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THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THOMAS MORAN AS AN AMERICAN LANDSCAPE PAINTER DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By JAMES BENJAMIN WILSON, A.B. , M. A. The Ohio State University 1955 Approved by: / W / 1 vLc L/; 6 ■ h l / ~ ^ ^ 7- Mviser ' ' O / / - k / Department of Fine Arts ^; ü t t m a t a Buntmgàntt, May 3, 1957 University Microfilms 313 N, First Street Ann Arbor, Michigan Attention: Patricia Colling, Editor Dear Mrs, Colling: After considerable delay I am writing to you to give you permission to reproduce by microfilm the illustrations in my Ph.D. dissertation titled "The Significance of Thomas Moran as an American Landscape Painter," dated 1955 at The Ohio State University. I am sorry for this delay and hope that it has not caused you great inconvenience. Sincerely yours, James B. Wilson ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ïïie writer is particularly grateful to the following persons for invaluable help in the preparation of this dissertation: to Dr., Fritiof Fryxell, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois, personal friend of the Moran family; to Dr. Carlton Palmer, Atlanta, Georgia, a dealer in Moran's works; to Mr. Robert G. McIntyre, Dorset, Vermont, and to Mr, Fred L. Tillotson, Bolton, England, both of whom knew the artist; to The Osborne Company, Clifton, New Jersey, and The Thomas D, Murphy Goimany, Red Oak, Iowa, who furnished the color plates; to the IGioedler and E. and A. Milch Galleries, New York, for kind pezmission to examine back files of Moran sales; and above all to Professors Frank Seiberling, Sidney Kaplan, and Ralph Fanning of The Ohio State Ihiiversity for material aid, encourage­ ment, and generous portions of time spent in reading and correcting the manuscript. (I t % I Ml FRONTISPIECE Portrait of Thomas Moran (l88l) Painted by Hamilton Hamilton (18U7-1912) Collection of the National Academy of Design, New York Photograph: The Pidck Art Reference Library, New York IV - - - T 3 .TABLE OF CONTENTS Page AŒNOWLEDŒŒNTS....................................... 11 ILLUSTRATIONS..................................... xli Chapter I. BI0C3RAPHICAL SKETCH OF THOMAS MORAN.............. 1 II. CULTURAL CLIMATE OF MORAN'S ENGLAND............... 11 Lancashire. ......... .................... Reforms of 1830's......... ..... ..... Discrimination............. ................... The Literary Romanticists: Byron, Shelley, Hunt.... Revival of Interest in Nature: Coleridge, Lamb, Scott. ....................... *......... Painters : Turner, Cotman, Constable ..... III. MORAN'S AMERICA; PHILADELPHIA.................. 17 Arrival of I^orans in America. ............. Philadelphia in the 18W 8.... .................. Pennsylvania Academy............. .............. Moran as an Engraver's ^prentice..... ....... Philadelphia Periodicals ........... ....... Studio of the Moran Brothers.......... James Hamilton..... ........ ................ IV. PREPARATION FOR AN AlffiHICAN LANDSCAPE.............. 22 The West : Early Works....... .................... ..... Opening of the West.................... ...... Early Western Painters ... ........... England ; Trips of 1861, 1862........... *........... Turner Study and Subsequent Influence....... V. MORAN'S AI'EERICA: THE YOUNG WEST................. 31 Earlier Western Expeditions..... ....... ....... Origin of Yellowstone Park.......... ............ V VI Chapter Page Members of Hayden Party. ... ..... Itinerary and Official Report................ W. H. Jackson, Hayden's Photographer............ Horan's Interest in the Region.... ... 71. liffiSTERN PAINTINGS AND DRAWINGS.................. 43 Early Landscape in America. .............. Moran's Travels for Scribner's ..... ...... Western Trips: Tetons, 1Ü79, and The Devil's Tower, 1892......... ............ ......... Canyon Paintings......................... Cooper Union Drawings.......................... 711. LONG ISLAND AND MEHCAN LANDSCAPES.............. 54 Landscape Series.......... ............. Long Island Topogr^hy........ ............... East Hampton Studio... ................. Choice of Mexico as a Subject......... ........ Influences.......... ....................... Seascapes..... ....... ..................... Till. MORAN AS A NINETEENTH CENTURY ETCHER............ 62 Etching as an Art............ ............... Moran's First Plate.......................... Klackner's Catalogue............... .......... New Techniques............................... Personal Style......... .................. Prominent Etchers .......... ....... ........ Mary Nimmo Moran........ .................... "San Juan d'Ulloa, 7era Cruz", ........... IX. MORAN IN RELATION TO THE ART OP HIS TIME......... 70 Subject Preferences ........ .............. Color.................. ............... Relationship to Other Western Painters........... Relationship to Barbizon School........... ..... Compositional Tendencies ... ............... The Hudson River Groiq>.............. .......... Moran's Influence. ............. Technical Aspects .............. ....... Personal Accomplishments...................... X. THE ARTIST AS A PERSONALITY..................... 100 Page CATALOGUE OF WORKS........... 105 Oil Paintings (259)......... Western (125)..... ...... Long Island (20)..... Mexican (16)............. American History (2)... American Scenes (11)...... Venetian (3U)............. Other European Scenes (6).... Seascapes (12)... ........ Allegory and Imaginative (6), Book Illustration (6)...... Miscellaneous (20.)........ Drawings (,23k)..... Watercolors (95)... Etchings (8l)...... Wood Engravings (78). Lithographs (22)..... APPENDICES........................... 182 BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................... 200 AUTOBIOGRAPHY......................................... 211 PREFACE During the latter half of the nineteenth century most American painters had not yet fully realized the possibilities of a type of art dealing with purely American subject matter. It was a rather curious fact that American artists were prone to seek both their training and subject matter in foreign countries, almost entirely excluding their own. This situation can be attributed, perhaps, to a combination of reasons. First of all, tradition was responsible for the exaggerated value placed on this type of art by both the artists and the public. Secondly, American painters of the time, particularly those in the field of landscape, were thoroughly convinced of the value of the rather limited pastoral subject as emphasized in the foreign schools. Even as late as the last quarter of the nineteenth century our own country's magnificent scenery was often neglected because of the opinion that grandeur in nature is not suitable to pictorial repre­ sentation, Lastly, it was generally thought that to visit many of our more remote areas would involve more time, hardship, expense, and actual danger than most artists were willing to risk. Consequently, a common lack of individuality and nationalism prevailed at the time. One of the few exceptions to this general attitude ifas Thomas Moran, a landscape painter who, although b o m in England, became a leader in the trend toward nationalism in American painting. Choosing the Far West as one of his principal themes, Moran created an interest not only in that type of landscape painting but in the western areas vfii IK themselves as natural scenic wonders. As a result, Moran became one of the most popular painters of his day. By means of his works in various media he was able to reveal to the American public a part of America known until then only by explorers, scientists, militarists, and the occasional "irresponsible" traveler. It is no exaggeration to say that the most famous of the western national parks owe their existence in a large part to the attention focused on those areas by the works of Thomas Moran, Although a popular painter in his day, he seems to have been largely forgotten by the twentieth century in its quest for daring innovations in visual representation. Thomas Moran was an extremely prolific artist whose works are found in both public and private collections in Europe as well as in America, The present study undertakes a thorough investigation of the artist's life, the character of his work, the sources of his style, and his influence on American landscape painting. In addition, a com­ plete and con^rehensive catalogue of Moran’s works in different mediums has been compiled for the first time from scattered and disintegrated collections, as well as'from well known sources. The only previous attenpt made in the organization of the artist's works has been by Dr, Eritiof M. Pryxell of Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois, Dr. Fiyxell, a friend of the artist's family, has produced two privately reproduced volumes dealing with the Moran art collections located in the national paries of ïosemite, TeHaw- stone, and Grand Teton, These are little known and not generally available. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography includes but the briefest account of the life of Thomas Moran, as well as that X of his artist "wife, Mary Nimmo Moran, Although numerous articles have speared in art periodicals, they are usually concerned only with limited aspects of his life or work and more often with reproductions alone. In addition, the failure of an attempted biography of her father by the late Ruth Bedford Moran points to the inçortance of this study. It is not easy to formulate an opinion of the man as a per­ sonality. Every aspect of his life was subordinated

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