History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 138

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358

USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men > Part 138

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Pietro Perrin also worked as a sculptor in St. Louis from 1860 to 1870.

J. Wilson McDonald commenced practicing his profession as a sculptor about 1860, and executed models for the statue of Thomas H. Benton which was to be placed in Lafayette Park. But he was not successful in the competition, as the award was made

to Harriet Hosmer. Hc afterwards executed marble busts of Benton and Mr. Harrison, the iron merchant, both of which now adorn the large room of the Mer- cantile Library. He removed to New York after the close of the war, and has resided there ever since, ex- ecuting various commissions for Eastern and Western patrons. A work which brought him fame in the East was the colossal bust of Washington Irving, which was placed in one of the parks of Brooklyn. He was commissioned to execute a colossal statue in bronze of Attorney-General Bates, which was erected in Forest Park, St. Louis, and afterwards competed for the statues of Gen. Custer and Gen. Francis P. Blair.

W. H. Gardner adopted the profession of sculptor in St. Louis, and commenced working in the studio of Howard Kretschmar about 1880, assisting that artist in the execution of the colossal busts now in position on the front of the Museum of Fine Arts. In 1881 he exhibited a bust of President Garfield at the Fine Arts Hall in the St. Louis Fair-Grounds, which was much admired, and for which he very justly received a first prize. In 1882 he competed for the Blair monument, for which prizes had been offered by the Blair Monument Association. In this competition he carried off the first prize, and was commissioned to execute a colossal statue in bronze of Gen. Francis P. Blair, which he is now working upon.

Robert Bringhurst, a young sculptor of decided ability, was one of the students at Washington Uni- versity, and a pupil of Kretschmar. He went to Eu- rope to pursue his studies, but was only able to stay one year. Since his return he has executed medal- lions and statuettes which have attracted attention and placed him in the position of one who has talents of a high order. He received the first and second prizes at the fair in 1882, and has since exhibited some ideal modeling at the St. Louis Sketch Club which displayed considerable imagination and excellent anatomical knowledge.

Painting has been much more widely appreciated than either of the other forms of art. And as there is nothing in which man has so direct and deep an interest as in himself, it is but natural that the por- trait-painter should have been the first to receive cor- dial greeting and profitable employment.

Among the earliest of the portrait-painters con- nected with the history of art in St. Louis was Chester Harding, father of Gen. Chester Harding and of the wife of Hon. J. M. Krum, of this city. He was born in 1792, and made his first visit to St. Louis about the year 1820. With rare energy he had struggled through the most adverse circumstances into an ac- knowledged position as an artist. In one of his West-

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ern journeys he painted the portrait of Gen. Clark (of Lewis and Clark's expedition to the Rocky Moun- tains), and also that of Daniel Boone. The latter is understood to be now in the possession of James Bis- sell, of this city. In Boston, as early as 1823, he was overrun with commissions, and finally broke off his stay there abruptly, with nearly a hundred appli- cations still awaiting him, in order to make the visit to Europe which he had been long and eagerly look- ing forward to. In England his power was very soon recognized, so that he was shortly oeeupied in painting the portraits of a number of more or less celebrated personages, among them the Duke of Sussex and Al- lison, the historian. There are also several portraits by him of Daniel Webster, and these are regarded as being of high merit.

During his last visit to St. Louis, in 1866, he painted the portrait of Gen. W. T. Sherman. This is one of his latest, as it is also one of his best works. He died in Boston within the same year. A brief account of his life is given in the Atlantic Monthly for April, 1867. He himself also left a volume with the quaint title " Egotistography," in which he gave an aeeount of his own life and works.

About 1840, Emanuel de França came to St. Louis from Philadelphia. He soon acquired great popu- larity as a painter of portraits, and for a time did good work.

Ferdinand T. L. Boyle, another portrait-painter, came to St. Louis about the year 1858. He was dis- tinguished for his intelligence and fine social qualities. Among the portraits he painted were those of Gov- ernor Gamble and Gen. Francis P. Blair, the former of which is in the collection of the Mercantile Library.

Wilkins was active in the same field about the same period. He was an exponent of the English school, in which ladies were habitually represented as shepherdesses.

