Born in England to a merchant sailor and a washerwoman, Thomas Chambers became a painter known for landscape and marine scenes, especially of the Hudson River from Albany and from New York City, all in naive, primitive style with bold color, rhythmic shapes, and strong contours applied with brush-work that made his work seem vital and lively. He differed from most painters of primitive style because, influenced by his decorative style, he used large, rhythmic shapes with light and shadow instead of flat forms. And he certainly differed in style from the Hudson River School of Painting that, influenced by European painting, was becoming active at the time he started his career in America. In that era, some perso...