DOCSLIB.ORG

THE ART of POLITICS Or POLITICS in ART

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
THE ART of POLITICS Or POLITICS in ART A COLLABORATIVE SPECIAL ISSUE AND 1. Champions of Liberty. P. S. Duval & Son lith. Phila. Three-color lithograph, 1865. Image size 14 3/8 x 19 1/8” (36.5 x 48.6 cm). Entered in 1865 by Samuel Marshall. Banner under Washington “Under this Flag He led us to Independence.” Banner under Lincoln “Under this Flag He led us to Freedom.” Good condition, save for overall toning and remains of minor water stains. #92115-1 $1,250.00 A wonderful image with an eagle grasping the “Emancipation Proclamation” in its talons and with thirteen stars between its wings representing the original Colonies. Below the eagle is a portrait of Columbia seated with the scales of justice and the sword of liberty. Below Columbia is a representation of the United States Capitol. At lower left are two Revolutionary War soldiers and at lower right are two black Civil War soldiers. THE ART OF POLITICS or POLITICS IN ART VOLUME LXXVI September - October NUMBER 1 2 VOLUME LXXVI • Robert K. Newman, Editor • NUMBER 1 IN COLLABORATION WITH 88 High Street Southampton, MA 01073 413.527.4020 www.bostonraremaps.com [email protected] THE ART OF POLITICS or POLITICS IN ART 2. UPON THE EXECUTION OF ALEXANDER WEDDERBURNE, ESQ. AND THOMAS HUTCHINSON, ESQ. Convicted of TREACHERY to the Americans. Boston: Sold at Kneeland & Davis’s Printing-Office in Queen-Street, [May 1774?]. Large oblong “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, broadside. Sheet size 13½ x 17” (34.3 x 43.2 cm). Seven lines of headline type over four columns of establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common letterpress, illustrated by two cuts and a mourning border. Docketed on verso. Old folds, defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to minor foxing and soiling, small loss in right margin, and minor reinforcements on verso. ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the Good condition. Not in Evans, Bristol, Ford or OCLC. #92127-1/BRM2457 $35,000.00 United States of America.” Preamble to the United States Constitution. A dramatic, impressive and unrecorded broadside commemorating an important event in the In this issue of Portfolio The Old Print Shop, Inc., and Boston Rare Maps career of Ben Franklin and the run-up to the Revolution. celebrate this Election year by examining the political history of the United States In 1773, while serving as a colonial agent in London, Ben Franklin admitted to acquiring as seen through printed images. We describe the printed objects, give brief Massachusetts Governor Hutchinson’s private correspondence and transmitting it to patriots histories of the political figures involved, and attempt to explain their significance. in Boston. The letters were highly critical of the patriot cause, and their publication had sparked outrage and rendered Hutchinson’s position untenable. Soon after, Franklin appeared before We begin in 1774 as tensions between the England were reaching a the Privy Council and was publicly harangued and humiliated by Solicitor General Alexander new height. We then proceed more or less chronologically through Wedderburne. Two days later he lost his lucrative post as Deputy Postmaster General for each Presidency and presidential election, culminating in the seminal America. It is said the experience transformed him from a conciliator into a revolutionary. Election of 1932, which brought Franklin Delano Roosevelt to power and When news of Franklin’s humiliation reached Philadelphia in April, patriots there paraded ushered in The New Deal. Along the way we present dozens of prints, effigies of Hutchinson and Wedderburne in a cart through the city then set them on fire, portraits, broadsides, and maps that bring life to these men and great issues that reportedly by means of an electrical spark! The ceremony is recounted on this impressive animated them and the country. broadside. The left side features a dramatic headline—“Upon the Execution of Alexander Wedderburne, Esq. and Thomas Hutchinson, Esq.”—surmounting two columns of letterpress, Some of the items in the catalogue are marked NFS. These are items we have illustrated by funeral cuts and a mourning border. The text describes the procession and sold and borrowed back from clients. If you are interested, let us know. “execution” and effusively praises Franklin. At right two columns of letterpress reprint “Epitaphs” This is the type of material we will purchase again in the future. of Wedderburne and Hutchinson. The on-line and gallery exhibitions will feature additional material, The broadside is unrecorded, though two others commemorating the event are known, each in including an expanded time line up into the 1960’s with small collectables a single impression. Both lack the decorative elements and visual impact of our printing. such as political buttons. GALLERY EXHIBITION OCTOBER 1 – NOVEMBER 12, 2016 4 VOLUME LXXVI NO. 1 5 3. A Display of the United States of America. To the Patrons of Arts and 4. A