American Art: Colonial through Nineteenth Century
George Catlin
(1796-1872) Painter and student of the Native American life who helped advocate for the preservation of nature and proposed the idea of National Parks. -Traveller-artist specializing in Native Americans in the Old West -Born in Wilkes-Barre, PA -Influenced by his mother's stories that she was captured by natives -Saw a group of native Americans in philly and really liked it -Friends with CWP -The idea of the native Americans as "vanishing race" -1830: accompanies William Clark on a diplomatic mission up the Mississippi River -Based himself in St. Louis -1836: Goes up the Missouri River to Fort Union trading post (now ND/MT) -"Untouched" tribes -Gathered artifacts and painted 500 works - 1838: Returns to the east coast -Traveled with his "Indian Gallery" -Tries to get government to buy his works but it doesn't happen
Thomas Cole
(1801-1848) Founder of the Hudson River school, famous for his landscape paintings. Shifts landscape painting to something of strong thematic focus. Remember - spent childhood in industrializing England amid milltowns.
Fitz Henry Lane
(1804-1865) -Son of a Gloucester sailmaker -Trained as a lithographer, but turned to painting without formal training -Painted scenes around his native Gloucester, MA and around Boston and Maine -Geometric approach to landscape -1840s: Declares himself to be a Marine Painter -MANY seascapes showing what look to be similar boats -Extremely accurate detail
William Sidney Mount
(1807-1868) Renowned genre painter and contemporary of the Hudson River School. Depicted African-Americans with dignity/sympathy? -Scenes of Long Island—country near the city!
John Frederick Kensett
(1816-1872)
Martin Johnson Heade
(1819-1904) -Brand: Saltmarshes or -Hummingbirds -Also interested in the effects of light on the landscape (Luminism) -focused on the atmosphere/light as subject matter -aesthetic qualities of light and color
-American history painting was a way to teach nationalistic lessons -Represented the greatest challenge to painters, according to Academic principles -History Painting is important in the context of a nation that WAS on the periphery of the Colonial World reimagining itself on the grand stage
AMERICAN PAINTING: 1785-1830
(1830-1902) German born U.S Painter know for his large landscape portraits of the 19th century west -1859: Makes his first trip West with Colonel Frederick Lander's army exploration expedition -Horseback and perilous -Made many oil sketches of the landscapes: prairie, mountain, river, valley, native peoples, buffalo, antelopes -Panoramic visions of the majestic western landscape -Natives -1863: Returns to the West -Manifest destiny
Albert Bierstadt
-One of the quintessential artists of the Hudson River School -Born in New Jersey (present-day Maplewood) to a watchmaker/silversmith -1812-1817: Apprenticed to an engraver -Made an engraving of Trumbull's Declaration -His engravings were used for the design of America's first postage stamps?! -Helped create the National Drawing Association which became the National Academy of Design -1830: changes his focus to painting -1837: goes to Adirondacks with his friend Thomas Cole and decides to do landscape painting -Spends his summers in white mountains, catskills, etc -Makes oil sketches that are incorporated into large finished works -Firm commitment to naturalism of trees, etc -Let [the artist] scrupulously accept whatever [nature] presents him..."
Asher B. Durand
Began painting in and around Philadelphia in the mid 1750s Did not have access to any sort of organized artistic education No art schools, established masters with studios, collections, or churches/monuments to decorate 1759: Goes to Rome for three years to study the Renaissance, Baroque, and Ancient masterpieces 1763: Leaves Rome for London 1768: Admitted into the inner circle of England's most acclaimed artists after painting Agrippina Receives the Royal Patronage of King George III A founding member of the Royal Academy Becomes the recognized leader of British History
Benjamin West (1738-1820)
From Maryland! Worked as a clocksmith, silversmith, and saddler Decided to become a portrait painter Education Traded John Hesselius (who painted in Maryland—that portrait of Calvert) a saddle for painting lessons Went to New England to see Copley who gave him advice 1767: Travelled to England and worked in Benjamin West's studio Realized that it was useless to learn History painting because his American patrons would want mainly portraits Returned to Maryland after two years Firmly believed that ANYONE could be an artist by learning the fundamentals Trained two of his sons Not a great draughtsman, but known for capturing warm, endearing qualities of his sitters Many of his sitters were large Maryland Families
Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827)
