George B. Warren letters received from John Frederick Kensett, and George Henry Boughton, 1861-1894, bulk, 1893-1894. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
John Frederick Kensett. John Frederick Kensett, Newport, R.I. letter to Asher Brown Durand, 1855 August 30. Charles Henry Hart autograph collection, 1731-1918. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The Thomas Prichard Rossiter and Rossiter Family papers measure 0.5 linear feet and date from 1840 to 1961. Included are letters to painter Thomas Prichard Rossiter and letters to his son, architect Ehrick Kensett Rossiter, documenting their friendships with many artists and Thomas Prichard Rossiter's sketchbook and loose sketches. Edith Rossiter Bevan's papers include her writings on her grandfather, Thomas Prichard Rossiter; a scrapbook; photographs of the Rossiter family; notes by Bevan; news clippings; and other printed material. Also found is Bevan's collection of artists' letters.
Scope and Content Note:
The Thomas Prichard Rossiter and Rossiter Family papers measure 0.5 linear feet and date from 1840 to 1961. Included are letters to painter Thomas Prichard Rossiter and letters to his son, architect Ehrick Kensett Rossiter, documenting their friendships with many artists. Notable letters are from James Fenimore Cooper, William Morris Hunt, John Jay, J. F. Kensett, William H. Morris, Samuel F. B. Morse, George Peabody, Cecelia Beaux, William A. Coffin, Daniel Chester French, Will H. Low, Gari Melchers, William Sartain, Augustus Vincent Tack, Dwight Tryon, and many others.
The collection contains Thomas Prichard Rossiter's sketchbook drawn while living in Italy in 1943, and three other sketches including a portrait of his family.
Also found are letters to Edith Rossiter Bevan and her writings on her grandfather, Thomas Prichard Rossiter, including a biography and checklist of his paintings. Bevan also compiled a scrapbook on his career and family history which includes drawings by Rossiter, photographs of the Rossiter family and his artwork, notes by Bevan, news clippings, and other printed material.
A collection of Edith Rossiter Bevan's artists' letters is found within the papers. Letters are from Alexander Archipenko, J. Carroll Beckwith, Reginald Birch, Emma M. Cadwalader-Guild, Andre Castaigne, Fanny Cory, Kenyon Cox, Frank Craig, Charles Dana Gibson, Jay Hambridge, Henry Hutt, A. J. Keller, Rockwell Kent, Fiske Kimball, David Scott Moncrieff, H. Siddons Mowbray, Peter Newell, Rhoda Holmes Nicholls, Ralph M. Pearson, Frederic Remington, Otto Soglow, and Elizabeth Whitmore.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 2 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Thomas Prichard Rossiter and Rossiter Family Papers, 1840-1961 (Box 1-2; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 2: Edith Rossiter Bevan Collection of Artists' Letters, circa 1891-1939, 1951 (Box 1; 2 folders)
Biographical Note:
Thomas Prichard Rossiter (1818-1871) was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He first learned painting as an apprentice for a Mr. John Boyd, and also studied with Nathaniel Jocelyn. In 1838 he exhibited two paintings at the National Academy of Design, and in 1939 moved to New York City and opened a studio.
In 1840, Rossiter traveled to Europe with Asher B. Durand, John Kensett, and John Casilaer, and while there visited Rome with Thomas Cole. He decided to stay in Italy until 1846 when he moved to New York City and shared a studio with Kensett and Louis Lang. During this period he relied on portrait painting for his income, but also painted historical and religious paintings.
In 1851 Rossiter married Anna Ehrick Parmly and they toured Europe in 1853. They settled in Paris where Anna gave birth to twins Ehrick Kensett and Charlotte. Rossiter exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1855. Anna died shortly after the birth of their daughter Anna, and the family moved back to New York.
For a brief period of time Rossiter had an art gallery, exhibiting his work and the work of his friends. In 1860 he married Mary (Mollie) Sterling and moved his family to Cold Spring, New York on the Hudson River. He continued to paint portraits, historical, and religious paintings, and exhibited at the National Academy of Design and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, until his death in 1871.