It was not far from the year 1858 that St. Louis was visited by a portrait-painter who is regarded by good judges familiar with the whole course of the development of art in St. Louis as the best of all this class of artists who can elaim a place in the present history. This was W. Coggswell, who, though he remained here but two or three years, did much valuable work, including the portraits of such citizens as Joseph Charless and Peter Lindell. On quitting St. Louis he went first to Chicago, and after- wards to California, where he now resides.

A. J. Conant, born in 1821, took up his residence in St. Louis in 1857, and is still in our midst. He has long been highly esteemed both as a man and as an artist. He is specially successful in his portraits of

mature men. His strength lies in the decidedly realistic character of the likenesses he produces.

Madame Subit has followed the profession of por- trait-painting in St. Louis for many years, and has received many commissions, which have been filled quite to the satisfaction of those giving thein. She works very minutely, paying great attention to the elaboration of laees and drapery.

A number of other portrait-painters are deserving of mention, though it will be impossible here to give them extended notiee. Col. Waugh, of early date, was not only a painter, but also made portrait busts in marble. John Reid, Brewer, G. Mueller, and Powers also did good work of this class.

Latterly, Miss Georgie Campbell, who was for a time a pupil of J. R. Meeker in landscape, has been specially successful in portrait-painting. In this field she has gained much from the instruction of Healy. She is now in Chicago.

It should be mentioned, too, that Miss Sarah M. Peale was a popular painter of portraits in St. Louis from 1847 to 1878. Portraits by her of Daniel Web- ster and Thomas H. Benton are in the collection of the Mercantile Library.1

1 Miss Sarah Middleton Peale lived in St. Louis for over thirty years, until 1878, when she returned to Philadelphia, in order to be near her surviving kinsfolk.

Miss Peale belongs to the historical family of that name, so prominent in the art history of the United States. She is the daughter of James Peale, the brother of Charles Wilson Pcale, the founder of Peale's Museum in Philadelphia. Her uncle painted the first picture of Washington in 1772 as a Virginia colonel. He opened the first picture gallery in Philadelphia, and was for fifteen years the only portrait-painter in North America. On her mother's side Miss Peale's great-grandfather was a Claypolo, and the grandson of Oliver Cromwell. John Claypole was one who canc over with William Penn to America in 1682, and his son, James Claypole, built the first brick house in Philadelphia.

Miss Peale arrived in St. Louis in 1847, from Baltimore, where she had spent several years with a cousin. She came to St. Louis at the request of Mr. Nathaniel Child, who had relatives in Baltimore. She visited Washington several times, and painted the portraits of Lafayette, Caleb Cushing, Dixon H. Lewis, of Alabama, Hon. Lewis F. Linn, of Missouri, Judge Abel P. Up- shur, William R. King, Henry A. Wise, Senator Benton, and others. The portrait of Benton was purchased by a gentleman and presented hy him to the Mercantile Library. The portrait of Dr. Linn was purchased by Mrs. Capt. Sears, a niece of the senator.

During her long sojourn in St. Louis, Miss Peale was de- voted to her hruslı, and painted the portraits of several distin- guished characters, among them that of Father Mathew, while on his visit here. She painted the portrait of Dr. J. B. John. son and other leading citizens. The walls of her studio were hung with a number of original portraits and copies made by herself. Among them were Caleb Cushing, Dixon H. Lewis, and a few others. Latterly her skill was more especially de- voted to the painting of fruit pieces .- J. T. S.

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

A number of figurc-painters of much merit have also found a congenial field for their labors in St. Louis. Among these, Dcas lived and worked here during the years 1840-45. Besides figure-pieces he painted animals and landscapes. He exhibited a number of works in the American Art Union. Among these was one representing frontier life, the scene being a struggle between a white hunter and an Indian. An "Irish Stag-Hound" by him is owned by Gen. Sibley, of St. Paul.

Thomas S. Noble came to St. Louis about 1860. He studied in Paris under Couture. On his return he painted a large composition entitled "The Last Slave-Sale in St. Louis." During the war he joined the Southern army. Afterwards he went to New York, where he was elected an associate of the Na- tional Academy. Among works executed in that city were a number the themes of which were drawn from slave-life in the South. Later he went to Cin- cinnati, where he was given charge of the McMicken School of Design. There he painted "The Price of Blood" and " John Brown led to Execution." He is a good draughtsman, and some of his work shows su- perior strength in color.

