F. Usher DeVoll (1873-1941) was born in Providence and attended the Rhode Island School of Design. He also studied with William Merritt Chase, Robert Henri, Charles Webster Hawthorne, and Henry Siddons Mowbray; and with J.P. Laurens at the Academie Julian in Paris. His paintings include European landscapes and scenes of Providence and New York City, as well as the working vessels of New York harbor and the Hudson River. DeVoll maintained close ties with his native city and for some years ran a toy store in Providence's historic Arcade building. He exhibited at the Providence Art Club, the Boston Art Club, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Corcoran Gallery, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Academy, the Rhode Island School of Design, the Carnegie Institute, and the Salons of America. In 1915 he was awarded a silver medal at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. DeVoll's works are in the Art Institute of Chicago; the National Academy; the Milwaukee Art Museum; the Delgado Museum and Newcomb College, New Orleans, the Corcoran Gallery, the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse; the Vanderpoel Art Association, Chicago; and the Rhode Island School of Design Museum.

Biography courtesy of Roger King Gallery of Fine Art, www.antiquesandfineart.com/rking