James Topping Sold at Auction Prices

Landscape painter, Lithographer, b. 1879 - d. 1948

James Topping is best known as a landscape painter. He was born in Cleator Moor, Cumberland, England in 1879 and emigrated to the United States in 1903 to attend the art Institute of Chicago. He remained in Chicago for the rest of his life. He exhibited widely at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Galleries Association and at numerous venues throughout the Midwest.

“Among the group- of artists that first visited Brown County last fall was James Topping, Chicago, who bunked with Oscar Erickson, also of the “Windy City,’ at the Fred Vance cabin on Hoopole Ridge. Topping is a quiet, unassuming little fellow. No one seemed to be able to learn what he thought of the county’s hills. He seemed to flit here and there and always was a busy body. What he accomplished and whether he would come back again this year seemed a blank as far as coworkers were concerned.”

“Mr. Topping is best known among art lovers for his poetical interest