United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Journalists
Date:
1856-1929
Summary:
The papers of painter Henry Mosler (1841-1920), who began his career in Cincinnati, Ohio, lived in Germany and Paris for at least 2 decades, and finally settled in New York, measure 4.8 linear feet and date from 1856-1929. The collection documents Mosler's life and career through biographical material, personal and professional letters from members of the military, museums, family, friends and colleagues, writings including an 1862 Civil War diary, personal business records, printed material, artwork and sketchbooks, and photographs of Mosler, his family, colleagues and artwork.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of painter Henry Mosler (1841-1920), who began his career in Cincinnati, Ohio, lived in Germany and Paris for at least 2 decades, and finally settled in New York, measure 4.8 linear feet and date from 1856-1929. The collection documents Mosler's life and career through biographical material, personal and professional letters from members of the military, museums, family, friends and colleagues, writings including an 1862 Civil War diary, personal business records, printed material, artwork and sketchbooks, and photographs of Mosler, his family, colleagues and artwork.
Biographical material includes passports for Mosler's travel during the Civil War and to the American West in 1875-1876, as well as identification cards and awards from Mosler's years in Germany and Paris, including the Ordre National Légion d'Honneur awarded to him in 1892.
Letters record Mosler's service as an aide-de-camp for the Army of Ohio and his activities as an artist correspondent for Harper's Weekly from 1861-1863 in the Western Theater of the Civil War. However, the bulk of the letters document Mosler's career from the 1880s onward. Found are letters from museums, art associations, government agencies including the Minsistere de l'Instruction Publique et des Beaux-Arts, and colleagues in Europe and the United States including artists James Henry Beard, Julien Dupré, Gabrier Ferrier, Ernest Hébert, William Henry Howe, William Ordway Partridge, and Leon Germain Pelouse, among others. There are also scattered letters from Mosler.
Writings and notes include an 1862 Civil War diary and two illustrated notebooks from 1862 and 1863 containing sketches, and travel and financial notes. Also found are two biographical accounts of Mosler's career and poems by various authors, many inspired by Mosler's paintings.
Personal business records include an account book documenting Mosler's income and expenses from 1869-1878 and 1886-1892, and Library of Congress copyright certificates for four of Mosler's pictures.
Printed material documents Mosler's career in the United States and Europe through news clippings, a brochure, and an exhibition catalog for an 1897 exhibition of his paintings at Galleries of Pape Bros.
Artwork and sketchbooks include six sketches and an engraving by Mosler, and two books containing sketches by Mosler and other artists including James Henry Beard. The series also contains one ink drawing each by Leon Germain Pelouse and E. Hillery.
Photographic material includes albums and individual photographs of Mosler in his studio and with others including his immediate and extended family, and students. Also found are photos of artists including Gabriel Ferrier, Ernest Hébert and Thomas Buchanan Read, Brigadier General R. W. Johnson and opera singers Emma Nevada Palmer and Renée Richards. Photographs of artwork are primarily found in 2 oversized albums dedicated by Mosler to his children, Edith Mosler and Gustave Henry Mosler respectively.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1863-1892, 1921 (Box 1, OV 10; 4 folders)
Series 2: Letters,1861-circa 1920 (Boxes 1-2; 1.3 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1860-circa 1900 (Boxes 2-3, 6; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 4: Personal Business Records, 1869-1905 (Box 3; 4 folders)
Series 5: Printed Material, circa 1860s-1929 (Box 3; 10 folders)
Series 6: Artwork and Sketchbooks, 1856-1917 (Box 4, OVs 10-11; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 7: Photographic Material, 1860-circa 1910 (Boxes 5-9, BV 12; 2.0 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Henry Mosler (1841-1920) worked primarily in Ohio, New York City, and Europe as a painter of portraits and scenes of rural life in Europe. Mosler served as an artist correspondent for Harper's Weekly during the Civil War.
Born in Silesia (Poland) in 1841, Henry Mosler immigrated to New York City with his family in 1849. In the early 1850s the family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where Mosler received art instruction from James Henry Beard, becoming an accomplished portrait painter and an active participant in the Cincinnati art scene.
Following the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Mosler became an artist correspondent for Harper's Weekly, documenting the Western Theater in Kentucky and Tennessee. He served as a volunteer aide-de-camp with the army of Ohio from 1861-1863 and was present at the engagement at Green River, and "present and under fire" at the battles of Shiloh and Perryville.
Immediately thereafter, Mosler relocated to Dusseldorf for two years and attended the Royal Academy, followed by six months in Paris where he studied with painter Ernest Hébert. In 1866 Mosler returned to Cincinnatti where his portraits and genre scenes enjoyed growing popularity.