New Display of the United States. Amos Doolittle (1754-1832). Printed & sold wholesale Sciences, in all parts of the World, this Plate is most respectfully Dedicated, . by Amos Doolittle, August 14’ 1799. Engraving, 1799. Paper size 20 x 16” (50.8 x 40.6 cm). Amos Doolittle (1754-1832). Printed & Sold by A. Doolittle New Haven Where Engraving E. McSherry Fowble, Two Centuries of Prints in America, 1680-1880, #213. #44294 NFS & Roling Press printing is performed. Copper plate engraving, 1788-98. Printed March 1, 1798. Image size 20 1/4 x 16 3/8” (51.4 x 41.6 cm). Good condition, save for A similar image, honoring John Adams, second President of the United States. Adams’ portrait several splits and associated short tears. Overall time toning, backed of is surmounted by a banner reading “Millions for our Defence Not a Cent for Tribute.” The portrait Japan paper. Faint original hand coloring. E. McSherry Fowble, Two Centuries of Prints is surrounded with the seals of the sixteen states including Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee, in America, 1680-1880, #212; Charles Henry Hart, Catalogue of the Engraved Portraits which had joined the Union in 1791, 1792, and 1796 respectively. Notes by each state indicate of Washington, #840. Unrecorded variant. #24349-1 $30,000.00 its population, the number of inhabitants, Senators and number of members in the House of Representatives. This portrait of Washington with the seals of the original thirteen Colonies and the United States is considered one of the most important portraits of Washington produced. Hart believed The success of “A Display of the United States of America,” featuring George Washington, the plate was engraved prior to 1788 because in the first state the representations of Rhode encouraged Amos Doolittle to attempt a new edition honoring President Adams. However, Island and North Carolina in Congress are left blank. However, the inscription around the portrait the rarity of this print, with fewer than a dozen impressions known, suggests that it was not a reads “George Washington President of the United States of America”, and Washington was not success. This is the first state issued in 1799. A second state was issued in 1803 and has a elected until 1789. In all later states the representations of Rhode Island and North Carolina in decorative scroll work below the title and updated information next to each state. Congress are shown. In the first state Doolittle used James Trenchard’s awkward three-fourths-length portrait of George Washington from the Columbian Magazine of 1787. In all later states, the portrait was changed to resemble the profile portrait of Washington by Joseph Wright. Catalogue of the Engraved Portraits of Washington by Charles Henry Hart describes five states of this print. This impression is not noted but is after the last state noted (Hart #840d 1796). 6 VOLUME LXXVI NO. 1 7 5. Alexander Hamilton, : Major General of the Armies of the United States of 6. A New Display of the United States. - Title around portrait “T. Jefferson President America. Secretary of Treasury &c, &c. Archibald Robertson (1745-1813). Painted by of the United States - Supporter of Liberty - True Republican & Friend of the Rights Archibald. Robertson 79 Liberty St. Engraved by Wm. Rollinson 27 Pine St. Published by the of Man.” Amos Doolittle (1754-1832). New Haven printed & sold wholesale by Amos Columbia Academy of Painting 79 Liberty St. and by Wm. Rollinson 27 Pine Street. Stipple and Doolittle, August 14, 1806. Engraving, 1806. Plate size 20 1/4 x 16 3/8” (51.4 x 41.6 cm). Not in line engraving, 1804. Image size 17 1/2 x 13 9/16” (44.4 x 34.5 cm). E. McSherry Fowble, E. McSherry Fowble, Two Centuries of Prints in America, 1680-1880, #79208 NFS Two Centuries of Prints in America, 1680-1880, #229. Good condition, a beautiful impression. #80930-2 $17,000.00 According to Donald C. O’Brien in “Amos Doolittle Engraver of the New Republic” no impression with Thomas Jefferson survived although he notes that the Reverend William A. Beardsley knew Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 57 – July 12, 1804) was one of the founding fathers of an impression, and James Terry wrote about an impression in the collection of Miss Stiles. of the United States, Chief of Staff to General Washington, one of the most influential interpreters and promoters of the Constitution, the founder of the nation’s financial The portrait of Thomas Jefferson is a separate image that has been glued on top of the print. system, and the founder of the first American political party. Hamilton died in a duel with Under Jefferson’s portrait is the portrait of John Adams.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 23 League in New York Before They Were Purchased by Granville
