Charles Culver

Charles Culver was born in Chicago Heights, Illinois, in 1908 and later became one of the most closely associated watercolorists of the Detroit art community. He studied with John P. Wicker in Detroit from 1926 to 1930 and at Cranbrook Academy from 1927 to 1928. During his early career, he worked as a freelance commercial artist in the automotive industry while continuing his training at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts, where he studied under John Carroll. From 1937 to 1938, Culver taught at the Detroit Art Academy and moved within a circle of Michigan artists that included Carlos Lopez, Ernest Scanes, and Frederick Simper.

In 1960, Culver joined the faculty of the Art School of the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts as head of the watercolor department. He also edited the school’s monthly publication, Topic and Talk, and contributed articles to Art Digest, Ford Times, and American Artist. Throughout the 1960s, he served as an art critic for the Detroit Free Press.

By the 1960s, Culver had held more than twenty-five one-person exhibitions in the Detroit area alone. He received fourteen prizes in the Exhibition for Michigan Artists, as well as the Scarab Club Gold Medal. His significance within Michigan art is further reflected in the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts, which includes more than fifty-eight works by Culver—reportedly more than by any other Michigan artist.