(1824-1906) -Born in Lowell, Maine -Started his career in DC doing portraits of important people -1849: goes to Europe to study -Düsseldorf: Solidifies his interest in representation of nature -Holland: Rich colors and brushwork -Paris: Studies with Academician Thomas Couture -1855: Returns to the US -Settles in DC, but debuts at the National Academy of -Design in NYC -Shows Negro Life at the South (1859) -Changed to Kentucky -Shows enslaved African Americans in DC outside of his father's house -A genre scene with no abolitionist attack
Eastman Johnson
Famous painter of the mid-19th century; part of the Hudson River School; specialized in large landscapes depicting the unspoiled beauty of the wilderness; believed in manifest destiny and westward migration -The ONLY pupil Thomas Cole accepted for instructed -Learns to study natural scenery from his master -Has a more scientific eye -Less moralizing -Many of his paintings show a microscopic focus of each element in a large scene -The Micro and the Macro! -Expansionist outlook towards the expansion of the US -VERY influenced by Alexander von Humboldt -The idea of spiritual interconnectedness -His travels across South America as a naturalist also influence Church -The importance of the climate zone as well as specific landscape -1853 and 1857: Travels to Ecuador and Colombia -Made detailed sketches of flora -Interested in geological formations -Studies of clouds
Frederic Edwin Church
(1811-1879) -Known as "The Missouri Artist" in his lifetime -Chronicled the expanding American Frontier -Born in Virginia, but grew up in Missouri -Self-taught -Assisted portrait painter Chester Harding, when he came to his town -1830: Starts selling portraits for $20 apiece -1838: Establishes a studio in St. Louis -Moves east and studies at PAFA -Also paints portraits in DC -Huge success of a print of his Jolly Flatboatmen (1846) — 10k prints!!! -1845: Returns to St. Louis -1856: Goes to Europe -Old Masters at Louvre -Düsseldorf School of Painting -Meets Emanuel Leutze (guy who does Washington crossing the Delaware) -Gets involved in Politics during and after the Civil War -Whig, anti-slavery -The Election Series was created for a national audience -Maybe the influence of History Painting
George Caleb Bingham
(1825-1894) -TAGLINE: An American Landscape Painter with influences of Barbizon and the Hudson River School -"One of the most influential American artists of the nineteenth century," says wikipedia -Began his career in the tight, detailed style of the -Hudson River School -Born in Newburgh, NY -First studied in NY with Regis Gignoux of the Hudson River School -1850: Goes to Europe for the first time (Italy) -1853: Goes to France -Greatly influenced by the Barbizon painters -Looser brushstroke, soft form -Plein air painting -Using paint to paint colors -Treating landscapes as compositions rather than symbols (@ThomasCole) or scientific specimens (@FrederickChurch) -1863: Leaves NYC to move to artists' colony at Eagleswood, NJ -Meets William Page who introduces him to the philosophy of Emanuel Swedenborg -Stresses the idea that the spiritual world is just as real as the materia -Peace and Plenty (1865) may be the manifestation of spiritual harmony in nature -His landscapes become more poetic and dreamy
George Inness
Born and grows up in Rhode Island His father owned and operated the first snuff mill in America 1770: Meets Scottish painter Cosmo Alexander, who becomes his first teacher Travels with him to Scotland in 1772 Cosmo Alexander dies, leaving him to return to Newport on his own Painted portraits in a provincial style 1777: Leaves for London to find the training unavailable in America Spent years in poverty "Rescued" by Benjamin West, who takes him into his studio Leaves West to set up his own portrait studio, which became the most successful in London Other Americans in London at the time: West, Trumbull, Copley Stuart focused on portraits because of their speed and popularity (aka financial gain)
Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828)
(1834-1903) -Born in the US, but lived abroad for most of his life -Spent SIX years of his adult life in the US from 1849-55 -1833: Goes to Russia at Age nine (daddy was a railroad engineer) -First settled in Paris and was influenced by Realism with Courbet and Manet, his friends! -Painted Normandy coast landscapes with Daubigny -Sends a painting to the Salon of 1859, but it's rejected -Goes to England -Meets pre-Raphaelites -Shares an interest in Japanese prints with Rosetti -The White Girl (1862) is rejected from Salon of 1863 SHOWN @ SALON DES REFUSÉS -Big notoriety, more than @edwardmanet -Renames it to Symphony in White, No. 1—ten years later -Fascinated with abstract qualities -Explores them in his series of Nocturnes
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Brother of Charles Willson Peale Learns from his older brother Paints Miniatures after the Revolutionary War Charles Willson gives him commissions 1820: Turns to Still Life after his eyesight gets worse Many show an interest in botanical correctness Native and imported plants—Still life can show the movement of objects, people, and plants!