Charles F. Wimar, born in 1829, in Germany, gave evidence even in childhood of absorbing artistic in- stincts. At the age of fifteen he emigrated with his parents to America and settled in St. Louis. Shortly afterward he attracted the attention of the artist Pom- arede, who inquired the name of the boy, sought out his parents, and secured him as a pupil. In 1849, Pomarede undertook the task of painting a panorama of the Mississippi River. Wimar accompanied him on the journeys necessary to sketch these scenes. Here he becaine intensely interested in the character- isties of Indian life. His portrayals of these were so faithful and full of vigor that Pomarede at once ad- vised him to devote himself exclusively to such work. This he did, though not till he had spent five years in diligent preparation for the task in Dusseldorf, under the instruction of Leutze. Nor did he fail to make trial of his powers upon his favorite theme during these years of preparation. The result was the exe- cution of a number of important works, among which was one representing an emigrant train attacked by Indians. The design was boldly conceived and finely wrought out, the completed picture creating great in- terest in Europe, and being bought on its arrival in this country by the late Governor Gamble. Wimar also painted, while still at Dusseldorf, a series of pic- tures representing the abduction by the Indians of Daniel Boone's daughter. One of these is now in the collection of the Mercantile Library of this city. On

his return to St. Louis, Wimar at once set about his central task, and traveled among the Indians, making sketches, taking photographic views, studying in minutest detail their characteristics, and afterward portraying on canvas in finished form the completed conceptions he had thus worked out with so much enthusiasm and labor. He also painted many pic- tures representing buffaloes. His last work was the painting of the historical scenes in the dome of the court-house of St. Louis. Consumption had devel- oped, and in 1863, at the age of thirty-four years, his work and his life ended together, as he himself had predicted. Wimar's gifts were of a high order, as his works testify, and yet during his lifetime he failed to receive the appreciation that was his due. Now that he is dead all do him honor, and we cannot without the deepest regret think of a life like his, cut short while yet so much remained for him to do, and just when he seemed on the point of realizing the out- ward as well as the inward fruits of the success he had so manfully achieved in art. The greater part of his works are owned in St. Louis.

Conrad Diehl, a pupil of Kaulbach and Folty at Munich, and afterward of Gerome in Paris, became actively related to the art interests of St. Louis di- rectly after the great fire in Chicago. He was very soon enabled, through the timely aid of James E. Yeatman, to offer to his pupils the advantages of day life-study, an advantage which drew a number of his former Chicago pupils to St. Louis. Upon the merits of the work of this school the Boston Globe of July 4, 1878, commented as follows : " These are perfectly marvelous in the beauty of their execution, the firmness of touch, the perfect drawing, the won- derful relief, and the superb breadth and masterly vigor that characterize them all. We are the more surprised at these drawings as there are but few mas- ters who can produce such thoughtful, brilliant, and faultless work. The drawings of the New York Art School, lately exhibited at the same rooms, are child- ish and almost ridiculous by the side of these produc- tions of a young school of which we have never before heard." This school, which he conducted with such signal success, was but the carrying out of the deter- mination with which he returned from his European studies. That purpose was nothing less than to hasten the time when the art student of America should no longer find it necessary to seek in a foreign land the education he desired. We will not here be able to trace his efforts in Chicago, cut short by the great fire, nor to specify the untoward circumstances by which the fruits of his labors here were turned into other channels, nor to recount his prolonged and

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ART AND ARTISTS.

intense labors in the direction of securing a rational method of instruction in drawing in the public schools of St. Louis and ultimately in the whole country. In all these efforts indeed he met with partial defeat ; and yet in the best sense he was truly successful, for the principles he at first seized only in a general way were, through this intense and prolonged activity, worked out in detail and formulated into what may with jus- tice be styled the first reasoned system of elementary instruction in drawing thus far presented. This system the author himself significantly styles " form study." Just when this system was fairly matured the op- posing forces succeeded in depriving our schools of further benefit from it. At the same time (1880) the authorities of the State University at Columbia, Mo., recognizing the high value of the system, as well as the superior gifts of its author, called him to a chair in that institution, where he has since been devoting his energies to the perfecting in detail and to the practical application of his method, which he has admirably summarized under the title of " Grammar of Form-Language" in a work still in manuscript.

