Of all the notable artists who have lived and worked in Connecticut over the years, few of the most deserving have received less public recognition than Charles Ethan Porter (1847‱923). An academically trained African American painter, championed by Frederic Church and Mark Twain and admired by other influential figures, he overcame perpetual obstacles of poverty, prejudice and the notion that blacks were incapable of making art of lasting importance.

Porter’s lovely painting, “Roses,†on a ceramic tile may be an outgrowth of his friendly relations with the Hartford Society of Decorative Arts, which provided art training for women, including porcelain art. Cummings speculates that “Porter may have had access to the[ir] kiln, perhaps to experiment with a new medium or explore an income-generating opportunity.†Collection of Charlynn and Warren Goins.

Porter’s obscurity is in marked contrast to the attention paid to such Nineteenth Century black artists as Edward Bannister, Robert Duncanson, Edmonia Lewis and Henry O. Tanner. In recent years, with the surge of scholarship about African American art, there has been renewed interest in Porter and his oeuvre, culminating in a welcome and rewarding exhibition at the New Britain Museum of American Art (NBMAA), “Charles Ethan Porter: African-American Master of Still Life,” on view through March 16.

Organized by former University of Connecticut art historian Hildegard Cummings, a guest curator at NBMAA, who has done so much to illuminate Connecticut’s artistic heritage, this is the first museum exhibition of Porter’s work. Culling works from numerous Connecticut institutions and private collections, the exhibition includes more than 50 paintings.

Born in Hartford to poor parents of mostly African ancestry, Porter grew up in a large family. The family moved to East Hartford in 1850 and to Rockville a few years later. They acquired land and built a home near the top of Fox Hill that offered panoramic views of the town and the Connecticut River Valley. In 1865, Charles, who was known for his artistic abilities, graduated from the local high school.

In one of his most ambitious apple paintings, Porter combined the popular convention of fruit spilling onto the ground with his Paris-honed skills of delineating perspective and casting glowing light in “Apples in an Overturned Basket,†circa 1885. Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery.

Two brothers served in the Union Army. One barely survived malaria, while the other died in combat. Porter’s thoughtful pencil sketch “Civil War Soldier,” 1872, recalls their service.

Porter sought to enhance his art by studying painting at Wesleyan Academy in Wilbraham, Mass. His success there helped him in 1869 to gain admission to the prestigious National Academy of Design in New York, where he trained for four years. “He may have been the first of his race to study” at the academy, writes Cummings in the exhibition catalog.

Porter advanced impressively from drawing casts of Greek and Roman sculpture to the school’s ultimate level, the painting class, where he worked from live models and still life objects. One instructor, Lemuel Wilmarth, who painted in the highly detailed, finished academic manner of his teacher in Paris, Jean-Leon Gerome, “often painted still lifes,” says Cummings, suggesting this encouraged Porter’s specialty.

“Thistles with Butterfly,†circa 1888, showcases the artist’s mature mastery of muted, harmonious colors and ability to meld abstraction and realism in an appealing image. Courtesy of Stagecoach Gallery.

While pursuing his studies, Porter showed paintings, works on paper and drawings in New York and Connecticut that drew praise, and he taught on the side.

At times he lived at the YMCA across 23rd Street from the academy, where such well-known artists as Sanford Gifford, William Hart, John La Farge and Alexander Wyant maintained studios, and with whom he may have exchanged ideas and discussed artistic issues. This heady atmosphere further fueled Porter’s ambition to become a professional painter.

Porter spent summers with his family in Rockville, painting both still lifes and landscapes. For a time he had a studio at 35 Union Square in Manhattan, but by 1878 he had moved to burgeoning Hartford, where his talent and academic training immediately stood out among the city’s score of artists. Early newspaper references to an unnamed “colored artist” soon gave way to praise for “Mr Porter, the Hartford artist.”

Indeed, his fruit and flower paintings seemed well suited to the conservative tastes of the city. He also offered witty trompe l’oeil images of insects; watercolors of butterflies; small, intense paintings like “Pansies,” 1870; a colorful ceramic tile, “Roses,” and occasional landscapes. By this time, however, his main stock in trade, still life paintings, were out of favor and became the province mainly of female artists.

Moreover, in the changing art world of the 1870s, Porter lacked European training, did not paint what were considered “important” subjects, did not belong to gentlemen’s clubs, had no dealer †and generally suffered from prejudices against black men. On the other hand, native son Church, a major Hudson River School painter, visited Porter’s Main Street studio, said he had “no superior as a colorist in the United States” and bought paintings. Samuel Clemens, a Hartford resident, also acquired Porter works and sang the artist’s praises.

Porter forged ahead, painting “Fruit: Apples, Grapes, Peaches and Pears” and “Apple with Fly,” both circa 1875, small groupings, realistically rendered, that recall compositions by James and Raphaelle Peale. They omitted fancy tableware and focused on precise delineation of the fruit.

In one of his largest still lifes (21¼ by 29¼ inches), “Peonies in a Bowl,†circa 1885, Porter created a lush and beautiful symphony of lavender, pink and white blooms in an appealing asymmetrical composition. Private collection.

In 1881, at age 34, Porter sold off his paintings to finance further training in the art capital of the world, Paris, an experience deemed essential for American artists of the time. Carrying a letter of introduction from Clemens, he studied at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs and perhaps at the Academie Julian, two of the city’s finest art schools. On occasion, he painted Impressionist landscapes in the countryside. Esteemed painter and teacher Jules Lefebvre praised one of Porter’s landscapes and was said to have told the artist that his “success in landscapes was assured.”

Meanwhile, Porter’s commitment to still lifes continued. “My fruit and flowers are greatly admired by the French,” he wrote Clemens in 1883. His less meticulous but still realistic style was influenced by the lush still lifes of Henry Fantin-Latour, as reflected in “Chrysanthemums” of 1888.

