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Nelson worked part-time as a carriage painter, general painter, photo colorist, and waiter. He painted portraits when he was not working day-jobs, and often struggled to sell his work. His parents were supportive of Primus' aspirations and helped the family financially, often sending gifts of money
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In 1895, Primus and his wife Mary moved to the west coast, initially living in
Seattle for a few years. Several portraits from that time period have been identified as Primus's work. The couple moved to San Francisco, California sometime around 1900, living near Chinatown. He worked at a
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County Fair, first when he was nine years old and the second time when he was seventeen. When he was fifteen, Primus was apprenticed to carriage painter, George
Francis. Later, he studied art with
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or food. In July 1876, Primus' wife, Amoretta, died from complications of childbirth. He remarried Mary G. Wheeler of
Nantucket, MA in 1877. In 1893, his daughter, Leila, died of pneumonia.
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By 1910, Primus's wife, Mary had died. Very little is known of his life after 1910. He died of tuberculosis on May 29, 1916, in a San
Francisco hospital.
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in 1898, A realistic portrayal of life in San
Francisco in the late 1800s. Many of Primus's paintings were lost in the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco.
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Beloved
Sisters and Loving Friends: Letters from Rebecca Primus of Royal Oak, Maryland, and Addie Brown of Hartford, Connecticut, 1854–1868
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delicatessen, and in his free time, he painted cityscapes, landscapes and portraits. While in San
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Primus's artistic talents were recognized early in his life. He won a drawing award twice at the
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so that Primus could study art and find work as an artist. He first studied art with
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The Primus Papers: An
Introduction to Hartford's Nineteenth Century Black Community
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104:(1842–1916) was an African-American artist, known for his portrait painting.
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Hopes and
Expectations: The Origins of the Black Middle Class in Hartford
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Hopes and
Expectations: The Origins of the Black Middle Class in Hartford
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On June 18, 1864, Primus married Amoretta Prime, of
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531:Melvin Holmes Collection of African American Art
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523:Savannah Museum of Art, 1898, Details of
322:Beeching, Barbara (February 25, 1996).
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576:20th-century African-American painters
586:20th-century deaths from tuberculosis
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581:20th-century American male artists
571:Artists from Hartford, Connecticut
420:State University of New York Press
332:. Hartford, Connecticut. pp.
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591:Tuberculosis deaths in California
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264:Artists in California 1786—1940
561:20th-century American painters
446:Art and Artists in Connecticut
443:French, Harry Willard (1878).
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469:Beeching, Barbara J. (2017).
412:Beeching, Barbara J. (2016).
262:Hughes, Edan Milton (1989).
143:, a local portrait artist.
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400:(Thesis). Trinity College.
396:Beeching, Barbara (1995).
130:American Revolutionary War
556:Painters from Connecticut
156:Edward Mitchell Bannister
55:San Francisco, California
324:"Finding Rebecca Primus"
141:Elizabeth Gilbert Jerome
16:African-American painter
566:American male painters
499:Savannah Museum of Art
297:. New York, New York:
289:Griffin, Farah Jasmine
266:. Hughes Publishing.
114:Hartford, Connecticut
38:Hartford, Connecticut
418:. Albany, New York:
368:, Section: Northeast
221:Landscape with horse
148:Norfolk, Connecticut
525:The Fortune Teller
449:. Lee and Shepard.
93:The Fortune Teller
429:978-1-4384-6166-3
308:978-0-679-45128-0
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61:Nationality
540:Categories
244:References
69:Occupation
193:, 1876
126:Gad Asher
108:Biography
223:, 1884
137:Hartford
122:Hartford
64:American
372:May 30,
177:Gallery
118:Rebecca
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
