"Mister Crowell"

     Anthony Elmer Crowell (1862-1952), of East Harwich, Massachusetts would be on any decoy collector’s list if asked to name the top 4 or 5 decoy makers of all time.  Crowell was a gifted artist who made not only decoys but carved marvelous decorative birds.  As early as the turn of the century (the last one; not the most recent one) even duck hunters who purchased his decoys for use as far away as South Carolina were aware of Crowell’s artistry and many of his decoys never saw the water; they rested on mantels until the 1970’s and 80’s, handed down from generation to generation.  A ‘Pintail’ that he sold for less than $2 in 1905 sold at auction recently for nearly $400,000.  A ‘Canada Goose’ decoy made in 1917 recently fetched $684,500 at auction.

      I have used many Crowell decoys in my paintings; usually they were borrowed from New England collector friends like the late Dr. George Starr, or Ted Harmon, who has so many Crowell decoys that you must move them aside to sit on the sofa.  The Black-breasted Plover decoy in this painting belonged to Ted.  Unlike my other shorebird paintings that place them in cabinets, on mantels, and occasionally on the beach, this was painted in classic trompe l’oeil style, including a “painting in a painting” intended to look like it was taped on a wall along with a photo of the master himself and one of his decoy labels. This piece pays homage to a truly great artist, and I loved doing it.

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