In 1875 Mosler traveled to Munich and two years later settled in Paris from where he enjoyed critical and financial success both in Europe and in the United States. Mosler was known for his genre paintings of peasant life in rural Brittany and he became a regular participant in Salon exhibitions and won honorable mention in the Salon of 1879, when his painting Le Retour, became the first work by an American artist to be purchased by the French government. In 1888 he won the gold medal at the Paris Salon and in 1892 he was made chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur and officier de l'Académie.
Mosler returned to the United States temporarily during this period, including a trip in 1885-1886 to visit the West and collect material for paintings of Native American life.
In 1894 Mosler returned to the United States and settled in New York, where he became a popular teacher and an active participant in the New York art scene. In 1895 he was made an associate member of the National Academy of Design, and in his last decades took up landscape painting during summers in the Catskill mountains, and produced genre paintings depicting scenes from colonial and rural life. Mosler continued to enjoy widespread popularity until his death in 1920.
Provenance:
The bulk of the collection was donated to the Archives of American Art by J. F. McCrindle, a great-grandson of Mosler, in 1976 and 1977, having been previously lent to AAA for microfilming. A photograph album was donated in 1993 by Paul M. Hertzmann, a dealer who acquired it through purchase. Additional materials were donated in 2008 and 2009 by McCrindle via John T. Rowe, president and CEO of the Joseph F. McCrindle Foundation.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Expatriate painters -- France -- Paris Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Diaries
Sketchbooks
Illustrated notebooks
Drawings
Sketches
Citation:
Henry Mosler papers, 1856-1929. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Joseph F. McCrindle Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Family papers include letters to Giles Martin from William Hebert and others concerning the Martin's plans to emigrate from England to America, and ca. 50 letters, 1828-1860, to Giles and Angelique Martin in Marietta and at Trumbull Phalanx by reformers active in Ohio and Massachusetts temperance, antislavery, labor and/or Association movements, among them Sarah G. Bagley, Maria M. Eastman, Mary Moody Emerson, Frances D.B. Gage, Anna Q.T. Parsons, Caroline M. S. Severance, Adeline T. Swift, and others less known but very active. Also included are 3 letters from Spencer, 1842 Mar. 31 and June 10, and 1847 July 10 to her parents.
The Campus Martius Museum records consist of correspondence with owners of Spencer's prints, paintings and and papers; clippings, articles, and reproductions of Spencer's work.
Biographical / Historical:
Spencer was a portrait and genre painter; New York, N.Y. and Ohio. She was born Angelique Marie Martin November 26, 1822, in England to French parents, Giles and Angelique Martin, followers of the French social critic, Charles Fourier. Upon emigrating to the U.S. in 1830, and moving to Marietta, Ohio in 1833, the Martins, along with others active in the cooperative movement organized a communal association, Trumbull Phalanx, near Braceville, Ohio in 1845, and became active in women's rights and other reform movements. Spencer chose to concentrate on painting, first in Cincinatti and then in New York in 1848 with her husband Benjamin Rush Spencer, a cloth merchant. She maintained a successful painting career while raising seven children and moving several times, to Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, Newark, N.J., and Highlands and Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Spencer died May 22, 1902.
Provenance:
Lent for filming 1971 by Campus Martius Museum, Ohio Historical Society.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Letters are primarily written to Mosler with scattered letters written by him. Of particular note is a letter to his parents written from 3 miles outside Corinth, Mississippi on 22 May 1862 in which he describes the scene during the Siege of Corinth following the Battle of Shiloh.
Calling/congratulation cards were sent in response to Mosler's winning the gold medal at the Paris Salon in 1888 and being awarded the Ordre National Légion d'Honneur in 1892.
Correspondents include members of the military regarding his service in 1861-1863 and can be found in several places. A folder of Civil War letters includes Brigadier General R. W. Johnson's request for Mosler to serve as aide-de-camp, and a March 1863 letter from a friend (Bradley?) encamped at Murfreesboro and referring to the building of fortifications there following the Second Battle of Murfreesboro. Letters from Harper's Weekly include a summary of Mosler's military service from 1861-1863 and a handwritten account of his experiences in September 1861 in and around Louisville, Kentucky. Also found are letters from the United States Army and the Department of the Interior in 1885 introducing Mosler as a "distinguished artist" visiting the West. Included are 3 letters from General Philip Sheridan in which he refers to the "indians, in their uncivilized state," and Mosler's desire "to be able to depict them in a correct light."
