![George de Forest Brush cph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/George_de_Forest_Brush_cph.3a45964.jpg)
George de Forest Brush (September 28, 1855 – April 24, 1941) was an American painter and
Georgist
Georgism, also called in modern times Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that, although people should own the value they produce themselves, the economic rent derived from land—including ...
. In collaboration with his friend, the artist
Abbott H. Thayer, he made contributions to military
camouflage
Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the ...
, as did his wife, aviator and artist
Mary (called Mittie) Taylor (Whelpley) Brush, and their son, the sculptor Gerome Brush.
Background
Although Brush was born in
Shelbyville, Tennessee
Shelbyville is a city in and the county seat of Bedford County, Tennessee, United States. The town was laid out in 1810 and incorporated in 1819. Shelbyville had a population of 20,335 residents at the 2010 census. The town is a hub of the Tenness ...
, his parents, Nancy (Douglas) and Alfred Clark Brush, were New Englanders, and he grew up in
Danbury, Connecticut
Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut.
Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...
.
[Bowditch, Nancy Douglas (1970), ''George de Forest Brush: Recollections of a Joyous Painter''. Peterborough NH: Noone House.] He attended the
National Academy of Design
The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...
in New York, and also studied in Paris under
Jean-Léon Gérôme
Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The ran ...
at the
Ecole des Beaux Arts, where Thayer was also a student.
[White, Nelson C. (1951). ''Abbott H. Thayer: Painter and Naturalist''. Hartford CT: Connecticut Printers.]
Native American interests
He returned from Paris in 1880, and soon after accompanied his brother on a business excursion to Wyoming. He remained in that part of the country for some months, and lived among various
Native Americans, including
Arapahoes,
Crows
The Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS) is a series of remote weapon stations used by the US military on its armored vehicles and ships. It allows weapon operators to engage targets without leaving the protection of their vehicle. T ...
and Shoshones. When he returned East, he developed a series of paintings derived from his drawings of Indian life. In the early 1880s, some of these were published in prominent periodicals, such as ''
Harper's Weekly
''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor, ...
'' and ''
Century Magazine
''The Century Magazine'' was an illustrated monthly magazine first published in the United States in 1881 by The Century Company of New York City, which had been bought in that year by Roswell Smith and renamed by him after the Century Associati ...
'', sometimes as illustrations for his own eyewitness accounts.
[Brush, George de Forest (1885), "An Artist Among the Indians" in ''Century Magazine'' (May).] Even years later, he still enjoyed living occasionally in a tepee. It was partly because of such "wildness" that his future in-laws refused to approve of his marriage to their daughter, née Mittie Taylor Whelpley, which took place by elopement in 1886.
[Bowditch 1970, pp. 30-31.]
Artistic career
![Henry George by George de Forest Brush](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Henry_George_by_George_de_Forest_Brush.png)
Around the same time period, the subjects of Brush's paintings evolved from heroic depictions of Indian life to Renaissance-inspired portraits, some of which were modeled by his wife and his children. Among his many awards were gold medals at the
Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...
(Chicago, 1893), Exposition Internationale (Paris, 1900),
Pan-American Exposition
The Pan-American Exposition was a World's Fair held in Buffalo, New York, United States, from May 1 through November 2, 1901. The fair occupied of land on the western edge of what is now Delaware Park, extending from Delaware Avenue to Elmwood A ...
(Buffalo, 1901), and
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 ...
(St. Louis, 1904). He was elected to the
Society of American Artists
The Society of American Artists was an American artists group. It was formed in 1877 by artists who felt the National Academy of Design did not adequately meet their needs, and was too conservative.
The group began meeting in 1874 at the home of ...
, the
National Academy of Design
The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...
(1908), and the
American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...
(1910).
Camouflage
Brush and his family often spent the summer in
Dublin, New Hampshire
Dublin is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,532 at the 2020 census. It is home to Dublin School and ''Yankee'' magazine.
History
In 1749, the Masonian proprietors granted the town as "Monadnock No. ...
, where there was a thriving artists colony, and where
they eventually settled. Among the other residents was Thayer, who was intensely interested in
protective coloration
Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...
in nature or what later became known as
camouflage
Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the ...
. According to Brush's daughter, as early as 1898 Brush and Thayer worked together on devising ways to use natural camouflage principles for military purposes.
For example, they suggested that
countershading
Countershading, or Thayer's law, is a method of camouflage in which an animal's coloration is darker on the top or upper side and lighter on the underside of the body. This pattern is found in many species of mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, and ...
(a natural protective device that Thayer had discovered in 1896) could be used as a way of reducing the visibility of a ship. This was later patented (by Thayer and Gerome Brush) as U.S. Patent No. 715013, "Process of Treating the Outside of Ships, etc., For Making Them Less Visible".
