Harold Kenworthy

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Harold Kenworthy (1893-1964) was a British-born designer, painter, sculptor, and art educator who specialized in oils and watercolors depicting New England's coast and countryside.

Biography

New England artist, Harold Kenworthy, was one of eight children born in Oldham, England to cotton weaver James and Flora Crossley Kenworthy. At least two older siblings had emigrated to the United States by the time Harold emigrated in 1914. Older sister Edith and her husband, Alfred Rodgers, had opened the English Bakery on Harmony Court in New Bedford, Mass. [date of immigration?] Older brother George and his wife, Jane Hodson Kenworthy, rejecting their future as millworkers in England, had emigrated in 1909 and settled in New Bedford as well..

Receiving art training in the technical schools of Oldham, England, Kenworthy had earned a First Class Certificate of the City and Guilds of London Institute in drawing and painting as well as the Guild Award in sketching and decorative painting, the Lycum Prize and the South Kensington Awards

Listing himself as a painter on the passenger log, 21-year-old Harold Kenworthy came to the U.S. on the Lusitania, landing at Ellis Island on September 14, 1914 with $21 in his pocket, worth about $645 in 2020 dollars. In 1916 he is listed as a baker at 958 Brock Ave

Although he indicated at immigration that he had paid his own way, more likely his sister and brother-in-law had paid for his travel in return for working at their bakery . Harold wanted to draw or paint, however, not work as a bakery employee, and he soon enrolled in the Swain School of Design, where he was a honor student.

With the US entry into World War I, Kenworthy took advantage of the opportunity to enlist in the American Expeditionary Force, which would lead to U.S. citizenship as well as get him out of the bakery business. He was shipped overseas very quickly, assigned to a horse-drawn infantry unit with the New Bedford Battery D, 102nd Field Artillery. When photographed, Kenworthy was identified as a cook, presumably assigned due to his bakery experience. His drawing skills were quickly recognized, however, and he was called on to draw the topographical maps of the area where his unit was serving. Serving at great peril, he was exposed to the worst of trench warfare in that assignment . Kenworthy was awarded the Purple Heart with three oak leaf clusters and was later awarded the Silver Star Medal.

Kenworthy returned to New Bedford badly shell-shocked , but he discovered that he could apply to the Rhode Island School of Design if he passed the entrance exams; he did so after extensive and intense preparation. Kenworthy graduated from the Architectural Department in 1921 and went on to do a year of post-graduate at the Architectural School at Harvard University. He later studied with muralist Carroll Bill.

In 1940, Kenworthy was living at 307 Maple with his wife Alneid (Olive) and daughter Ruth Ann, who would sometimes tag along when he painted at the wharfs. Kenworthy moved to Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, in 1964 at age 71, and died later that same year.

Professional life

Kenworthy worked for several years on the design staff at Irving and Casson, a Boston interior design and furniture company. He then worked for five years as a member of the design staff at the Rochester, NY studios of the Hayden Co. of New York, then returning to Boston as the chief designer for the Charak Furniture Company. Kenworthy also worked for two years as the lithographic artist for the Potter Press of Waltham, MA.

In 1936, Harold Kenworthy accepted a position as instructor in the Industrial Design Department of the New Bedford Vocational School, where he remained on the faculty as an instructor of Furniture Design. He painted and exhibited his work primarily in the Buzzards Bay area of Massachusetts. Kenworthy was considered an authority on Heraldry. After retiring as a teacher, Kenworthy continued painting and was a "well known" local artist when he moved to Mattapoisett in 1964.

Kenworthy is known primarily as a landscape artist, but an important part of that New Bedford landscape included the docks and boats of Buzzard Bay. New Bedford had surpassed Nantucket as the whaling capital of the world in 1829, and was not only the 19th century's predominate whaling port, but the world's richest (per capita) city thanks to the whaling industry. Only with the gradual decline in whale products did New Bedford's economy begin to shift toward textile manufacturing. The last whaling voyage had set sail in 1927, but the port remained an active fishing port, and Kenworthy captured the scene in both oils and watercolors.