James Peale (1749-1831)
(1856-1925) -TAGLINE: One of the American "Cosmopolitan Painters" who was trained and lived in Europe and painted luminous portraits directly onto the canvas -Born in Florence, Italy -Wealthy, cultured parents were living abroad -Educated mostly in Italy and France -First visited the US when he was 20 -Studied in the atelier of portraitist Charles Carolus-Duran -Encouraged his students to paint directly from observation without preparatory studies -Led to Sargent's style
John Singer Sargent
Born in Boston "Great genius of colonial painting" Learned from his stepfather, Peter Pelham (an engraver) Also studied under Blackburn, whom he quickly surpassed Truth to nature is important Emphasis on faces rather than class ideals Even unidealized faces (sometimes at odds with surroundings) Careful rendering of material His style was popular among New England merchant families Becomes very successful and marries well, etc (John Hancock is his neighbor) Benjamin West suggests that he go to Italy Copley doesn't think it would be a good gamble, so he stays in Boston Leaves America in 1774 and never returns Decides that things are getting too unsettling with rebellion on the horizon Achieves great success in England as a portraitist and history painter (his style changes forever) Enters the circle of Sir Joshua Reynolds and goes to Italy
John Singleton Copley (1738-1815)
-Born in Edinburgh, Scotland -1709: Moves to London and works as a coach painter and copyist -Studied at the Great Queen Street Academy -1719-22: Travels to Italy to copy old masters -Returns to London as a portrait painter -Becomes a member of the Rose and Crown Club -1728: Paints Bishop Berkeley who entices him to come to America -Planned on working at his (unrealised) art school in Bermuda -Settles in Boston instead -1734: Opens up a paint shop -Sells supplies -Has casts and copies of works he saw in Europe -"America's First Fine Art Gallery" -Provided education for many of American painters
John Smibert (1688-1751)
Born in a prominent Connecticut family and educated at Harvard Rented the studio of John Smibert in Boston Served as an aide-de-camp to General Washington but resigned after failing to be promoted to General Witnessed several battles 1780: Goes to England to study with Benjamin West Worked on a series of paintings depicting the events of the Revolutionary War between 1786 and 1789 Composition and colorJ
John Trumbull
(1822-1902) -One of the most popular and widely reproduced -American Genre Painters of the 19th Century -Mostly domestic scenes and images of women and children -Born in Exeter, England to two French parents -Immigrated to NY and then Ohio with family -Self taught -Mentored by Sara Bolesworth, who trained at PAFA -Marries and moves to NYC in 1848 -Big success, but not necessarily financial
Lilly Martin Spencer
Thomas Hart Benton, American Today mural (1930-1)
Offering a panorama of American life throughout the 1920s, America Today is a room-sized mural comprising ten canvas panels. Missouri native Thomas Hart Benton painted America Today to adorn a boardroom on the third floor of the New School for Social Research, a center of progressive thought and education in Greenwich Village. The mural was commissioned in 1930 by the New School's director Alvin Johnson. Benton finished it very early in 1931, when the school opened a new building designed by architect Joseph Urban. Although the artist received no fee for his work on commission, he was "paid" with free eggs, the yolks from which he created the egg tempera paint. Eight of the America Today panels depict life in different regions of the United States: the South (2012.478d), the Midwest (2012.478e), the West (2012.478f), and New York. In the 1920s, Benton traveled throughout these areas of the country, creating a body of studies from life, mostly in pencil, on which he based many of the details in America Today. Benton painted Cotton Pickers, Georgia (33.144.2) from the studies that he made during a trip through Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia in the summer and fall of 1926. The artist returned to this same group of studies in conceiving and executing Deep South(2012.478d), the first panel in America Today's geographical and chronological sweep. The largest America Today panel, Instruments of Power (2012.478a), is filled with enormous machines that embody modern industrial might. The last and smallest panel, Outreaching Hands (2012.478j), shows only hands reaching for bread and other hands holding money, allusions to the economic despair and inequity caused by the Great Depression, which began in 1929. Despite references to the Depression, Benton's mural powerfully promotes the idea of "progress," as he perceived it, predicated on modern technology. Benton's mural reveals the artist's belief that the foundational technological and mechanical strength on which progress relied was, in turn, dependent on manual and industrial labor. Consequently, bodies of large, heroic workers fill many of the mural's panels. Workers and labor fascinated many artists and photographers throughout the 1920s, including Lewis Hine
Considered to be the first American Still Life Painter The oldest son of Charles Willson Peale
