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Edmund Charles Tarbell (1862-1938) was a painter and educator based in Boston, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Edmund Charles Tarbell was born in West Groton, Massachusetts. His parents were Mary Sophia and Edmund Whitney Tarbell. His father died from typhoid fever during the Civil War. After his father's death and his mother's remarriage, Tarbell and his sister Nellie Sophia are raised by his paternal grandparents. Tarbell studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (the Museum School), where he studied under the painter Otto Grundmann, and the Académie Julian in Paris, France, where he studied under Gustave-Rodolphe Boulanger and Jules-Joseph Lefebvre. Tarbell was in Europe from 1884 to 1886. In addition to his time at the Académie in Paris, he studied the Old Master paintings and Impressionism. He also traveled to London, Brussels, Frankfurt, Venice, and Munich, among other places.
After returning from Europe, Tarbell settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts and worked as a painter and illustrator. Tarbell married Emeline Souther in 1888. They had four children together and his family members were often the models for his paintings. Tarbell bought a summer house in New Castle, New Hampshire in 1905, where he and his wife would eventually retire.
Tarbell taught at the Museum School in Boston from 1889-1913 and later became the head of the Corcoran School of Art from 1918 to 1926. Tarbell and his close friend Frank W. Benson were both members of the Ten American Painters, a group of American Impressionist painters who held exhibitions together. He was considered the leader of the Boston Impressionists and had tremendous influence on his students, who were referred to as "Tarbellites." Tarbell was also the president of The Guild of Boston Artists from 1914 to 1924.
Tarbell exhibited frequently and his paintings are often in the American Impressionist style. While his wife and children were often the subject of his paintings, he also made numerous portraits of men of prestige, such as noted industrialists and presidents. He won numerous awards and received an honorary doctorate for painting from Dartmouth College. Tarbell was a juror in several important international exhibitions and world fairs such as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904) and the Panama–Pacific International Exposition (1915). Furthermore, Tarbell was a member of various arts organizations such as the Tavern Club, the Players Club, and the National Academy of Design.
Tarbell died in New Castle, New Hampshire in 1938.