Ehrick Kensett Rossiter (1854-1941), named after his father's friend John Frederick Kensett, attended Cornell University and became an architect in New York as part of the firm Rossiter & Muller. He was a member of the Architectural League, United States Public Architects' League, and trustee of the American Fine Arts Society. In 1877 he married Mary Heath and they had three sons and a daughter. Their daughter Edith Rossiter Bevan was a historian and avid collector of historical autographs.
Related Material:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is a Thomas Prichard Rossiter letter to Elias Beirs dated January 12, 1840.
Provenance:
A portion of the collection was donated in 1957 by Edith Rossiter Bevan, daughter of Ehrick Kensett Rossiter, and granddaughter of Thomas Prichard Rossiter. Additional material was donated in 2007 by Patti Rossiter Ravenscroft, Rossiter's Great Great Granddaughter.
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.
The papers of Hudson River School painter Jervis McEntee measure 1.6 linear feet and date from 1796 and 1848 to 1905. Letters from close friends and family members to McEntee include many from his mentor Frederic Edwin Church, and fellow artists Samuel Putnam Avery, George Henry Boughton, Sanford Gifford, Richard Henry, Eastman Johnson, Elizabeth B. Stoddard, John Ferguson Weir, Worthington Whittredge, and others. Papers relating to the McEntee family include obituaries, a family genealogy, and letters from and regarding family members. There are also papers relating to the Vaux family (McEntee's brother-in-law's family) and American architect and landscape artist Calvert Vaux, who designed a studio for McEntee. Of special significance are five volumes of diaries dating from 1872 through 1890 which provide a detailed depiction of the American art world in the 1870s and 1880s.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of Hudson River School painter Jervis McEntee measure 1.6 linear feet and date from 1796 and 1850 to 1905. Letters from close friends and family members to McEntee include many from his mentor Frederic Edwin Church, and fellow artists Samuel Putnam Avery, George Henry Boughton, Sanford Gifford, Richard Henry, Eastman Johnson, Elizabeth B. Stoddard, John Ferguson Weir, Worthington Whittredge, and others. Papers relating to the McEntee family include obituaries, a family genealogy, and letters from and regarding family members. There are also papers relating to the Vaux family (McEntee's brother-in-law's family) and American architect and landscape artist Calvert Vaux, who designed a studio for McEntee. Of special significance are five volumes of diaries dating from 1872 through 1890 which provide a detailed depiction of the American art world in the 1870s and 1880s.
Arrangement:
The Jervis McEntee papers have been arranged into five series, based on material type.
Missing Title
Series 1: Letters, 1850-1905, undated (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 2: Vaux Family Letters and Correspondence, 1850-1890, undated (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 3: Third Party Letters, 1861-1873, undated (Box 2; 0.1 linear feet)
Series 4: Miscellany, 1796, 1848-1895, undated (Box 2; 0.1 linear feet)
Series 5: Diaries, 1872-1890 (Box 3-4; 0.6 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Jervis McEntee was born in Rondout, New York, July 14, 1828. He had early literary and artistic aspirations and studied under Frederic E. Church, who had himself studied under the Hudson River School master, Thomas Cole. McEntee was to maintain a close relationship with Church for the rest of his life. After an unsuccessful stint as a businessman, McEntee settled in New York in 1857 as one of the charter residents of Richard Morris Hunt's Tenth Street Studio Building. Since many of the other occupants were either bachelors or commuters, and since Mrs. McEntee was a lively, sympathetic hostess, the couple became the center of a spontaneous salon frequented by some of the best-known artists, writers, and actors of the time. After his wife died in 1878, McEntee stayed on, an increasingly neglected widower until his death in 1891.