    is identical to a photograph taken in 1866 (fig. 12), which includes sev- eral men and a rowboat in the fore- ground. From this we might assume that Eastman, and perhaps Chapman, may have consulted a wartime pho- tograph. His antebellum Sumter is highly idealized, drawn perhaps from an as-yet unidentified print, or extrapolated from maps and plans of the fort—child’s play for a master topographer like Eastman. Coastal Defenses The forts painted by Eastman had once been the state of the art, before rifled artillery rendered masonry Fig. 11. Seth Eastman, Fort Sumter, South Carolina, After the War, 1870–1875. obsolete, as in the bombardment of Fort Sumter in 1861 and the capture of Fort Pulaski one year later. By 1867, when the construction of new Third System fortifications ceased, more than 40 citadels defended Amer- ican coastal waters.12 Most of East- man’s forts were constructed under the Third System, but few of them saw action during the Civil War. A number served as military prisons. As commandant of Fort Mifflin on the Delaware River from November 1864 to August 1865, Col. Eastman would have visited Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island, located in the river channel between Wilmington and New Castle, Delaware. Channel-dredging had dumped tons of spoil at the northern end of the island, land upon which a miserable prison-pen housed enlisted Confederate pris- oners of war. Their officers were Fig. 12. It appears that Eastman used this George N. Barnard photograph, Fort quartered within the fort in relative Sumter in April, 1865, as the source for his painting.
    [Show full text]
  • Historic-Register-OPA-Addresses.Pdf
    Philadelphia Historical Commission Philadelphia Register of Historic Places As of January 6, 2020 Address Desig Date 1 Desig Date 2 District District Date Historic Name Date 1 ACADEMY CIR 6/26/1956 US Naval Home 930 ADAMS AVE 8/9/2000 Greenwood Knights of Pythias Cemetery 1548 ADAMS AVE 6/14/2013 Leech House; Worrell/Winter House 1728 517 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 519 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 600-02 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 2013 601 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 603 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 604 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 605-11 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 606 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 608 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 610 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 612-14 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 613 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 615 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 616-18 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 617 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 619 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 629 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 631 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 1970 635 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 636 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 637 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 638 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 639 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 640 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 641 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 642 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 643 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 703 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 708 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 710 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 712 ADDISON ST Society Hill 3/10/1999 714 ADDISON ST Society Hill
    [Show full text]
  • Dissertation
    THE LIFE AND WORKS OF GEORGE LIPPARD DISSERTATION Presented In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Emilio De Grazia, B.A., M.A, The Ohio State University 1969 Approved by n ivU / ■ AaviserAdviser Department of English ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express thanks to some of the people who have made this study possible. First, I greatly appreciate the efforts of the staffs of the Interlibrary Loan Service of the Ohio State University Library, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and the Library Company of Phila­ delphia. For her care and efficiency I also want to thank Sharon Fulkerson. A number of friends and teachers are greatly responsible for whatever virtues this study may have. Thai'iks first to Professor Keith Fenimore of Albion (Michigan) College, who suggested the subject, contributed notes, and made me read many American novels; to Professor Charles Held, also of Albion, a teacher and friend who first taught me to value books; to Professor John Muste, of the Ohio State University, for sharing his time and Insights; and, of course, to Professor Julian Markels, for providing careful and Just criticism, for giving often needed encouragement, and for teaching me new ways of seeing things. It goes without saying that this study is dedicated to Mom and Dad, and to Candy, the girl on the ship I brought home to Mom and Dad, ii VITA February 16, 1941.,,, B o m — Dearborn, Michigan 1 9 6 3.............. B.A., Albion College, Albion, Michigan 1 9 6 3 -1 9 6..........
