Henry Webster Rice was a professional watercolourist and teacher. Born in Pownal, Maine in 1853, he died in Watertown, Massachusetts in 1934.
By 1885, he was a pupil of Ross Sterling Turner (1847-1915). He was also an oil painter of genre scenes and landscapes, although he painted mostly marine views of boats and fishermen. He taught the aritst Gertrude Beals Bourne who exhibited under both the names Beals and Bourne. Gertrude made a trip to Bermuda and Rice followed in her footsteps, both artists sharing an interest in the architecture and landscapes of Bermuda. He made trips in 1911 and 1913, and continued visiting until his death in 1934.
Rice was a member of the Boston Society of Watercolor Painters and the Guild of Boston Artists. From 1906 to 1834 he painted at Fenway Studios in Boston, giving his address as 30 Ipswich Street, Boston . From 1888 until 1907, Rice exhibited his watercolors at the Boston Art Club where he was known as “a beloved teacher.”
In addition to the Boston Art Club, Rice exhibited at the American Watercolor Society, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Examples of his works are at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Olin Arts Center of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, the William A. Fransworth Library and Art Museum in Rockland, Maine, the Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine, and Washington University’s Henry Gallery in Seattle, Washington.
Titles of watercolors of White Mountain subjects exhibited at the Boston Art Club include: A Rainy Day — Franconia Mts., The Ossipee Mountains, and Iron Mountain, Jackson, N.H. Two White Mountain subjects were exhibited at the Portland Museum of Art in 1977: Mount Washington in Snow and Pinkham Notch (NH) in Winter.
Reference
Who Was Who in American Art