Exhibitions and galleries

In 1936, about 20 watercolors and drawings were exhibited at the town of Fairhaven. As of 1945, Kenworthy's work had been exhibited at the Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, the Easy Street Galleries on Nantucket Island, and the Boston Architectural Club. He was a member of the New Bedford Art Center Group, with whom he exhibited His 1945 exhibit at the New Bedford Free Library was "enthusiastically received" and "well attended"

Kenworthy is listed in Davenport's Art Reference, Worthpoint, and Liveauctioneers.

Artworks

This partial list of known works is based on exhibition programs and recorded sales.

Oils

• After the Storm, bef. 1945
• New Bedford Wharf -- Early Morning, bef. 1945
• On the Way to Bar Harbor, Maine, bef. 1945
• The Wool Clipper, bef. 1945
• The Gloucesterman (owned by Mrs. Robert Ingersoll Haseltine in 1945)
• The Clipper Ship "Young America" (owned by Dr. and Mrs. Frank M. Wilbur in 1945)
• The Tea Clipper "Sir Launcelot" (owned by Mr. and Mrs. Francis B. Finni in 1945)
• The Swordfisherman (owned by Hutchinson's in 1945)
• Heading up the Bay (owned by Hutchinson's in 1945)
• The Old Mackerel Seiner (owned by Hutchinson's in 1945)
• Winter Farm Scene (13 1/2" x 19", possibly Winter Scene, sold 2006 at auction)
• Snowy Landscape (16.75" W x 13.75", sold 2018 at auction)

Water Colors

• The Sardine Boat, 12 x 16.25, c 1930s (sold October 2015)
• In Memoriam, 1935 (owned by the Imperial War Museum)
• A Tudor Interior, bef. 1945
• A Colonial Interior, bef. 1945
• The "Nina" of New York, bef. 1945
• Sein Boats of Gloucester, bef. 1945
• Mackeral Boats of Gloucester, bef. 1945
• The Yellow Bowl, bef. 1945
• Phlox, bef. 1945
• The Green Vase, bef. 1945
• The Glass Bowl, bef. 1945
• Martin's Lane, Nantucket, bef. 1945
• Forest Circle (owned by Elsie M. Bennett in 1945)
• Houses of Provincetown, bef. 1945
• Surf, bef. 1945
• Cathedral Ledge, New Hampshire, bef. 1945
• Sand Dunes, bef. 1945
• Yacht Club at Edgartown, bef. 1945
• Menemsha Cove, bef. 1945
• From Harborside Inn at Edgartown, bef. 1945
• An Edgartown House, bef. 1945
• Fantasy, Oak Bluffs, bef. 1945
• Down by the Creek, bef. 1945 (gifted to niece, Enid Kenworthy Cyphert; owned by Dale Cyphert as of 1994)
• Winter Sunset, bef. 1945
• Red Colonial House, Padanaram, bef. 1945
• U.S. Engineer's Ship, New Bedford, bef. 1945
• Mount Moat, New Hampshire, bef. 1945
• White Door, bef. 1945
• Swordfisher, bef. 1945
• Whaling Museum, Nantucket, bef. 1945
• Brewer Fountain, Boston Commons, bef. 1945
• Handlining, bef. 1945
• The Rip, bef. 1945
• Cape Cod, 15.5 x 20, c. late 1950s
• “Vagabond” Boston Dragger in New Bedford Harbor, c. 1940s (Colin Reed Art and Antiques, 2018)

Pencil Sketches

• Scottie Dog, bef. 1945
• Schooner "Peaceland", bef. 1945
• Hauled Out, bef. 1945
• Scallop Draggers, bef. 1945

Heraldry

• Gifford
• Hussey
• Salisbury

Kenworthy was known to create Heraldry pieces, and he was cited as an expert in one exhibition catalog.

Nature Studies

• Asters, in pen, bef. 1945
• Leek, in pen, bef. 1945
• Tuberose, pencil, bef. 1945
• Tuberose, color, bef. 1945
• Moss and Lichen, bef. 1945
• Fungus, color, bef. 1945

References

This article "Harold Kenworthy" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Harold Kenworthy. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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