Nineteenth Century American Art!

1. Nineteenth Century American Art!

2. Traditions and Innovations

3. John Singleton Copley! • Was born in Boston in 1738. • Copley’s mother ran a tobacco shop and his stepfather was an engraver. • Copley was inspired by copies of European paintings his stepfather owned and used them as reference in teaching himself to be an artist. • By his early twenties, Copley established himself as a masterful portrait painter in Boston.

4. John Singleton Copley (cont) • Copley became famous for his talent in portraying his subjects as lively and in emphasizing their material wealth. • Though successful as a portrait artist he believed, “fame cannot be durable where pictures are confined to sitting rooms, and regarded only for the resemblance they bear their originals.” • Copley left the Americas upon the encouragement of artist Benjamin West in 1774, and never returned. • Copley died in England in 1815.

6. Watson and the Shark • Completed in 1778, oil on canvas, (71 ¾ x 90 ½ in.) • Painting of a shark’s attack on Brook Watson in the Havana harbor. • Watson’s lower right leg is not visible, possibly in reference to the amputation, or to the American revolution. • The shark is shown larger than normal because the picture is based on Watson’s recollection of the event. • The African American sailor is significant because of the time period.

7. Paul Revere – by Copley

8. Mrs. Thomas Boylson by Copley

9. George Caleb Bingham • Born March 20, 1811 in Virginia. • Grew up on the Western frontier in Franklin County, MO. • Got his artistic training from being an assistant to Chester Harding. • Had established himself as a portrait painter by 1835. • Spent time at Düsseldorf Academy in Germany from 1856 to 1859. • Mostly painted rural scenes from the frontier. • Was a founding member of the Whig Party in MO. • Died July 7, 1879.

11. Mississippi Boatman • Completed in 1850, oil on canvas, (24 1/8 x 17 3/16 in.) • Shows a boatman sitting on unloaded cargo in front of the Mississippi River. • The poor clothes and worn expression on the boatman’s face contradict the romantic views of life on the Mississippi.

12. George Inness • Born in Newburgh, NY, in 1825. Grew up in Newark, NJ. • Studied painting with Regis Gignoux, who made very direct observations of landscape. • Inness traveled to Italy and France twice in the 1850s. • Was inspired by the writings of philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg and Inness’ work reflected a more spiritual element later in his life. • Died August 3, 1894.

14. The Lackawanna Valley • Foreground shows that area, at one time covered, had been cleared • Makes reference to the role of railroad in linking the East coast to the rest of the country

15. Winslow Homer • Born in Boston • Little opportunity for formal education, learned from mother • Began career as artist in 1857 when hired by Harper’s Weekly • Assigned to illustrating the Civil War • Traveled to France 1866-1867 • Influenced by Corbet’s realism and Manet’s impressionism • Traveled to Europe again 1881-1882 • Hung out at the North Sea coast in England • Based work directly on observation of American Landscape (ala the Hudson River School) • Sketchy style was different than his predecessors

17. A Visit from Old Mistress • Small jar (door) is only adornment • Three African-American women, one holding a child, face a white woman in the doorway • “Old Mistress” clearly remains accustomed to a life of privelige • Remarkable for its naturalistic, unbiased image of African Americans

18. Mary Cassatt • Born in PA in 1844 • Noted impressionist painter • Formal education in painting at the PA Academy of Fine Arts (1861-1865) • Spent most productive years in Europe • By 1870s established a home in Paris

20. The Boating Party • Common leisure subject of middle class. • Show’s Cassat’s interest in Japanese prints through tilted picture frame. • Challenged academic conventions, because it exhibited a frozen moment in modern life.

21. Memorializing the Civil War

22. Augustus Saint-Gaudens • Was born in Ireland in 1848, grew up in New York City. • Worked as an apprentice, also studied at the National Academy of Design and at Cooper Union in New York City. • In1867 he traveled to France and Italy where he studied 15th century sculptures.

24. The Shaw Memorial • Of Commander Robert Gould Shaw and of his Massachusetts fifty-fourth regiment. • Shows the departure from Boston in 1863, soon after Shaw and hundreds of his men died. • An allegorical figure hovers above the regiment holding an olive branch and poppies. • Historically significant for its depiction of African American soldiers.

25. Shaw Memorial (cont) • Saint-Gaudens hired African American models to pose in his studio in order to create completely unique faces for the monument. • Saint-Gaudens avoided depicting African Americans with simplistic stereotypical characteristics. • Also significant because Shaw is shown with his troops, indicating the role both played in the war.

26. Henry Bacon • Born in Illinois and raised in North Carolina. • Started his successful career in the architecture office of McKim, Mead, and White in New York City. • Designed the exterior of the Lincoln Memorial.

