The Boston Artists' Association (1841–1851) was established in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

Washington Allston Washington Allston (November 5, 1779 – July 9, 1843) was an American painter and poet, born in Waccamaw Parish, South Carolina. Allston pioneered America's Romantic movement of landscape painting. He was well known during his lifetime for ...

Henry Sargent Henry Sargent (baptized November 25, 1770 – February 21, 1845), American painter and military man, was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Early life He was one of seven children born to Daniel Sargent Sr. and Mary (née Turner) Sargent (174 ...

, and other painters, sculptors, and architects, in order to organize exhibitions, a school, a workspace for members, and to promote art "for the art's sake."

History

According to the group's constitution: "The artists of Boston, deeply impressed with the importance of their profession, and with the necessity of a systematic course of study for its successful culmination; also with the advantages to be derived from mutual co-operation and support, resolve to form themselves into an association for the furtherance of these objects. In so doing, they pledge to each other their honor as gentlemen, to lay aside all ungenerous, envious, or selfish feelings, and to seek the advancement of the arts alone, for the art's sake." There were "44 members in 1842, and 66 in 1845."Leah Lipton. "The Boston Artists' Association, 1841-1851." American Art Journal, Vol. 15, No. 4 (Autumn, 1983) They held "regularly scheduled bi-weekly social meetings" in Chester Harding's

space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

School Street School Street is a short but significant street in the center of Boston, Massachusetts. It is so named for being the site of the first public school in the United States (the Boston Latin School, since relocated). The school operated at various ...

. In the association's "studio ... both living models and casts were provided for members." The association "had casts donated to them by member Henry Sargent, and negotiated to borrow some of those at the

Athenaeum Athenaeum may refer to: Books and periodicals * ''Athenaeum'' (German magazine), a journal of German Romanticism, established 1798 * ''Athenaeum'' (British magazine), a weekly London literary magazine 1828–1921 * ''The Athenaeum'' (Acadia U ...

." A school was organized in 1842, overseen by John Pope. Instructors included Samuel P. Long and B.F. Nutting. The school was located at first in Harding's Gallery on School Street, and from 1846 in rented rooms on

Tremont Row Tremont Row (1830s-1920s) in Boston, Massachusetts, was a short street that flourished in the 19th and early-20th centuries. It was located near the intersection of Court, Tremont, and Cambridge streets, in today's Government Center area. It exi ...

Images

Image:DinnerParty ca1821 byHenrySargent MFABoston.jpeg, Henry Sargent's ''The Dinner Party'' ca.1821; exhibited in the 1st exhibit of the Boston Artists Association, 1842 Image:AbottLawrence ca1842 byChesterHarding MFABoston.jpeg, Chester Harding's portrait of Abbott Lawrence, ca.1842; exhibited in the 1st exhibit of the Boston Artists Association, 1842 Image:1842 BostonArtistsAssoc DailyAtlas April4.png, Ad for 1842 exhibit of the Boston Artists Association Image:Thomas Cole - The Voyage of Life Old Age, 1842 (National Gallery of Art).jpg, Thomas Cole's ''Old Age'' from Voyage of Life, 1842; exhibited in the 2nd exhibit of the Boston Artists Association, 1843 Image:BostonAthenaeum PearlSt 1830.png, Athenaeum, Pearl Street, where Boston Artists Association exhibits were held, 1845-1847

Members

Francis Alexander Francis Alexander (February 3, 1800 – March 27, 1880) was an American portrait-painter. Biography Alexander was born in Windham county Connecticut in February 1800. Brought up on a farm, he taught himself the use of colors, and in 1820 we ...

Boston Artists Association. Boston Daily Atlas, April 4, 1842. *

Joseph Alexander Ames Joseph Alexander Ames (1816–1872) was an American artist, primarily known for portrait and genre painting. Biography Originally named Joseph Emes, he was born in Roxbury, New Hampshire. Ames began painting at a young age. At the age of twelve ...

(i.e. Joseph Eames) * Joseph AndrewsCatalogue of paintings of the second exhibition of the Boston Artists' Association, 1843 * Thomas G. Appleton * Thomas BallWilliam Howe Downes. Boston Painters and Paintings. Atlantic Monthly, Sept. 1888 *

Hammatt Billings Charles Howland Hammatt Billings (1818–1874) was an artist and architect from Boston, Massachusetts. Among his works are the original illustrations for ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (both the initial printing and an expanded 1853 edition), the Na ...

James F. O'Gorman. Accomplished in all departments of art--Hammatt Billings of Boston, 1818-1874. Univ of Massachusetts Press, 1998; p.11. *

Joseph Edward Billings Joseph Edward Billings was an architect in Boston, Massachusetts, in the mid-19th century. Among his business partners were his brother Hammatt Billings and Charles Frederick Sleeper. He served in the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia and belonged to ...