Behrens, Roy R.
Roy Richard Behrens (; born 1946) is an American artist and academic who is an emeritus professor of art and distinguished scholar at the University of Northern Iowa. He is well known for his writings on camouflage in relation to art, design and c ...
(2002), ''False Colors: Art, Design and Modern Camouflage''. Dysart, Iowa: Bobolink Books, pp. 36-57. .
In 1916, Brush acquired a small
Morane-Borel monoplane
The Morane-Borel monoplane (sometimes referred to with the retronym Morane-Saulnier Type A or simply the Morane monoplane; company designation Bo.1) was an early French single-engine, single-seat aircraft. It was flown in several European air r ...
(also known as a Morane-Saulnier). He experimented with the possibility of making its wings and fuselage transparent, to reduce its visibility. His wife, who was an early woman aviator, also addressed the problem of airplane camouflage, as shown by her various patents.
Behrens, Roy R.
Roy Richard Behrens (; born 1946) is an American artist and academic who is an emeritus professor of art and distinguished scholar at the University of Northern Iowa. He is well known for his writings on camouflage in relation to art, design and c ...
(2009), ''Camoupedia: A Compendium of Research on Art, Architecture and Camouflage''. Dysart, Iowa: Bobolink Books, pp. 70-73.
Later life
![Jane Addams, 1906](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Jane_Addams%2C_1906.jpg)
Brush died in
Hanover, New Hampshire
Hanover is a town located along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 11,870. The town is home to the Ivy League university Dartmouth College, the U.S. Army Corps of Eng ...
, in 1941. Nearly thirty years later, his eldest daughter, a painter and theatre designer named
Nancy Douglas Bowditch
Nancy Douglas Bowditch (July 4, 1890 – May 1, 1979) was an American artist, author, costumer and set designer. The daughter of painter George de Forest Brush, she produced a biography of him in 1970, and her own memoirs published posthumously. ...
, published an account of his life.
Brush is also well known as the "grandfather" of
American art pottery
American art pottery (sometimes capitalized) refers to aesthetically distinctive hand-made ceramics in earthenware and stoneware from the period 1870-1950s. Ranging from tall vases to tiles, the work features original designs, simplified shapes, an ...
. Having been inspired by the American Pueblo artisans, and learning their craft, he brought these techniques to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and more importantly Long Island and Manhattan, New York, where he started The Brush Guild Pottery Foundation. His students were mostly females, who would later go on to create decorative household works, jars with lids, urns and such. Many depicted animal stylings (bulls, cows, lions).
He was also a personal friend of Author Mark Twain, whom he visited many times. He was a world traveler.
His oil paintings (specifically of Indians, from the period 1888–1900) were important influences on the young illustrator
N. C. Wyeth
Newell Convers Wyeth (October 22, 1882 – October 19, 1945), known as N. C. Wyeth, was an American painter and illustrator. He was the pupil of Howard Pyle and became one of America's most well-known illustrators. Wyeth created more than 3,000 ...
. Observe the similarities in shapes and symbols in his painting ''Mourning her Brave'' and Wyeth's ''Winter'' (of 1909). He led a fascinating life and was an important force in the arts at the turn of the 20th century.
Selected works
* ''The Sculptor and the King'' (1888),
Portland Museum of Art
The Portland Museum of Art, or PMA, is the largest and oldest public art institution in the U.S. state of Maine. Founded as the Portland Society of Art in 1882. It is located in the downtown area known as The Arts District in Portland, Maine.
Hi ...
, Portland, Oregon. Awarded the 1888 First
Hallgarten Prize
The Julius Hallgarten Prizes (defunct) were a trio of prestigious art prizes awarded by the National Academy of Design
The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel ...
by the National Academy of Design.
* ''The Moose Chase'' (1888),
Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...
, Washington, D.C.
File:Brush The Sculptor and the King 1888.jpg, ''The Sculptor and the King'' (1888)
File:The Moose Chase.JPG, ''The Moose Chase'' (1888)
References
External links
de Forest Brush: The Indian Paintings National Gallery of Art
American paintings & historical prints from the Middendorf collection an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Brush (no. 46)
Nancy Douglas Bowditch and Brush Family papers, circa 1860-1985 digitized archival collection of Brush family papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brush, George de Forest
1855 births
1941 deaths
American alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts
19th-century American painters
American male painters
20th-century American painters
Painters from Connecticut
Art Students League of New York faculty
National Academy of Design alumni
People from Shelbyville, Tennessee
People from Danbury, Connecticut
Artists from Tennessee
Camouflage
Georgists
Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters