Frederick Oakes Sylvester (October 8, 1869 – March 2, 1915) was an American art educator and artist in the Arts and Crafts movement in St. Louis, Missouri.

Biography

Takuma Kajiwara and Frederick Oakes Sylvester at Elsah

Frederick Oakes Sylvester was born in Brockton, Massachusetts, on October 8, 1869, the son of Charles Frederick Sylvester, a hardware dealer, and Mary Louise, who died two weeks after his birth. Sylvester's father did not encourage his son's artistic aspirations, and Sylverster as a boy sold newspapers to buy art supplies. He attended high school in Fall River, Massachusetts, and during the summer of 1887 he hiked around Massachusetts and Connecticut with a friend, camping out and sketching. He entered

Massachusetts Normal Art School Massachusetts College of Art and Design, branded as MassArt, is a public college of visual and applied art in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1873, it is one of the nation’s oldest art schools, the only publicly funded independent art school ...

in 1888 and took the six-year Teacher's Course. His aunt Rebecca Noyes and his great-aunt Hannah Soule, descendant of the Mayflower Soules, financially supported him in this period. He graduated in 3 years with honors in public speaking and reading. From 1891 to 1892 he was the acting director of the Art Department of the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

, New Orleans. On December 25, 1891, Sylvester married Florence I. Gerry, a Fall River schoolteacher. They had two children: Dorothy Louise (b. 1894) and Kilburn Gerry (b. 1899). In June 1892, Frederick O. Sylvester moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and took the position of art director at the Central High School. They lived at 5924 Horton Place, St. Louis. One of his pupils was Helen R. Rathbun. He also taught night classes at

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

. In 1899 he was admitted to the Society of Western Artists and later became its vice-president. He was also member of the Two-by-Four Club, the Artists' Guild and the St. Louis Art League. The paintings of this period focus on the St. Louis' riverfront, specifically the area surrounding the Eads Bridge. In 1900 Sylvester exhibited twenty-five paintings of Eads Bridge at the St. Louis Exposition. By 1904 the paintings of the Eads Bridge amounted to over 100, and Sylvester became known as "the painter of the Eads Bridge". He was an impressionist documenting the growth of St. Louis' industrial life. In 1902 Sylvester went to work part-time for Principia, a young private school located at Page and Belt Avenues, St. Louis. In 1904, Sylvester won a bronze medal at the

Louisiana Purchase Exposition The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds tota ...

and a silver medal at the Portland Exposition.

Takuma Kajiwara was a Japanese-born American artist who was called "one of the seven greatest photographers in the United States". Biography Kajiwara was born on November 15, 1876, in Fukuoka, Japan, to a samurai family of artists and art lovers.

moved to St. Louis in 1905, "lured to the city partly by an offer of employment in a studio and even more by a desire to see the Mississippi River," according to his obituary in the ''St. Louis Star-Times.''"St. Louis Losing Kajiwara Because He Finds After 31 Years It Is Poor Soil for His Art," ''St. Louis Star-Times,'' February 7, 1906, page 1
/ref> Kajiwara and Sylvester were friends. According to one account, their amity was "warm enough to cause them to cut wrists and mingle blood in a gesture of unity." Sylvester designed a silver watch fob for Kajiwara showing an artist and a photographer clasping hands, and carrying, on the reverse side, the statement: "No East no West, But hand in hand, Life's Unity, To Understand, T. Kajiwara, from:, F.O. Sylvester, 1909." Kajiwara did photographic work for ''The Great River,'' a book by Sylvester collecting his paintings of the Mississippi, published in 1911. Photos show the men painting together. In 1906 Sylvester spent a period in Europe. Back from Europe, Sylvester started his second period, focused his paintings on the area around Elsah, Illinois. Elsah is a historic river town in Illinois and Sylvester owned a summer home, Oak Ledge, there which he bought in 1902. In Elsah, Sylvester tried to move beyond impressionism and the urban subjects of before towards the spiritual values of nature. In 1986, Paul O. Williams published ''Frederick Oakes Sylvester, The Artist's Encounter with Elsah''. Frequent guest at Elsah were Kathryn E. Cherry, who succeeded Sylvester as Principia art director, and

. In 1906, Sylvester was awarded the Fine Arts Building of Chicago Prize by the Society of Western Artists. In 1909 and 1910 he served as president of the St. Louis Artists' Guild. In 1910, he exhibited 28 paintings in

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourth ...

