Born in Chicago, Illinois, Harry Vincent was a vital part of the Rockport, Massachusetts art colony, serving as its first President and making it his home. He was self-taught with a penchant for bold impressionistic marine and waterfront scenes, showing special interest in themes of the commonplace in the working harbor—unloading fish, drying sails, etc.
However, little is known about his early life, and there is uncertainty about whether his birth date is 1862, 1864 or 1867, but most sources cite 1864. He was not affiliated with an art school, which accounts for some of the confusion about these dates because many birth dates of artists are found in that type of entry information.
His work was well-received in exhibitions at New York’s National Academy and the Salmagundi Club in the early 1900s, with most of them being marine paintings. In 1918, he first went to Rockport, where he lived on the edge of Inner Harbor, the perfect spot to become familiar with Cape Ann fishermen. They often took him out to sea where he could study the ocean closely.
Source:
North Shore Art Association
Peter Hastings Falk, Editor, Who Was Who in American Art
Judith A. Curtis, “Harry A. Vincent and His Contemporaries”, American Art Review,October 2006, pp. 92-103