Other letters are from museums and art associations, Mosler family members, including Mosler's children, artist Gustave Henry Mosler and Edith Mosler, friends and colleagues including artists James Henry Beard, Julien Dupré, Gabriel Ferrier, François Flameng, Ernest Hébert, William Henry Howe, Heinrich Mücke (history painter and Mosler's Düsseldorf professor), J. Francis Murphy, William Ordway Partridge, and Leon Germain Pelouse, among others. Letters from the Ministere de l'Instruction Publique et des Beaux-Arts include the 1879 purchase certificate for Mosler's painting Le Retour, and a letter assigning the painting to the Luxembourg Museum.
Letters from the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States confirm Mosler's election as a Member-at-Large to the order in 1896. Also found is a list of autographs of Cincinnati Artists representing a petition to suggest that the Cincinnati Museum purchase Mosler's painting The Last Moments.
Many of the letters are in French and German.
See Appendix for an extened list of correspondents in Series 2.
Arrangement note:
The bulk of the series is arranged alphabetically by correspondent in general files or in named files if there are 5 or more letters from an individual correspondent. A group of files arranged by subject can be found at the beginning of the series.
Appendix: Extended List of Correspondents from Series 2:
This appendix is taken from an existing list compiled at some point after the collection was accessioned and is intended to assist in identifying correspondents, as many signatures are difficult to decipher or illegible. Completeness and accuracy of the list cannot be guaranteed.
Abraham, Victor Emmanuel
Adan, Emile
Aldine, Publishing Co.
Allis, Edward Phelps
Avery, Samuel P.
Bail, Joseph
Bailly-Blanchard, Col.
Barria, J. (?)
Bartlett, Paul
Bartell, Prof. V.
Bassier, Cabinet du Ministre
Bates, Harry, Godey Co.
Bauerle, Carl
Beard, Dan
Beard, James Henry
Beau, Alfred
Beer, F.
Benedite, Leonce
Bigelow, C. B., American Art Association
Bodkin, Charlotte
Boulanger, Gen.
Bournand, François
Bourne, George
Bradley, L. P.
Breton, Jules
Bridgman, F. A.
Brispot, Henri
Brozik, Vacslav
Buhler, F. Zuber
Burgers, H. J.
Butler, E., Cincinnatti Art Club
Cabanel, Alexandre
Cabinet du Ministre
Carl-Rosa, Mario
Cauffman, Sig. J.
Chamberlin, W. H., Loyal Legion
Chambre des Deputes
Champney, J. Wells
Church
Cincinnatti Commercial Office
Ckenbracher (?), T.
Cleveland, Lucy
Collins, M.
Constant, Benjamin
Corrington (?), John
Cortissoz, Royal
Courtois, Gustave
Crefeu, Etienne
Cramer, Mary (letter of introduduction to President Ulysses S. Grant)
Crawrford, Emily
Cummings, Dorothy
Dagnan, P.A.J.
Dal-, Leon
Dameron, E.
Danzinger, Rosa
Davis, Charles (?)
Davis, Margaret S.
de Campan, P.
De Chavannes, P.
de Czachorski, Ladislas
de Lambert, Marguerite
de Luce, Percival
de Mun, Albert
d'Almeida, W. B.
D'Ozouville, A.
deJean, A.
Delabbe (?), A.
Dennis, W. J.
Dessar, Louis
Dix, M. (?), miniature painter
Dodge, Harrison H.
Doubouchet, G.
Dougan, D. H.
Drapeau, Le
Du Nimes (?), Renee
Dubouchet, M./Mme.
Dupain, Edmund
Dupre, Julien
Dustin, Silas S. (?)
Dyer, Charles Gifford
Ech-, A.
Edgar, Oscar
Ehrich, Louis R.
Erefey (?)
Ezekiel, Moses-Jakob
Faber, L. E.
Ferrier, Gabriel
Fertiault, François
Field, painter
Flameng, François
Fleury, J. (?) Robert
Fleury, Jean
Ford, Sheridan
Frebauly (?)
Fuster, Charles
Ga-, Jules
Galland, Bertha
Gardner, Elisabeth
Garnier, Edouard
Garvier (?), Edward
Gatineu
Goshorn, A. S. (Director Cincinnati Museum Association)
Gross, P. A.
Guay, Gabriel
Guillaumet, P.
Guygellion, Louise (?)
H-, Edumnd
Halsted, W.
Hardeman, Elizabeth
Haquette, Georges
Harper & Bros.
Harper's Weekly
Hartmann, Sad-
Hassaurek, Frederick
Haven, Daisy
Haymes, H.
Healy, G.P.A.
Hébert, Ernest
Henger, Thomas E. (?)
Henry, Edward L.
Hoebel, Arthur, -- New York Times
Homer, W. H.
Hooper, Lucy
Howe, W. H.
Hustin, M./Mme.
