Signature Drawings:’ Social Networks and Collecting Practices in Antebellum Albums
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ABSTRACT Title of Document: ‘SIGNATURE DRAWINGS:’ SOCIAL NETWORKS AND COLLECTING PRACTICES IN ANTEBELLUM ALBUMS Joy Peterson Heyrman, Ph.D., 2008 Directed By: Professor Sally M. Promey, Department of Art History and Archaeology Characterized in their own time as “miniature and easily-attainable works of art,” drawings by American artists of the antebellum period were prized by fellow artists as mementi of friendship and by collectors as marks of the artist’s hand. This dissertation presents a broad examination of the social meanings and contemporary contexts of these quietly communicative works of art. Using archival and documentary evidence, it investigates rich spheres of activity in the “social lives” of drawings. Special qualities of the medium and particularities of drawings exchange informed their reception. In the public sphere of business and social transaction between artists and patrons, drawings functioned as “social currency,” building a community connected through gift-giving and competitive collecting. Albums of drawings reflected social networks and communicated the owner’s privileged access to artists who practiced that particularly intimate form of expression. Drawings were also displayed in the antebellum parlor, a private setting encoded with aspiration to personal refinement and social position. In that sphere, drawings served a didactic, regulatory function, presenting sentimental and moral themes that provided a visual buffer to the turbulent public history of the time. My study reveals that many of the drawings collected in antebellum albums were originals for images subsequently reproduced as giftbook illustrations or prints. This dissertation demonstrates that antebellum viewers perceived drawing and writing as aligned, complimentary modes of expression; similar motivations thus informed the collecting of drawings and autographs. As the pantheon of eminent Americans shifted to include artists, their drawings were prized as signature works reflecting “temperament and quality of mind.” American art history has directed little attention to antebellum-period drawings. When it has done so, it has situated them primarily as studio tools or as preparatory works for paintings. I argue that album drawings occupied a different register of value altogether, connected to literature, illustration, parlor entertainment, and the collecting of celebrity autographs during a period of explosive growth in the production of visual imagery and in media coverage of American artists. I propose a social and cultural history of the period centered on drawing collecting as a reflection of individual aspirations and social values. ‘SIGNATURE DRAWINGS:’ SOCIAL NETWORKS AND COLLECTING PRACTICES IN ANTEBELLUM ALBUMS By Joy Peterson Heyrman Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2008 Advisory Committee: Professor Sally M. Promey, Chair Assistant Professor Renée Ater Dr. Elizabeth Johns Professor Franklin Kelly Associate Professor Elizabeth Bergmann Loizeaux © Copyright by Joy Peterson Heyrman 2008 The thesis or dissertation document that follows has had referenced material removed in respect for the owner's copyright. A complete version of this document, which includes said referenced material, resides in the University of Maryland, College Park's library collection. ii Table of Contents Table of Contents.........................................................................................................iii List of Figures............................................................................................................... v Introduction ‘Signature Drawings:’ Social Networks and Collecting Practices in Antebellum Albums...................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Drawings in the Social Sphere: Albums as Currency in Antebellum Art Circles ......................................................................................................................... 28 Collecting From the “Luxury Register”.................................................................. 30 “Always your sincere friend”: Kensett and Walters............................................... 32 S. P. Avery: At the Hub of the “Art Fraternity” ..................................................... 36 The “troc” of Drawing Collecting........................................................................... 42 Drawings as Social Currency: Vattemare’s “Admirable System” of Exchange..... 45 The Collector in the Capital: The Maguire Scrapbook........................................... 53 Auctions and ‘Art Circles:’ The Dynamics of Walters’ Early Collecting.............. 62 “Enlightened Liberality:” Making a Name in New York Art Circles .................... 66 Competitive Collecting: Jenkins, Avery, Walters................................................... 70 The “Hot Center”: Asher B. Durand in Baltimore.................................................. 72 Chapter 2: “Miniature and Easily-Attainable Works of Art:” American Drawings in the Parlor..................................................................................................................... 77 “Artists of Your Own Acquaintance:” The John Mackie Falconer Album............ 78 “Sentiment of Home:” The Place of the Parlor....................................................... 82 “Signifying Fabric”: Antebellum Parlor Portraits................................................... 88 “As Orthodox as the Hymn Book:” the Vocabulary of Parlor Furnishings............ 93 Gift books: “Signs and Symbols of affection, luxury, and refinement” ................. 96 American Artists as Gift Book Illustrators ............................................................. 98 “Softening the Asperities of Life:” Visualizing Parlor Behavior ......................... 103 “A Bright, Cheerful Book:” Reading in the Parlor............................................... 106 “Seated Play with the Pencil:” Drawing in the Parlor .......................................... 111 “Do Write in My Album:” Exchanging Friendship in Graphic Form .................. 113 “A Poem for your Book:” Drawings in Holograph Form..................................... 116 “Gilt-edged themes:” The Visual Culture of Sentiment ....................................... 120 Chapter 3: The Original and the Multiple: the “Aura” of Value in American Drawing Albums...................................................................................................................... 123 “Illustrated by Darley”: Valuing the Original of the Multiple.............................. 124 The Hierarchy of Technique ................................................................................. 128 The “aura” of the Multiple: Infusing the Original with Added Value.................. 132 “Known from engravings”: Valuing the Original and the Multiple ..................... 135 “The Talent of the Country:” Exchanging Drawings in the Sketch Club Circle.. 140 Pleasing the ‘Drawing Fanciers’: Value Beyond the Original.............................. 147 “The Best of My Friends:” John Mackie Falconer’s Expansive View................. 149 Disdain for ‘Copyism’: Reverend Elias Magoon and the Original Work of Art.. 155 The Multiple in “Original Sketches:” William Walters’ Album .......................... 160 Chapter 4: “Celebrity and the Artist’s Hand:” Collecting Artists’ Autographs........ 165 iii “The enjoyment of sharing names:’ Collecting Drawings/Collecting Autographs ............................................................................................................................... 167 “Everyone who can learn to write, can learn to draw:” Graphic Expression as Sign ............................................................................................................................... 171 “Traces of Genius:” Autographs and Drawings as Index ..................................... 173 “Illustrative of History:” Autographs and Drawings in the Marketplace ............. 181 “Biography Mania:” Creating History by Example.............................................. 184 Artists in the Pantheon: The Growth of Celebrity ................................................ 189 “A Reflex of the Mind:” Autographmania............................................................ 194 Collecting Chirography and Character ................................................................. 197 “In the Manner of Sully:” Drawing in Signature Style......................................... 199 “Many other artists of celebrity:” Creating a canon ............................................. 202 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 208 Bibliography ............................................................................................................. 215 iv List of Figures Introduction 1. Original Designs by American Artists 1859, Leather album, 22 3/8” x 17 ¾” x 2 ¼” William Walters’ Album, The Walters Art Museum 2. Various albums: John Mackie Falconer Album, 10 1/8” x 13 ½” x 1” Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Rev. Elias Magoon Album #11, 15 1/8” x 12 1/8” x 2 7/8” Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College; John Neagle Album, 8 ¾” x 11” x ¾” Spanierman Gallery 3. Mosely Danforth, Classical Scene, 1832, Ink and wash with gouache highlights, 6 ½” x 7 7/8” John Ludlow