Marine
Henry Mattson
HENRY MATTSON, 1933. OIL AND WATERCOLOR ON CANVAS.
In Woodstock, New York, Henry Mattson could starve more slowly and more comfortably than he could in the city. This was his own admission and resignation, that life as an artist would not bring wealth or comfort but was worthwhile nonetheless, and he could live in Woodstock for pennies on the Manhattan dollar enough to pursue the only thing he ever wanted to do. Born in Sweden, he arrived in America at the turn of the century with thirteen dollars in his pocket. He picked up irregular work at machine shops, harvester companies, and landscaping firms while taking art classes in the evenings and painting as a hobby. He was encouraged by his mentor to give up painting and find a trade, advice Mattson followed for a little while until he found it impossible to continue to deny his truest desire. So to Woodstock he went, subsidising his painting with odd jobs until, through perseverance and talent, he became nationally renowned and a hero of the artists movements of upstate New York. He was, in so many ways, an archetype of the American dream, and of the northern dreamer of folk tradition who believed in beauty so much that he risked it all, and won.