Porter’s later kitchen still lifes, like “Crock, Kettle and Onions,” circa 1890, owed a debt to the precise and intimate compositions, close color harmonies and ability to immortalize humble objects of Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin, whose work he saw in Paris.

While he failed to place a painting in the annual Paris Salon, all in all, Porter’s “studies in France were a critical learning experience for him,” says Cummings.

Running out of funds, Porter returned to Hartford in 1883, where the impact of his foreign study was soon apparent. A writer for the Hartford Courant posited that his work was even better, saying that his “dainty, almost finicky work&⁨as been superseded by a broader, freer style †color and detail count for less, breadth and harmonious tone for very much more than formerly.” Concluded the Courant , “the artist’s two years in France were by no means wasted.”

Arguably the most spectacular still life in the exhibition, “Cracked Watermelon,†circa 1890, demonstrates Porter’s skills as a colorist and handler of light. Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery.

During this period and for the next several years, Porter created some of his best work. His sophisticated compositions, combining his usual technical virtuosity with a new, looser style, were praised, but did not sell well. Some believed it was too French. A national economic downturn and persistent racism exacerbated his woes.

Among the highlights from this time was “Mountain Laurel,” circa 1885, a still life marked by a soft focus and sense of movement, against a pale yellow background, that may have been too advanced for Hartford’s conservative tastes. “The Hartford art world was ten years behind the New York scene,” says Cummings, and “preferred formal portraits and pictures that were meant to impress, look startlingly real, or suggest a story.” She adds that “Hartford clearly missed&⁛Porter’s] meticulous, jewel-toned realism.”

In a desperate effort to raise funds to live on, Porter mounted a large exhibition and auction in downtown Hartford that was liberally chronicled in the generally supportive local press. In spite of newspaper exhortations for patrons to buy the artist’s work, attendance was poor and sales were sluggish.

Around this time he painted one of his most ambitious and appealing still lifes, “Apples in an Overturned Basket,” circa 1885, a standout in the exhibition. Depicting numerous pieces of fruit spilling onto a surface, it showcases the artist’s new-found ability to project atmospheric perspective and enliven a picture with an ambient light that makes it glow.

Porter also returned to creating precise floral and fruit still lifes, incorporating a touch of the French manner. Even though the Hartford Daily Times touted Porter’s pictures as “beauties in flowers and fruit&⁛that] captivate and charm&⁛and] are in excellent taste, in beautiful color, and of the best modern style †the American tempered by the French,” prices for his paintings were low. Works that look superb today, like “Petunias” and “Strawberries,” sold for modest sums.

One of the liveliest and most ambitious paintings of his most often depicted flower, “Rambling Roses,†circa 1885, suggests Porter’s ability to convey in a deceivingly informal, appealing manner his affection for his subject. Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery.

As Cummings states succinctly, in “Peonies in a Bowl,” circa 1885, the “brushwork is fluid, colors breathtakingly beautiful and lighting subtle.” Porter’s depictions of his favorite floral subject culminated in “Rambling Roses,” circa 1885, a lively, colorful, idiosyncratic composition in which some blossoms droop to the right and petals fall to the table top at the left.

Frustrated by his failure to achieve more success in the Connecticut capital, Porter left for good in 1889. That year again, several paintings were accepted for display at the National Academy. A notable work from this period exhibiting his deft combination of realism and abstraction is “Thistles with Butterfly,” circa 1888. Using a pale palette, he managed to make the common prickly weed look attractive, animated by the presence of a clouded sulphur butterfly.

Two of the most exuberant and accomplished works in the show depict watermelons. In the highlight, “Cracked Watermelon,” circa 1890, Porter utilized astute lighting and an impeccable sense of color to capture the contrast between the bright pink flesh of the fruit and the green of the rind. It offers, observes Cummings, “a feast of color, texture and form.”

In the 1890s, Porter divided his time between Rockville and New York City. Around 1897 he settled permanently in Rockville, where he continued to paint, teach and exhibit until 1914.

Toward the turn of the century, he executed the “Fox Hill” series of landscapes, very loosely based on views from the site of his home. “Fox Hill,” a circa 1885 oil, offers glimpses of a body of water and a large building, neither of which existed in real life, through a tangle of trees. It is an accomplished work, but hardly of the interest and quality of his still lifes.

Porter’s exquisite, jewel-like renderings of cherries and here, “Strawberries,†1888, show him at his best as a gifted draftsman, colorist and compositionalist. Collection of Charlynn and Warren Goins.

In his later years, Porter’s work deteriorated precipitously; Cummings speculates that racism, poverty and illness played a part in his decline. In the final years of his career, Porter was known to have painted on “found” surfaces, including a known 24-by-20-inch still life depicting a vase of mountain laurel blossoms that was painted on a window shade.

Suffering from nephritis, he died in 1923, and is buried with family members in Grove Hill Cemetery at the foot of Fox Hill.

Curator Cummings, who did an enormous amount of research with limited materials, readily acknowledges that many questions remain about Porter’s life and work. His output was prolific, yet today fewer than 100 of his works are known. The exhibition reflects an impressive legacy of artistic achievement, as well as a story of personal courage.

The exhibition travels to the Studio Museum in Harlem (April 1⁊uly 15) and North Carolina Central University Art Museum in Durham (August 3⁏ctober 7). A catalog is published by the New Britain Museum and distributed by University Press of New England; the softcover book sells for $25.

“Follow the Footsteps of Charles Ethan Porter,” a tour at the Mark Twain House and Museum and NBMAA, will take place on February 16. It will also feature a lecture by Cummings.

The New Britain Museum of American Art is at 56 Lexington Street. For information, 860-229-0257 or www.nbmaa.org .