27. Daniel Chester French • Born in Exeter, New Hampshire, and raised in Cambridge and Concord, Massachusetts. • Received artist training from Abigail May Alcott, sister of Louisa May Alcott who wrote Little Women. • Received his first large scale commission when he was twenty-three.

29. The Lincoln Memorial • Bacon’s exterior design for the memorial was modeled after a Greek Doric temple. • There are 36 columns for the number of established states at the time of Lincoln’s assassination. • Central chamber houses the monumental portrait of Lincoln, the north wall contains part of Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural Address, the South wall contains the Gettysburg Address. • Intended to be a site of contemplation.

34. Sculptors Involved in Stone Mountain Memorial to the Confederacy • Started by Gutzon Borglum, he intended to create a work similar to Saint-Gaudens’. • Borglum became delayed by World War I, and entangled with the KKK, the Venable family, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial Association, and gave up carving in 1925. • Borglum’s work was blasted away and Augustus Lukeman took over, until the Great Depression.

35. Sculptors Involved in Stone Mountain Memorial to the Confederacy (cont) • In 1963, a team led by Walker Hancock and Roy Faulkner resumed sculpting using Lukeman’s old plans. • Was opened to the public in 1970, the final details were finished in 1972. • In 1975 the state of Georgia took action to prevent KKK from making use of the site.

37. Stone Mountain Memorial to the Confederacy • Shows Robert E. Lee with his head in profile, Jefferson Davis, and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. • They are carved in varying levels of relief, creating the sensation that they are appearing as a vision. • The meaning of the site originally was to commemorate the Confederacy and its leaders, but as the KKK came to associate with Stone Mountain, it was viewed differently. Today it is open to interpretation.

38. Photography and Documentation

40. Frederick Douglass • Born into slavery in MD in c.1818 • Illegally learned to read and write during his seven years (1824-1830) working for Hugh Auld (shipwright) in Baltimore • Failed escape from slavery in 1836 • Escaped from slavery in 1838 (fled Baltimore for New York) • Became involved with abolitionist movement • Influenced by Garrison’s Liberator • Became a lecturer for the MA Anti-Slavery Society in 1841 • Famous autobiography published in 1845 • Remained active in abolitionist and feminists movements till his death in 1895

41. About this Photograph • No formal name, artist unknown • Douglass in his 30s • Dressed in elegant/fashionable clothes • Effects of his slave days evidenced by the lines on his face • Most Douglass picture used for his writings and abolitionist causes • One-of-a-kind image (Ambrotype)

42. Ambrotype • Positive photographic process used primarily in the 1850s • A collodian negative on glass • Wet-collodion process: glass plate coated with wet collodion(gunpowder dissolved in ether alcohol) and sensitized with silver nitrate • Plate was placed in the camera while still wet and immediately exposed • After exposure, the plate had to be developed before it dried • This process was valued for its resolution of detail and because exposure times were shorter than other types (like daguerreotypes) • The image produced is whitish in tone but when placed over a black opaque surface appears as a positive

44. About this Photograph • Two union soldiers at a semi-permanent camp • One is obviously injured • Made by photographer working for Brady • Brought home the horrors of the battlefield

45. Matthew Brady • Born in NY in c.1823 • Famous for civil war pictures as well as portraits of many important persons (most notably Lincoln) • Had many photographers (such as Thomas O’Sullivan) working under him who he sent to the battlefields with portable darkrooms • Due to difficulties with exposure most picture were post-battle or concerned camp life • Notable photograph On the Antietam Battlefield(1862) illustrates horrors of war • Very little financial compensation from the government post-war; eventually bankrupt • Died in NYC in 1895

47. About this Photograph • Made while O’Sullivan worked for the Wheeler Expedition (AZ and NM) • Walls of canyon frame picture • Viewers eyes drawn to distant rock formation in center • Small rocks, trees and tents in foreground indicate enormity of canyon • Produced from glass plate negative • SW frontier photography presented many hazards: transporting darkrooms over rough terrain, preserving glass plates, sand and heat made pictures difficult to take • Many peoples post-Civil War interest in moving West were spurred by such pictures • Many such pictures used to convince congress to make national parks

48. Thomas O’Sullivan • Born in NY • Known for Civil War and Western Frontier pictures • Began career with Brady in his teens • Served briefly in the Union Army • Notable picture The Harvest of Death(1863) depicts slaughter Union soldiers at Gettysburg • Established own studio post-war • Hired as photographer for US Geological Exploration West of the 40th Parallel, led by Clarence King, in 1867

49. African-American Art