    [Show full text]
  • PAFA Manuscripts Collections
    PAFA Manuscripts Collections The PAFA Archives houses collections of papers of a number of early Philadelphia art organizations and of various individual artists. Detailed inventories of these collections are available from the Archives. Like PAFA’s institutional records, much of this material has been microfilmed by the Archives of American Art. See the 1990 AAA guide to the Pennsylvania Academy films or the separate finding aids for reel numbers. The AAA also collects original material and may hold additional papers for any of the art organizations or artists mentioned in this section. Papers of Other Art Organizations Philadelphia Museum Company (Peale’s Museum) Newspaper clippings, 1785, 1804 (1 folder) Correspondence book, 1821 (1 volume) Charter and bylaws, 1828, 1834 (Lambdin pamphlet collection (q.v.), vol. 1) American Academy of the Fine Arts (Columbianum) History (typescript), n.d. (1 folder) Association agreement, 1794 (1 folder) Constitution and bylaws, 1794 (1 volume) Exhibition catalogue, 1795 (1 folder) Society of Artists of the United States (Columbian Society of Artists) Minutes, 1810–17 (2 volumes) Report of the Joint Committee with the Academy, 1810–20 (see temporary committees of the board) Constitution and membership list, 1810 (1 folder) Address by George Murray, 1810 Anniversary oration of Benjamin Latrobe, 1811 Annual exhibition catalogues, 1811–14 (Lambdin pamphlet collection, vol. 10) Report of the Committee to Examine the Rise and Progress and Present State of the Society of Artists, 1812 (in miscellaneous Academy bound catalogues, 1810–26) Miscellaneous manuscripts, n.d., 1813–1819 (1 folder) Joint stock vouchers, 1820–22 (1 folder, stored with Academy stock certificates) Artists Fund Society (AFS) Exhibition catalogues, 1835–45, 1867 (bound set and loose copies) Exhibition prospectus, 1835 2 List of members, 1836; receipt, 1840 Charter and bylaws, 1836 (Lambdin pamphlet collection, vol.
    [Show full text]
  • Sartain Family Papers
    Sartain Family papers MS.033 Finding Aid prepared by Hoang Tran The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 118-128 North Broad Street Philadelphia, PA 19102 [email protected] 215-972-2066 Updated by Hoang Tran, January 2016 Sartain Family papers (MS.033) Summary Information Repository The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Dorothy and Kenneth Woodcock Archives Creator John Sartain (1808-1897), Emily Sartain (1841-1927), William Sartain (1843-1924), Samuel Sartain (1830-1906), Henry Sartain (1833-1895), Helen Sartain (1841-1927), and Harriet Sartain (1873-1957) Title Sartain Family papers Date [bulk] Date [inclusive] 1860-1933 Extent 1/2 document box, 3 flat boxes (12”) Location note Language Language of Materials note English Abstract The papers in the Sartain family collection relate to at least five members of the family; John, Emily, William, Samuel, Henry, Helen, and Harriet. The collection consists of photographs, scrapbooks, unpublished manuscripts, and a small amount of correspondence. Preferred Citation note [identification of item], Title of Collection, Collection ID#, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Dorothy and Kenneth Woodcock Archives, Philadelphia, PA. Page 1 Sartain Family papers (MS.033) Historical note John Sartain (1808-1897), was the patriarch of one of Philadelphia's most famous and important artistic dynasties. He was also one of the Academy's two or three most important and influential Board members, serving the institution from 1855 to 1877. He exerted a profound influence on both the design of our building and on the curriculum of the school. His place in Philadelphia's artistic history would be assured for these events alone, not to mention his reputation as an engraver, painter and designer.
    [Show full text]
  • Poe As Magazinist
    University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2011 Poe as Magazinist Kay Ellen McKamy University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the American Literature Commons Scholar Commons Citation McKamy, Kay Ellen, "Poe as Magazinist" (2011). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/3242 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Poe as Magazinist by Kay E. McKamy A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Co-Major Professor: Rosalie Murphy Baum, Ph.D. Co-Major Professor: Regina Hewitt, Ph.D. Lawrence Broer, Ph.D. Elaine Smith, Ph.D. Date of Approval: March 31, 2011 Keywords: short stories, American literature, George R. Graham, early American magazines, Graham‘s Magazine Copyright ©2011, Kay E. McKamy Acknowledgments The idea for this dissertation came from a discussion of early-American magazines in a graduate course with Dr. Rosalie Murphy Baum at the University of South Florida. The dissertation would not have been possible without the professionalism, knowledge, advice, and encouragement of Dr. Baum. Her combination of prodding and praise is exactly what non-traditional students like me need: without her insistence, I would have quit long ago.