Mcanwhile he has not allowed his work as artist in the more precise sense to stand still. Besides de- signs for arabesque decorations, he has produced, among other works, a design for a monument repre- senting Christ at the Resurrection, which was pro- nounced to be the best of a number of competing de- signs, most of which were by professional sculptors. At present he is engaged in the preparation of cartoon studies for what he styles his " two first pic- tures," as he regards all his former large paintings in the light of studies merely.

George C. Eichbaum, portrait and genre painter, came to St. Louis from Pittsburgh in 1859. He is especially successful in portraits of women and chil- dren. Latterly he has painted a number of pictures of the genre type that have been well received, among them especially "Pickwick and Sam Weller," and another entitled " Whistle and I'll come to you, my ład;" this was exhibited in New York at the Acad- emy, and sold for a high price on the opening day of the exhibition.

W. M. Chase, now well known throughout the country, began work in St. Louis in 1870 as a fruit- painter. In 1872 he went to Europe, where he was under the instruction of Pilotz, at Munich. On his return to America he chose New York as his field of labor, and has there gained an enviable reputation.

J. W. Pattison took up landscape-painting about 1867. He was for a time in Mr. Conant's studio, after which he became a teacher in the Mary Insti- tute, and later took charge of the art department in

Washington University. In 1872 he went to Europe, studied in the schools of Dusseldorf and Paris, changed his style to genre, and has produced a number of very pleasing pictures. He returned from Europe in 1882.

Paul Harney commenced his artistic career in St. Louis. He spent two years in Munich, and is now a teacher in the School of Fine Arts, Washington Uni- versity. His duties allow him little time for original work, though what he has done indicates the posses- sion of genuine talent.

Carl Guthertz has also for several years been con- nected with the School of Fine Arts, where his ser- vices have been invaluable. Besides acceptable por- traits, he has exhibited a marked talent for ideal compositions, such as the "Awakening of Spring" and " Midsummer Night's Dream." He spent four years as a student in Paris, Antwerp, and Rome.

John Fry, a young man, has recently developed in this school unusual powers as an artist, and has been added to the corps of teachers. He has shown rare ability as a colorist, and with the seriousness of pur- pose and definiteness of conception characterizing his work there is reason to hope for much that is excellent fron him in the future.

George W. Chambers, a former student of the School of Fine Arts, has spent two years in Paris adopting the genre style. He has already done credit- able work, but has recently returned to Paris to pur- sue his studies there further.

Charles E. Moss came to St. Louis from Nebraska in 1877, entering Meeker's studio at the age of six- tecn. He made rapid progress there, and at the end of two years went to Paris, where he became a pupil of Bonnat. His progress there has been altogether remarkable. At the age of twenty-one he painted his first large canvas, which was accepted at the Salon, and has since been on exhibition in St. Louis. The subject is the " Prodigal Son," which is treated with perfect seriousness and with great strength. His second large canvas was accepted at the next year's Salon, and found a purchaser before the close of the exhibition. He is counted as one of the most vigor- ous and promising of the American colony of artists in Paris.

J. R. Meeker, beyond question the leading land- scape-painter of the West, came to St. Louis in 1859. Here he has worked continuously up to the present time, with the exception of three years spent during the war in the capacity of paymaster in the United States navy. These three years, however, proved to be peculiarly fruitful to him as an artist. During his leisure voyages on the lower Mississippi and other streams of that region he discovered the art possi-

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

bilities of the semi-tropical swamps ; and how great the discovery was none can rightly estimate save those who have had opportunity of enjoying the ex- quisitely beautiful dreams of the primeval world which he creates betimes out of the material thus discovered. Other and charming work he has pro- duced indeed, representing scenes in the Rocky Mountains, in the Green Mountains, in Minnesota, in Wisconsin, in New York, and in Missouri. But the work of his that will live longest is the work that is peculiarly and solely his own.

Louis Schultze began work as an artist about 1855. He assisted De França for several years. His work includes figure-painting as well as landscape, in which he uses sometimes oil paints, sometimes water colors.

Ritter was the first teacher in the Art Department of the Washington University. He was a .skillful draughtsman, though his work was somewhat labored and over-minute. He had made many elaborate studies of mountain scenery in Germany and Swit- zerland, and painted several large pictures now owned in St. Louis.