Ingalls, M. E.
Iwill
Jacob, Stephen
James, Maj. F. B. (Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States)
Jansen, P.
Joergens
Johnson, Brigadier General R. W.
Jordan, D. M.
Kaplan, A. O.
Kauffmann, S. H. (?), Corcoran
Knight, Ridgway
Knoedler, R. F.
Kroyer (?), F.
Kuhn
L-ington, W.P.L.
Lamar, L.Q.C., Secretary of the Interior (letter of introduction)
Lasoniere
Lassaille, M.
Lau-, Frederick S.
Laugee, Georges
Le E-, L. M.
Le Leusche, L. M. (?)
Le Roux, Hector
Lee
Lefebvre, Jules
Leighton, Frederic
Leipziger, H. M.
Leisten (or Leister), Jacobus
Leunier (?)
Lhermitte, Leon
Loyal Legion of the United States
Miles, Roger
Mabel-Trevor, Helen (?)
MacPherson, G. G.
Madden, Thomas
Maignan, Albert
Marks, Montague
Masson, Charles, Ministere de l'Instruction Publique
Mayer, Henry
Mayers, Nathan
Mayers, C.
Mehaus, C. H. (?)
Meikie (?), H.
Melchers, Gari
Merson, Luc Olivier
Mielziner, Leo
Mieuer, D. J.
Miller, Juanita
Miller, L. W., Art Club of Philadelphia
Ministere de l'Instruction Publique et des Beaux-Arts
Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres
Moch, M. E.
Mocker, Melchior
Moeselagen, F.
Moeselagen, J.
Moffat, W. D.
Morris, A. K., YMCA
Morton, Levi Parsons
Moses, Otto A.
Moses-Jacob, Ezekiel
Mosler, Agnes
Mosler, Edith
Mosler, Gustave
Mourges, Robert
Moyes
Mücke, Heinrich
Mullin, Alex J.
Murphy, J. Francis
Neal, David
New York Herald
Nicoll, J. C., National Academy of Design
Niehaus, Charles H.
Noble, S.
Noble, T. S.
Nontet, D.
Ollendorf, Gustave
Paine, H. G., -- Harper's Weekly
Palmer, Ray
Panhauts, C. M. (?)
Partridge, William Ordway
Pearce, Charles Sprague
Pelouse, Leon Germain
Pengelly, W. G.
Petitjean, E.
Peixotto
Picknell, William L.
Pleinpent (?), F. B.
Plimpton, C. A.
Porral, Jules
Profesional Photographer's Society of New York
Race, G. F.
Rae, Alison
Rea, John S.
Read, Thomas Buchanan
Reid, J. (?)
Rettig, John
Richards, Renée
Reid, Robert S.
Rongier, Jeanne
Rosenberg, H.
Rosenthal, Albert
Rosenthal, Toby E.
Roth, Th. (?)
Royal Academy (invitation)
Ruze, Adolphe
Sherard, Robert (?)
Saile, Fernand
Saint-, G.
Sardey, V.
Sayler, Nelson (letter of introduction)
Schatz, Joseph L.
Schaus, W (?)
Scribe, Fernand
Seissen, F. (?)
Sh-, R. M.
Shearard, Robert M.
Simmons, Sallie M.
Skinnner, Otis
Smillie, George
Smith, Rufus H.
Stanhope
Stanton, Theodore
Surand, Gustave
Thierot, J. H.
Thompson, Harry
Thouron, Henry
Townsend, George Alfred
Trebaulz, T.
Trioche, Gen.
Turner, C. Y.
Turner, Henry
Turquel, Edmund: see Ministere de l'Instruction Publique et des Beaux-Arts
Turquet, Henry
Turquet, M.
Turquet, Octavie
United States Army, Sheridan, Lt. General Philip Henry (letters introducing Mosler)
United States Department of the Interior (letters introducing Mosler)
Vanderstraeyen, L.
Vaul, Eugene
Vauthier, Pierre
Vele-, Gustave
Vey-, J.
Vezin, Charles
Vidal, E.
Vignaud, Henry
Volksblatt, Cincinnati
von Catharin, D. (from Henry Mosler)
von Piloty, Carl
Vonnoh, Robert W.
Voruz, E.
Vower, J.
Wameron, Peter
Watrous, H. W.
Wattson, A. Francis
Webber, C. T.
Weeks, E. L.
Whistler, J. McNeill (1 calling card)
Wight, Moses
William, Moses
Wismile, William
Worms, Henry
Worms, Ida
Wright, M.
Y-, Edmond
Zein
Zuber-Buhler
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Henry Mosler papers, 1856-1929. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Joseph F. McCrindle Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.