    [Show full text]
  • Selections from the Seymour Adelman Collection
    Selections from the Seymour Adelman collection Archives of American Art 750 9th Street, NW Victor Building, Suite 2200 Washington, D.C. 20001 https://www.aaa.si.edu/services/questions https://www.aaa.si.edu/ Table of Contents Collection Overview ........................................................................................................ 1 Administrative Information .............................................................................................. 1 Scope and Contents........................................................................................................ 2 Biographical / Historical.................................................................................................... 1 Names and Subjects ...................................................................................................... 2 Container Listing ...................................................................................................... Selections from the Seymour Adelman collection AAA.adelseym Collection Overview Repository: Archives of American Art Title: Selections from the Seymour Adelman collection Identifier: AAA.adelseym Date: 1845-1958 Creator: Adelman, Seymour, 1906- Extent: 1 Microfilm reel Language: English . Administrative Information Acquisition Information Lent for microfilming 1991 by Bryn Mawr College. Microfilmed as part of AAA's Philadelphia Arts Documentation Project. The material was selected from over 45 linear ft. of manuscript material in the Adelman Collection. Location of Originals Originals
    [Show full text]
  • The Art of Reconciliation: the World's Industrial And
    THE ART OF RECONCILIATION: THE WORLD’S INDUSTRIAL AND COTTON CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION, NEW ORLEANS, 1884 by SANDRA PAULY (Under the Direction of Janice Simon) ABSTRACT An examination of the visual culture of the New Orleans’ World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition is revelatory of the formation of American attitudes about race, ethnicity, aesthetics, and regional as well as national identity. Overlooked in the American art historical scholarship on world’s fairs, the New Orleans event was one of a number of regional and international expositions held in the United States between Philadelphia’s Centennial Exhibition of 1876 and Chicago’s World Columbian Exposition of 1893 that endeavored to promote regional reconciliation after the Civil War and establish a cohesive national identity. Although the relationship between developments in the fine arts in the United States and world’s fairs held there is an established part of American art historical scholarship, there has been no art historical scholarship on the fine arts exhibition at the New Orleans fair. This dissertation seeks to cast light on that fine arts exhibition in the context of the New Orleans world’s fair. To do this effectively the visual culture of the fair itself requires exploration. The buildings, fairgrounds, various displays created by the states and the United States government, and magazine illustrations created to cover the event, provide a broader socio-historical context in which to consider the art exhibited. This will, in turn, illuminate the national commercial and cultural agenda in which artistic production took place, as well as the role played by the New Orleans fair in the promotion of regional reconciliation during the postbellum era, the establishment of a singular national identity, and fair’s place in the development of American art.
    [Show full text]
  • David Bunnell Olmstead Literary Portraits Sequential Listing Page
    David Bunnell Olmstead Literary Portraits Sequential listing Following is a list of items in the scrapbooks, in order of appearance. Olmstead's descriptions and annotations are given in quotation marks. For example, for the first item, Maurice Thompson, Olmstead’s notes are "Poet. Novelist. 1844-1901." While the information provided by Olmstead is always interesting, it is not always accurate. Due to difficulties in reading his handwriting and to changes over time, the names given in the list below may or may not be spelled correctly or in their modern form. Common abbreviations appearing in the list and in the scrapbooks include: Personal names: Titles, ranks, etc.: Alex., Alex'r. Alexander Arc. or Arch. Archbishop And. Andrew B. Born Ant. Anthony Bap. Baptized Arch. Archibald Bar., Bart., Bt. Baron, Baronet Benj. Benjamin Bp. Bishop Ch., Cha., Chas. Charles Cap., Cap’n Captain Ed., Edw. Edwin or Edward Col. Colonel Eliz. Elizabeth DD Doctor of Divinity Fr. Francis Ed. Editor Fr’d., Fr’c., Fred., Frederic/k Eng. England Fred’k. Geo., G. George Esq. Esquire Hen., Hen’y. Henry Fr. Frater or Father Iohannus, Ioh. John FRS Fellow of the Royal Society Jas. James Gen., Gen’l General Jn., Jno., Jon. Jonathan Gov. Governor Jos. Joseph or Josiah Hon. Honorable Mich. Michael JD Juris Doctor (law degree) Rob., Robt. Robert KBE Knight of the British Empire Sam’l. Samuel KC (or QC) King’s Counsel (or Queen’s Counsel) Th., Thos. Thomas LLD Legum Doctor (law degree) Wm., Will’m. William Maj. Major MD Doctor of Medicine MP. Member of Parliament OBE Order of the British Empire PhD.