Thomas Allen, Jr., commenced the study of lands- scape-painting with Pattison about 1872. After- wards he went to Dusseldorf and studied there two or three years. On his return he made special studies of the characteristic scenery of New Mexico, resulting in a number of works. He is now a resident of Paris.

Since 1879, W. L. Marple has spent the greater part of his time in St. Louis. A number of his best pictures show evident traces of the influence of French landscapes exhibited here. He has recently gone to Chicago.

Henry Chase was born in St. Louis, and early evinced a fondness for art. He went to Europe in 1872, while still very young, and returned thither in 1877. He was a pupil of Mesdag, at the Hague. His specialty is marine views, and latterly ships. Among his earlier works is a specially fine large one entitled " Taking the Wreck in Tow," which is in the posses- sion of Hon. Henry Overstolz, of this city. He is at present in New York.

Mrs. Augusta S. Bryant, for five years a pupil of J. R. Meeker, has adopted landscape-painting as a profession. Her work has received much favorable notice. Among her works, " Pilot Knob" is a strong piece of realistic painting, while the " Road to the Meadows" and a " View on the Meramec" show a fine sense of the great beauty of summer days, with their shimmering atmosphere and tender foliage and grass. Quite recently from a well-observed reflected sunset she has developed an ideal scene of marked

character, whose mysterious light awakens a thoughit of the Norse legends concerning Valhalla and the twi- light of the gods. These indications give clear prom- ise of valuable work yet to be done by this artist.

James M. Barnsley, a young man of excellent ability, received his art education mainly in the School of Fine Arts, and gives promise of marked success as a landscape-painter. He is an earnest student of nature, and has a keen insight into its beauties. He is now studying in Paris.

J. M. Tracy was for a number of years a pupil in the schools of Paris. In 1878 he established himself in St. Louis as a portrait-painter. Hc, however, painted landscapes and pictures of the genre type as well. Several small cattle pieces by him attracted special attention, the result being that he presently devoted himself to animal painting as a specialty. In this field he has been increasingly successful, his pic- tures of dogs and hunting scenes commanding good prices. His work exhibits marked improvement since his adoption of this special field. He removed to New York in 1881.

W. H. Howe, while clerk in a dry-goods house, began to occupy his leisure hours in painting, with no other teacher than pictures and occasionally ob- serving artists at their work. In 1880 he went to Dusseldorf, where he remained about one year. He is now in Paris, where he is a pupil of Otto Van Thoren.1

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

MUSIC AND MUSICIANS.

IN 1837 there came to St. Louis Professor Wil- helm Robyn, a young German musician, who had been educated at Emmerich, in lower Holland, his instructor having been Bolde, a most capable mu- sician, and the contemporary and acquaintance of Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, and Hummel. Robyn had expected much of St. Louis, having heard it to be a place of thirteen thousand people, with many Germans, and was greatly disappointed to find that there was but little taste for music. There was only one music-teacher here, a man named Cramer, who taught the piano, and of whom little is now known, except that he was doing a poor business, and soon

1 We wish to acknowledge our indebtedness for many impor- tant suggestions to Mrs. A. B. Thompson, and also to Mr. J. S. Garland, two of the most intelligent friends of art in the city.

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MUSIC AND MUSICIANS.

after left the place. Pianos were very scarce in St. Louis in those days, and only a few of the rich old Creole families had them.

Professor Robyn is full of sprightly recollections of those days, and from him we have obtained a sketch of the development of music in St. Louis.

Up to 1839 the musical recreations of the people had been restricted to a concert, usually given by some stray singing-school teacher or little band of strolling musicians, with some local favorite, perhaps, as the star. The only music in the churches worthy of mention was at the Cathedral, which had for organist an Italian named Marilano, brought to this country by Bishop Rosatti, who returned to his native land. There was a very good choir at the Cathedral, and among the prominent members were Mrs. Henry Chouteau and her daughter, Mrs. Mary Vallé; Mrs. Bogy, a sister of Gen. Pratte; Judge Wilson Primm and his sister, and Britton A. Hill, the well-known lawyer, who is still living. Judge Primm was a fair violin-player, and Robyn relates that they formed an acquaintance and played together, the one his violin and the other the piano, and although Primm knew no German and Robyn no English, they con- versed readily by means of music, the "universal language."

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History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 138

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1358

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358