McEntee was identified with the Hudson River School and an accomplished and sensitive painter of autumnal landscapes. He wrote in 1874, "Perhaps what would mark my work among that of my brother artists is a preference for the soberer phases Nature, the gray days of November and its leafless trees." McEntee stood at the center of the interlocking directorate formed by the National Academy of Design, the Century Club, and the Tenth Street Studio Building. In the latter part of the 19th century, these formed a supreme art establishment whose membership was composed of the old guard American artists, such as McEntee's close friends Eastman Johnson, Sanford Gifford, John Ferguson Weir, Worthington Whittredge, and Church, who were fighting an ultimately futile battle against the encroachment of European influences among both artists and collectors.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reel D9) including a diary dated June 12, 1851-August 17, 1851. This material was returned to the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, New York and is not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
The Adirondack Museum lent one diary for microfilming in 1964. The rest of the collection was acquired from several donors between 1959 and 1997. The noted collector Charles E. Feinberg donated letters in 1959 and, Mrs. Helen S. McEntee, who married the nephew of Jervis McEntee, donated the five volumes of diaries in 1964. William Gaffken, director of the insurance company that acquired the McEntee family insurance business, donated the remaining papers in 1997.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires and appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
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.
Topic:
Artists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Landscape painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Hudson River school of landscape painting Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Art, Modern -- 19th century -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Brumbaugh, Thomas B. (Thomas Brendle), 1921- Search this
Extent:
11 Items (Letters, written in ink, ball point, graphite)
1 Photograph
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Correspondence
Date:
1818-1847
Scope and Contents:
This folder is an amalgamation of letters written and recieved by prominent figures in 19th and 20th century American art. Included in the folder are letters by Robert Reid, Hugo Robus, Thomas Prichard Rossiter, Eugene Speicher, John Greenleaf Whittier and Peter A.B. Widener.
Arrangement:
Organized alphabetically by author.
Biographical / Historical:
Erastus D. Palmer was an American sculptor. He sculpted portrait busts and religious bas-reliefs in a style that combined neoclassical idealism and realism. His most famous sculpture is "The White Captive," which depicts a young girl who has been captured by Native Americans.
Robert Reid was an American artist who studied in New England and Paris. He began by painting French peasants, but became known for his murals and stained glass designs. Some of his work can be found in the Congressional Library in Washington, D.C.
Hugo Robus was an American painter and sculpture from Ohio. He studied in the United States and Paris, and then taught at the Modern Art School in New York. He worked in a very lyrical cubist style, usually with people as his subject.
Thomas Prichard Rossiter was an American painter born in New Haven, Connecticut. He traveled throughout Europe, painting portraits along the way, and he kept a studio in Paris. He painted mostly portraits, but also completed a series of paintings depicting the life of Christ.
John Frederick Kensett was an American artist and engraver who worked in New Haven, Connecticut, and New York City.
Henry Rox was a German artist who studied in Berlin and Paris before settling in the United States in 1938, where he taught at many universities, including Mount Holyoke College. He is known for fruit and vegetable photo-sculptures.
Eugene Speicher was an American realist painter from Buffalo, New York. He attended the Art Students League, and then studied in Europe for a few years. He was considered a leading portrait artist in America at the time, favoring female subjects. Speicher won numerous awards for his work, and was appointed Director of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1945.
Max Weber was a Russian-born Jewish-American cubist. He studied with Matisse, Rousseau, and Picasso in Paris. Weber helped introduce cubism to America.
John Greenleaf Whittier was an American Quaker poet. Whittier was an ardent abolitionist who was extremely influenced by the doctrines of humanitarianism, compassion, and social responsibility found in Quakerism. He was a founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and worked as a lobbyist. He is remembered today for his patriotic poetry, and his poems that were later turned into hymns.
Paul Hayne was an American poet who Whittier references in his letter to the publishers Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Hayne had just died, and his son, W.H. Hayne, wanted to edit his later poems for publication.
Widener (1834-1915) was an American businessman from Pennsylvania. During the Civil War, he supplied meat to the Union Army. By investing in trolley cars and public transit services, Widener became quite successful and wealthy. He was an avid art collector whose collection included works by Rembrandt, Edouard Manet, and Auguste Renoir. He is considered one of the top 100 wealthiest Americans of all time.
Local Numbers:
FSA A2009.06 6
Other Archival Materials:
Thomas B. Brumbaugh research material on Abbott Handerson Thayer and other artists, 1876-1994 (bulk 1960s-1994); Also located at Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