Raphaelle Peale (1774-1825)
The most successful of the Peale children (#favchild) Trained with his father CWP arranged to have George Washington pose for him Helps him assemble mastodon Studied with Benjamin West 1809-1810: travels to Paris Becomes more familiar with contemporary french art JL David Maintained a Natural History Museum in Baltimore Established himself as a portrait painter in Philadelphia
Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860)
Born in Charlestown Massachusetts to a Geographer Studied at Yale: Religious Philosophy, Maths, and the Science of Horses Painted portraits of classmates for cigar money His painting catches the eye of Washington Allston when Allston returns to Boston 1811: Goes to England with Allston Studies the Grand Manner 1815: Returns to the US Attempts to implant the Grand Manner in the US (#fail) Uses portrait paintings to fund his work on large history paintings 1829: Returns to Europe for three years Later devotes his energy into the National Academy of Design and his scientific research
Samuel F. B. Morse (1791-1872)
John Marin (1870-1953)
Since the early twentieth century, John Marin has been considered an important member of the group of modern artists — including Georgia O'Keeffe, Arthur Dove, and Marsden Hartley — who were associated with Alfred Stieglitz and his New York galleries. Although Marin had dabbled in art since childhood and went to work in an architect's office, he did not become a serious artist until he met Stieglitz in 1909, when Marin was almost forty years old. His fame was established early on as one of America's premier watercolorists, and his preferred subject was landscape. Most of his landscapes were done in Maine during the summer; the rest of the year the artist lived in Cliffside, New Jersey, and made frequent trips to New York City.
(1844-1906) -TAGLINE: Realist Painter and renowned instructor known for his portraits, depictions of medicine, and homosocial bonding -Born in Philadelphia -1862: Begins his artistic career studying at PAFA -Starts working from antique casts -Later live models -Placed high value on the study of the nude figure AND TOOK CLASSES AT JEFFERSON!!! Eurotrip!!! -1866: Goes to Paris (who doesn't) and is accepted into the École des Beaux-Arts to study with Academic superstar Jean-Léon Jérôme -1869: Goes to Spain and discovers the brushwork and realism of Baroque painters Velázquez and Ribera -Returns to the US with a new mode of vision -Depicts leisure activities he loves: Rowing and Sailing -Big into the outdoors -Strong foundations in Realism -Visually selective -Did numerous studies for works -Tried to get the right light and sketched outside -Tried to make very accurate nudes (female models wore masks to conceal their identities)
Thomas Eakins
Tagline: It's always about the Alps Born in South Carolina to a prominent family Attended Harvard Influenced by Romantic themes in Gothic novels and poetry 1801: Goes to England to study at the Royal Academy with Benjamin West 1804: Goes throughout Europe—Paris, Swiss Alps, Italy The trip to the Alps had a profound effect on him Mountains can be seen in the background of many of his paintings
WASHINGTON ALLSTON (1779-1843)
(1824-1879) -TAGLINE: The key ambassador of the French Barbizon style in the United States featuring many peasants -Brother of architect Richard Morris Hunt (Statue of Liberty Pedestal, THE MET, Biltmore) -"Instrumental in introducing French Art (Barbizon) to the mainstream of American painting and to collectors -Born in Vermont -Studied at Harvard -Had a respiratory illness that "necessitated a mandatory ocean voyage" (oh okay) -1843: Goes to Europe -Rome: Studies sculpture -Düsseldorf -Paris: Shifts his interest from sculpture to painting -Works with Thomas Couture for FIVE YEARS -Influenced by Jean-François Millet -Influenced by Barbizon -Preference for plein-air -Leaving the studio in favor of the world -Noble dignity of peasants -Also did portraits in a sophisticated French Style
William Morris Hunt
(1836-1910) -TAGLINE: American Realist painter known for his scenes of Civil War camp life, post-war genre scenes, and maritime scenes -From Boston -1857: Apprenticed to a lithographer for two years -1859: Moves to NYC to become a freelance illustrator -His only "formal" training were several classes at the --National Academy of Design -Read a book on "The Laws of Contrast and Color" -Also learns from observation of nature and subjects -Eliminated non-essential elements -More direct representation than the sentimental works of @WilliamMorrisHunt -Starts making illustrations for periodicals like Harper's Weekly until 1875 -Provided works that would be engraved by wood engravers -Civil War: Sent to the army encampments to record events -Depicts quiet moments of camp life rather than the corpses on the battlefield (@MatthewBrady) -1866: Goes to France after the year Spends a year mostly in Paris and appreciates Realism and brushstrokes
Winslow Homer
Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847-1917)
visited Europe but didn't really study. His personal style was original and his visionary imagination so powerful, that external influences had little impact on him.