Charles Courtney Curran was born in Hartford, Kentucky, and studied briefly at the Cincinnati School of Design in 1881. After moving to New York City the following year, Curran enrolled at the National Academy of Design, where he studied under Walter Satterlee, and continued his training at the Art Students League. He received early recognition and held his first exhibition at the age of twenty-three at the National Academy in 1883. This marked the beginning of a lifelong association with the academy; Curran took part in an impressive sixty-one consecutive annual exhibitions, as well as nearly every winter exhibition from 1906 to 1932. He also exhibited regularly at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1888 to 1919; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, from 1887 to 1935; Boston Art Club, from 1893 to 1909; and the Carnegie Institute’s International Exhibitions from 1896 to 1923.
From 1888 to 1890, Curran resided in Paris and studied at the Académie Julian under Benjamin Constant, Jules-Joseph Lefebvre, and Henri Lucien Doucet. His exposure to Impressionism while in Paris undoubtedly influenced the bright palette and attention to effects of light and atmosphere that are evident in his subsequent work. In Picnic Supper on the Sand Dunes Curran manages to balance the academic drawing style of his teachers with the loose brushwork of Impressionism. This technique would later be replaced by a tight and precise handling of paint, as seen in his Betty Newell, 1922 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). However, his concern with warm, enveloping sunlight and a jewel-like color palette in Picnic Supper on the Sand Dunes was consistent throughout his career.
Upon his return to America, Curran divided his time between New York City and his house and studio near Cragsmoor, New York, where he was a leader of the Cragsmoor Art Colony. Founded by Edward Lamson Henry in 1883, the Cragsmoor Colony became a favorite retreat for landscapists attracted to its clear views of the surrounding mountains and valleys. Curran first visited Cragsmoor as a guest of artist and writer Frederick Dellenbaugh in 1903. Curran later built his summer home there in 1910. According to art historian William Gerdts, Curran was one of the most renowned associates of the colony. He remained associated with Cragsmoor into the late 1930s and edited the publication Palette and Brush with his wife for a number of years.
Curran was a prolific painter and won numerous awards throughout his career, including prizes at the Paris Salon in 1890 and the Columbian Exposition, Chicago, in 1893. His paintings can be found in prestigious public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C.; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Fort Worth Art Museum; and the Buffalo Fine Art Academy, New York.
