Charles Wheeler Locke

American, 20th Century

Charles Wheeler Locke was a painter, illustrator, etcher, lithographer, teacher, and drawing specialist. He was born in Cincinnati, OH on August 31, 1899 and died in Garrison, NY in 1983. He is best remembered for his etchings and his urban genre, portraits, and bar scenes. Locke first studied art in his native Cincinnati at the Mechanics Ohio Institute. In 1921 he became a student at the Art Students League, New York, and studied under John Weis, H. H. Wessel and Joseph Pennell. Pennell (the disciple and biographer of Whistler) was the leading force of American printmaking at this time. He quickly recognized Locke’s talents (particularly in the medium of lithography) and hired him as his primary assistant. In 1923 Pennell selected Locke to succeed him as Instructor of Lithography at the Art Students League.

From 1925, Charles Locke’s lithographs of the docks,, wharves and streets of New York and Brooklyn gained international recognition. His role as a teacher was also important. Among other accomplishments, Locke introduced John Stewart Curry to lithography and helped to influence his early work.

Charles Locke was a full member of the Society of American Etchers, the American Printmakers, the American Society of Painters, Sculptors and Gravers and the Century Club, New York, and was an Associate of the National Academy of Design. He illustrated Tale of a Tub, by Swift and published by Columbia University Press. Locke's address in 1929 was 78 Columbia Heights in Brooklyn, NY and his summer residence was 3906 Hazel Avenue in Norwood, OH.

His exhibitions and awards include the Logan Medal at the Art Institute of Chicago; the Tiffany Foundation Award; the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC; and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

Locke's work is represented in the collections of the Whistler House Museum of Art in Lowell, MA; the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; the British Museum in London; the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City; the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC; the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, TX; the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens in Jacksonville, FL; the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, FL; the University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, MI; the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, MN; the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO; the Brooklyn Museum of Art; the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art in Loretto, PA; the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh / Carnegie Institute; and the Museum of Art at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT.

Locke also illustrated for Walden & Capt. Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven and contributed to the Freeman Magazine.

References: Who Was Who in American Art, vol. I, page 376; Davenport's Art Reference 2001/2002, page 1167; Mantle Fielding,1986, page 549; Mallett, page 259; Dealer's Choice Biographical Encyclopedia of American Painters... page 841; Whistler House Museum of Art files.