John Denison Crocker
1823 - 1907
Birth-PlaceSalem, CT
Death-PlaceNorwich, CT
BiographyCrocker was born in Salem, Connecticut, in 1822 and spent most of his life in Norwich, Connecticut where he died in 1907. Although he started as a portrait painter, he soon turned to landscapes, where he was one of the first artists to document the landscape of his native southeastern Connecticut. Crocker spent time in the Catskills and is known to have painted at least one New Hampshire scene, titled "View of New Hampshire", in the manner of the renowned Hudson River School artists Alvan Fisher, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, and Frederic Church. In addition to being a painter, Crocker was an inventor. In 1865, he was granted a patent for a new "file-cutting" machine.A native of Connecticut, Crocker worked for many years as an apprentice to a variety of craftsmen, including a silver smith and a furniture maker. He initially became interested in painting in 1840, when a portrait was brought in to be restored in the shop where he worked. He began his career painting portraits, though he later dedicated the majority of his career to the portrayal of landscapes. He spent a brief period in New York, where he was exposed to the Hudson River School. Crocker's techniques were well-developed and mature by the end of his career, even though he was never formally trained.
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