* Edward Augustus BrackettBoston Athenaeum Exhibition. Boston Daily Atlas, May 26, 1848. *

Joseph Carew Joseph Carew (c. 1820–1870) was a sculptor in Boston, Massachusetts, active between 1840 and 1870, and collaborated with Thomas A. Carew as the firm Carew & Brother. He exhibited his works frequently at the Boston Athenæum, with major exhibiti ...

* Henry Dexter * George Fuller * Samuel Gerry * Edward D. Greene * Henry Greenough *

Richard Saltonstall Greenough Richard Saltonstall Greenough (April 19, 1819 – 1904) was an American sculptor and younger brother to Neoclassical sculptor Horatio Greenough. Greenough was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the youngest child of Elizabeth (Bender) and David Gre ...

* Chester Harding * Joshua H. Hayward * A.G. Hoit *

George Hollingsworth __NOTOC__ George Hollingsworth (1813–1882) was an American artist, teacher, and administrator active in Massachusetts. His father, Mark Hollingsworth, was part owner of Tileston & Hollingsworth, a paper manufacturing firm.Teele p. 542. George ...

* Charles Hubbard * D.C. Johnston * Charles Lane *

Fitz Hugh Lane Fitz Henry Lane (born Nathaniel Rogers Lane, also known as Fitz Hugh Lane) (December 19, 1804 – August 14, 1865) was an American painter and printmaker of a style that would later be called Luminism, for its use of pervasive light. Biography ...

* P. Mallory * N.B. Onthank * John Pope *

Henry Cheever Pratt Henry Cheever Pratt (1803–1880) was an American artist and explorer. He lived in Boston, Massachusetts. Biography Born in Orford, New Hampshire, and trained by Samuel F.B. Morse, Pratt painted landscapes of Maine on painting trips with Thoma ...

* Thomas Buchanan Read * J. Rogers * Eastman Sanburn *

* William Sharp * George G. Smith * William E. Smith * W. Southworth * Charles J. Sprague * Richard M. Staigg * W.W. Story * Asa Coolidge Warren * M.J. Whipple *

Ammi B. Young Ammi Burnham Young (June 19, 1798 – March 14, 1874) was a 19th-century American architect whose commissions transitioned from the Greek Revival to the Neo-Renaissance styles. His design of the second Vermont State House brought him fame and su ...

Exhibitions

* 1842 - 1st Boston Artists' Association exhibit, at Harding's Gallery. Included: Henry Sargent; Fitz Henry Lane;

Tintoretto Tintoretto ( , , ; born Jacopo Robusti; late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594) was an Italian painter identified with the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized the speed with ...

;

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh c ...

; Caroline Negus; and others. * 1843 - 2nd Boston Artists' Association exhibit, at Harding's Gallery. Included:

Thomas Cole Thomas Cole was an English-born American artist and the founder of the Hudson River School art movement. Cole is widely regarded as the first significant American landscape painter. He was known for his romantic landscape and history paintin ...

; Philip Harry;

Asher Brown Durand Asher Brown Durand (August 21, 1796, – September 17, 1886) was an American painter of the Hudson River School. Early life Durand was born in, and eventually died in, Maplewood, New Jersey (then called Jefferson Village). He was the eight ...

;

Thomas Sully Thomas Sully (June 19, 1783November 5, 1872) was a portrait painter in the United States. Born in Great Britain, he lived most of his life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He painted in the style of Thomas Lawrence. His subjects included nationa ...

; and others. Lenders to the exhibit: E. Haskett Derby; David Sears; George Howe; T. Whittemore; Boston Museum; C. Kimball; and others. * 1844 - 3rd Boston Artists' Association exhibit, at Harding's Gallery. Lenders to the exhibit: Professor Ticknor; Mrs. Allston; Col. H. Sargent; T.H. Perkins; Daniel Webster; J.B. Joy; H.C. Stebbins; Mrs. Wheelock.Catalogue of paintings, of the third exhibition of the Boston Artists' Association, 1844. Boston: Clapp and Son's Press, 1844. * 1845 - Joint exhibition of the Boston Artists' Association and the Boston Athenaeum. * 1846 - Joint exhibition of the Boston Artists' Association and the Boston Athenaeum. * 1847 - Joint exhibition of the Boston Artists' Association and the Boston Athenaeum.

References

{{reflist, 3 1841 establishments in Massachusetts 1851 disestablishments in Massachusetts Cultural history of Boston Financial District, Boston 19th century in Boston 1840s in the United States

History

Images

Members

Exhibitions

See also

References