Mark Potter

American, 1929 - 1995

BiographyMark Winslow Potter (1929–1995) is perhaps best known for his brilliantly lit landscapes and scenes of rural life in New England, and in the Adirondacks, where he spent summers throughout his entire life. He received a BA from Yale University in 1952, studying under Josef Albers. Potter also studied with George Grosz and Bernard Klonis at the Art Students League in New York City, and with Robert Brackman in Noank, Conn.

His first one-man show, which took place in Kennett Square, Penn., in 1962, was arranged by Andrew Wyeth. He went on to participate in numerous solo and group shows throughout his life, including ones at the Wadsworth Atheneum, the National Academy of Design, the American Watercolor Society, and the Academy of Fine Arts. Retrospectives of his work were mounted at the David Findlay Gallery in New York in 1997 and 1998. Potter was also a masterful portraitist: his portrait of Malcolm Baldrige, former secretary of commerce, now hangs in the US Department of Commerce.
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Potter taught art and art history at The Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, from 1956 to 1995, achieving an almost legendary status as a teacher. Teaching was always an important part of his life, and long after he might have retired to the studio, he continued to teach. As his wife Bobbie wrote for an exhibition of his work at Taft, it was his teaching that kept his painting free and alive. His need to paint was nourished by his testing it and sharing it with his students.

Works by Potter are featured in numerous corporate and public collections, including Yale University, Doris Duke Memorial Collection, and Heublein, Inc.

In 1952, Potter married Barbara (Bobbie) Bruce Baldwin, who continues to live in their house in Woodbury. They moved to Woodbury in 1955, after which Potter divided his time between his studio there, and his Adirondack studio.

Sources: Washington [CT] Art Association, The Taft School

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