    [Show full text]
  • Cecilia Beaux, Mary Cassatt, and Issues of Female Fame
    "The Greatest Woman Painter": Cecilia Beaux, Mary Cassatt, and Issues of Female Fame EAUX AND CASSATT offer a tempting comparison for the un- suspecting art historian. After all, two contemporary women from Philadelphia who developed artistic styles based on Impressionism should be perfect for a meaningful comparative analysis based on issues of identity. Unfortunately, it turns out to be an extraordinarily difficult task. Their different loci of activity, different theoretical viewpoints, and different approaches to the work itself mitigate the similarities of gender and nationality. Other comparisons seem more productive. Cassatt's relationship with Berthe Morisot, for example, can be rewardingly mined for all the subtle similarities and differences of two women working side by side for twenty years. In Beaux's case, many American male painters come to mind who were doser to Beaux, such as Sargent, for instance, or even better, William Merritt Chase. Beaux and Chase-both living in New York after 1900, both involved in teaching, jurying, and other art-world activities, as well as sharing stylistic and thematic similarities in their art-might easily be subjected to a close comparison of their personal and gendered contributions to the culture of their day. Even the few obvious similarities of character between Cassatt and Beaux provide an unsatisfactory basis for meaningfil comparison. To point out, for example, that they were both strong, ambitious women makes little headway toward a productive analysis. In the modem era, it is fairly safe to assume that any person who establishes herself in the highly competitive profession of fine art painting has drive, savvy, and talent.
    [Show full text]
  • Public Portraits and Portrait Publics Valentijn Byvanck New York University
    Public Portraits and Portrait Publics Valentijn Byvanck New York University The following article is part of my dissertation on public portraiture in antebellum America. This dissertationaddresses the skewed scholarly emphasis on reading habits by underliningthe visual literacy of the antebellum middle classes. Employingportraitsfora rangeofpolitical and social ends, the nineteenth-century middle classes createda culture that revolved around representation. This article outlines the materialcircumstances of this culture. It chartsAmericans'encounters with likenesses of "worthies"fromprivate collection to public gallery, professional society and antebellum home. Tracing the spaces ofvisual representation, it profiles an emerging viewing public. I. Public Galleries "What is this Academy of Fine Arts? asked one of two countrymen, who were conjointly pouring over the columns of a fully extended newspaper. I suppose, said the other, it is a place where Finery is made for the ladies, such as fine ribbons, fine necklaces and fine kickshaws or thingembobs of every kind. Ay, I suppose it is, replied his companion. No, no, taking the cigar from his mouth, exclaimed, in an authoritative tone, a certain corpulent personage, who was sitting at a little distance from them, over a glass of beer, -it is not that at all. It is a sort of a show-house, a place where they have figures, or as they call them statutes of men and women, ails [sic] one as them there that they put at the head of vessels, only that they are not made of wood, nor painted so handsomely; and what is still worse, none of them have any clothes on. For my own part, I would rather pay half a dollar to see a puppet show, than six cents to see all them nonsensical things, that they not only paid a monstrous sum of money for, but took the trouble to bring all the way from France, and build a fine house on purpose to put them in.
    [Show full text]
  • Degas, Cassatt, Pissarro and the Making and Marketing of the Belle Épreuve
    DEGAS, CASSATT, PISSARRO AND THE MAKING AND MARKETING OF THE BELLE ÉPREUVE A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by Whitney Rebecca Kruckenberg December 2014 Examining Committee Members: Dr. Therese Dolan, Advisory Chair, Art History Dr. Ashley West, Art History Dr. Gerald Silk, Art History Dr. Suzanne Singletary, College of Architecture and the Built Environment, Philadelphia University © Copyright 2015 by Whitney Rebecca Kruckenberg All Rights Reserved ii ABSTRACT Focusing on the prints of Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt and Camille Pissarro, my dissertation explores the development of the belle épreuve , or the fine print, in relation to the Impressionist movement. I firstly consider the commercial tactics of the Impressionists in the face of the evolution of the modern art market and the decreasing relevancy of the Salon and expound on previous scholarship by demonstrating how the Impressionists’ modes of presentation proved especially conducive to showcasing works on paper and how we might apply observations about the speculative nature of the Impressionists’ formal innovations to their prints. Additionally I highlight contemporaneous observations about the heterogeneity of the Impressionist exhibitions that reveal meaningful insights into the nineteenth-century perception of the artists’ relationships to each other, thus questioning the tendency to divide the exhibitors into two groups, the Degas-led realists and the Monet-led colorists. Then I consider the printmaking practices of Degas, Cassatt and Pissarro individually, elucidating how each artist’s attitudes toward work, craft and business manifest formally in a small selection of examples from their printed oeuvres intended for exhibition or publication.
    [Show full text]