John Franklin Douthitt (active 1880–1908) was an American artist, decorator, art dealer and publisher, founder of the John F. Douthitt Company, the American School of Art and Tapestry Company, and the Douthitt Gallery, all in
New York City.
Career
Douthitt was born in
Alton, Illinois on 22 January 1856 and was orphaned at an early age. He went into business in 1880 as the
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
of the Sauahbrah Oriental Entertainments, a Burmese act with which he toured the world. It was during this tour that he became interested in art and design.
On returning to the United States he set up in the art and decorating business. Although specialising in painted tapestry, he provided all kinds of decorating and interior design services to wealthy families in New York. The tapestry school attached to his workshop was run by Mrs A. L. Blanchard.
The Douthitt tapestry showroom at 286
Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...
was once one of the attractions for art lovers visiting New York. Work was collaborative, as described by a visitor in 1891: "he employs one to paint the heads of cupids, or figures, another to paint the bodies, another to paint the drapery, and still another to paint the backgrounds, or cloud effects, and in this way, by combining the best work of a number of artists, he can produce works of art that are unapproachable in their perfection".
In 1891 Douthitt was commissioned to furnish the mansion of
Edward Lawrence Keyes
Edward Lawrence Keyes (August 28, 1843 – January 24, 1924) was a leading American urologist of the late 19th century and the first president of the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons at its founding in 1888.
Life
Keyes, a son of Ge ...
, whose wife Sarah was a noted New York hostess, at
930 Fifth Avenue
930 Fifth Avenue is a luxury apartment building on Fifth Avenue on the northeast corner of East 74th Street in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The eighteen-story structure and penthouse was designed by noted architect Emery Roth ...
.
Douthitt was also active as a publisher, in 1892 bringing out
's science fiction novel ''
'' with illustrations by
Cyrus Durand Chapman, and in 1896 his own ''Manual of Art Decoration'' (second edition 1902). In May 1894 he was publicizing the claims of the cyclist
Thomas Stevens to have found a genuine "wonder-working Yogi" in India with whom he would soon be touring the United States.
In August 1894 Douthitt was profiled in the "Art Trades Supplement" to ''The Decorator and Furnisher'' as "one of the best known decorators in the United States".
The John F. Douthitt Company went into receivership in 1908, after losing $50,000 in the
Gilsey House, a luxury hotel that eventually closed in 1911 after lengthy legal disputes concerning the lease.
In an apparent attempt to recover his fortune, Douthitt became involved in a scheme of
J. P. Persch to sell bonds in an Independent Brewing Company that turned out to be fraudulent.
Wanted Diamonds for Brewery Bonds
''The New York Times'', Nov. 13, 1908.
References
External links
An advertisement for the Sauahbrah Oriental Entertainments
1885.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Douthitt, John F.
American artists
1856 births
Year of death missing