, for the Art Lover's Guild and gave two lectures, ''Artists' Ideals'' and ''The Relation of Art to Life''. In 1911, the

St. Louis Art Museum The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) is one of the principal U.S. art museums, with paintings, sculptures, cultural objects, and ancient masterpieces from all corners of the world. Its three-story building stands in Forest Park in St. Louis, Mi ...

held a major exhibition of 83 Sylvester paintings from the Elsah years. He died in St. Louis on March 2, 1915, and, according to his wishes, a boat set out from Elsah upriver to the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, where his wife and Kajiwara sprinkled his ashes on the water. Today Frederick O. Sylvester's paintings hang in a number of institutions and private homes in the St. Louis' area.

Gallery

File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester, American (1869-1915), Grapes.jpg, Grapes File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester, American (1869-1915), Gladiolas.jpg, Gladiolas File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester Landscape with trees and stream, 1885.jpg, Landscape with trees and stream, 1885 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester Landscape with farm house, 1891.jpg, Landscape with farm house, 1891 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester The meadow pool, 1893.jpg, The meadow pool, 1893 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester Mississippi harbor scene, 1897.jpg, Mississippi harbor scene, 1897 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester - The Bridge.jpg, Eads Bridge File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester, American (1869-1915), Sunset, March 15, 1900.jpg, Sunset, March 15, 1900 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester Landscape with rolling hills, 1902.jpg, Landscape with rolling hills, 1902 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester Bluffs along the river, 1902.jpg, Bluffs along the river, 1902 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester, American (1869-1915), Missouri river scene, 1903.jpg, Missouri river scene, 1903 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester Along the Missouri river, 1904.jpg, Along the Missouri river, 1904 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester Venice, 1905.jpg, Venice, 1905 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester 10.jpg, Menaggio, north from Cadenabbia, Italy File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester Venetian canal scene.jpg, Venetian canal scene File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester Lake Como.jpg, Lake Como File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester Bavarian landscape, 1906.jpg, Bavarian landscape, 1906 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester.jpg, Elsah, File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester 3.jpg, Elsah, File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester 4.jpg, Elsah, File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester 5.jpg, Elsah, File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester 6.jpg, Elsah, File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester 7.jpg, Elsah, File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester 8.jpg, Elsah, File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester 9.jpg, Elsah, File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester 2.jpg, Soft Twilight Lingers, File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester, American (1869-1915), Sunrise through the Trees.jpg, Sunrise through the Trees File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester, American (1869-1915), Cloudy Day.jpg, Cloudy Day File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester, American (1869-1915), Bluffs along the Mississippi River.jpg, Bluffs along the Mississippi River File:THE SUNLIT COTTENWOOD BY FREDERICK OAKES SYLVESTER (AMERICAN, 1869-1915).jpg, The Sunlit Cottenwood File:FREDERICK OAKES SYLVESTER 11.jpg, Tonalist River Landscape File:Attributed to Frederick Oakes Sylvester, American, Summer landscape.jpg, Summer landscape File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester River landscape from the bluffs.jpg, River landscape from the bluffs File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester Twilight and evening star.jpg, Twilight and evening star File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester, American (1869-1915), Sunset on the Mississippi, 1909.jpg, Sunset on the Mississippi, 1909 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester Pageantry of sky and stream, 1909.jpg, Pageantry of sky and stream, 1909 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester The Light that Makes the Heart Glad, 1910.jpg, The Light that Makes the Heart Glad, 1910 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester Summer landscape, 1910.jpg, Summer landscape, 1910 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester Summer landscape, 1910, 2.jpg, Summer landscape, 1910 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester Summer landscape, 1910, 3.jpg, Summer landscape, 1910 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester Nocturne, 1910.jpg, Nocturne, 1910 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester Verdant bluff landscape, 1911.jpg, Verdant bluff landscape, 1911 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester River landscape, 1911.jpg, River landscape, 1911 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester The song of the Mississippi, 1911.jpg, The song of the Mississippi, 1911 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester The purple Grafton Heights, 1911–1912.jpg, The purple Grafton Heights, 1911–1912 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester Untitled, 1912.jpg, Untitled, 1912 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester Piasa bluffs on the Mississippi, 1912.jpg, Piasa bluffs on the Mississippi, 1912 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester Dreaming, 1913.jpg, Dreaming, 1913 File:Frederick Oakes Sylvester Trees a' shimmer, 1913.jpg, Trees a' shimmer, 1913

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sylvester, Frederick Oakes 1869 births 1915 deaths 19th-century American painters Arts and Crafts movement artists Principia School faculty 1853 establishments in Illinois Villages in Jersey County, Illinois 20th-century American painters