Alphaeus Philemon Cole, N.A. American. 1874-1956.
Portrait of Eugene Higgins, Age 80. 1954. Oil on canvas. 30 3/16 x 25 1/4. Signed and dated, lower right. $10,000.
Cole and Higgins, both born in the same year, lived in Lyme, Connecticut. Higgins is posed informally, wearing ordinary clothes, seated in an old chair, smoking his pipe. This is delightful portrait of a friend by a friend.
Cole was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. His father was Timothy Cole, noted wood engraver. After graduating from college, Cole journeyed to London to begin a career in the arts. In the mid-1890s, he began to produce many vibrant works, mostly various still lifes and portraits. In 1901, Cole had some of his artwork displayed at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Alphaeus Cole was a portraitist and still life painter, teacher, illustrator and writer. His preferred media were oil and watercolor.
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