his paintings because they are always joyous, full of life and beautifully painted.'' ''Chip was a thorough-going sensualist,'' said Edgar Allen Beem, author of ''Maine Art Now'' and a Yarmouth neighbor. ''He took great pleasure from life. . . from the hot sun, beautiful women, good food, fine wine, great paintings, music and books . . . and he gave that pleasure back to us in his art.''

As an American in Paris studying on the GI bill after World War II, Mr. Chadbourn studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere. His first show in Paris in 1949 was sponsored by French poet and playwright Jean Cocteau. In the 1950s, he returned to the United States, settling in New York City during the heyday of abstract expressionism. From 1953 to 1956, he taught art at Queens College in New York. He taught at the Famous Artists School in Westport, Conn., along with art world luminaries such as Ben Shahn and Stuart Davis, from 1958 until moving to Maine in 1973. In Maine, he taught at Southern Maine Technical College and Westbrook College, and conducted popular art classes in his studio beside his home on Church Street.

Generous and self-deprecating by nature, he shared his love of art not only through his painting and teaching but also through his writings, according to Beem. He was the author of ''A Direct Approach to Painting'' (1980) and ''Painting With a Fresh Eye'' (1997). Among his many honors were a Louis Comfort Tiffany Fellowship in 1959, a Silvermine Guild Best in Landscape Award in 1960, the Henry Ward Ranger Purchase Award at the National Academy in 1964, and the Emil and Dines Carlson Award for the best still life at the National Academy Show in 1981. In 1971 he was elected a full member of the National Academy of Design. Born in Izmir, Turkey, a son of Philip and Esther Packard Chadbourn, he attended schools in France and California, and served in the Army during World War II.

Surviving are his wife, Mary, of Yarmouth; a daughter, Jessica Chadbourn of Ormond Beach, Florida.; four stepchildren, a brother, Philip (SPHS '35) of La Jolla, California; a half-brother, Dwight Chadbourn of Hampton, Virginia; and 11 grandchildren.