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Thomas Satterwhite Noble (May 29, 1835 – April 27, 1907) was an American painter as well as the first head of the
McMicken School of Design The Art Academy of Cincinnati is a private college of art and design in Cincinnati, Ohio, accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. It was founded as the McMicken School of Design in 1869, and was a department of the U ...
in Cincinnati, Ohio.


Biography

Noble was born in
Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...
, and raised on a
plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
where
hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial or medicinal use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest growing plants o ...
and
cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
were grown. He showed an interest and propensity for art at an early age. He first studied painting with Samuel Woodson Price in
Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
, in 1852 and then continued his studies with Price, Oliver Frazier and George P.A. Healey at
Transylvania University Transylvania University is a private university in Lexington, Kentucky. It was founded in 1780 and was the first university in Kentucky. It offers 46 major programs, as well as dual-degree engineering programs, and is accredited by the Southern ...
in Lexington. In 1853 he moved to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
before moving to Paris to study with
Thomas Couture Thomas Couture (21 December 1815 – 30 March 1879) was a French history painter and teacher. He taught such later luminaries of the art world as Édouard Manet, Henri Fantin-Latour, John La Farge,Wilkinson, Burke. ''The Life and Works of A ...
from 1856 to 1859. Noble then returned to the United States in 1859 intending on beginning his art career. However, with the beginning of the Civil War, as a Southerner, he served in the
Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
army from 1862 to 1865. After the war, Noble was paroled to St. Louis and began painting. With the success of his first painting, ''Last Sale of the Slaves'', he received sponsorship from wealthy Northern benefactors for a studio in New York City. Noble lived in New York city from 1866 to 1869, during which time he painted some of his most well-known oil paintings. In 1869, he was invited to become the first head of the
McMicken School of Design The Art Academy of Cincinnati is a private college of art and design in Cincinnati, Ohio, accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. It was founded as the McMicken School of Design in 1869, and was a department of the U ...
in
Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, a post he would hold until 1904. In 1887, the McMicken School of Design became the present-day
Art Academy of Cincinnati The Art Academy of Cincinnati is a private college of art and design in Cincinnati, Ohio, accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. It was founded as the McMicken School of Design in 1869, and was a department of the U ...
. During his tenure at the McMicken School of Design, Noble moved briefly to
Munich, Germany Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
, where he studied from 1881 to 1883. He retired in 1904 and died in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on April 27, 1907. He is buried in
Spring Grove Cemetery Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum () is a nonprofit rural cemetery and arboretum located at 4521 Spring Grove Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the third largest cemetery in the United States, after the Calverton National Cemetery and Abraham L ...
in Cincinnati.


Exhibitions and major works

Noble's artwork has been exhibited in over 70 exhibitions, both during his lifetime and after his death. Most of his well-known initial works are historical presentations, painted to make strong political and moral commentary. Later in his life he painted many allegorical images, often having his children pose for figures in the paintings. After studying in Munich and towards the end of his life, Noble focused his artistic work on landscapes of Ohio and Kentucky countryside and Bensonhurst, New York. Noble's well-known works are largely historical or social/political presentations. He is best known for a series of four anti-slavery paintings. Each depicts a specific horror of slavery: The first, ''Last Sale of the Slaves'' (1865) depicted the scene of the last sale of the slaves on the St. Louis courthouse steps. He followed this painting with ''John Brown's Blessing'' (1866) which depicted the abolitionist activist
John Brown John Brown most often refers to: *John Brown (abolitionist) (1800–1859), American who led an anti-slavery raid in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859 John Brown or Johnny Brown may also refer to: Academia * John Brown (educator) (1763–1842), Ir ...
being led to his execution and blessing a child on the steps of the courthouse. His third painting, ''The Modern Medea'' (1867), portrayed the tragic event from 1856 in which Margaret Garner, a fugitive slave mother, murdered her children rather than see them returned to slavery. The picture is notable for Garner's expression of rage and for including the white slave hunters in the imagery. Noble's last painting, ''Price of Blood'' (1868), was not based on a specific historical event, but depicted a white slave owner selling his
mulatto (, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese is ...
son. As with ''The Modern Medea'', this painting is unique for the era for the inclusion of the white perpetrators in its imagery. Noble also sketched a well-known lithograph for ''Harper's'' weekly based on his ''John Brown's Blessing''. Known exhibitions * 1866: St. Louis, Missouri, Pettes and Leathe Gallery * 1866: New York, New York, National Academy of Design, 7th Annual Exhibition of the Artist's Fund Society * 1866: New York, New York, National Academy of Design, 41st Annual Exhibition * 1866: Boston, Massachusetts, DeVries Ibarra and Co. * 1867: New York, New York, National Academy of Design, 42nd Annual Exhibition * 1867: Boston, Massachusetts, Childs and Co. * 1867: Washington, DC United States Capital * 1867: St. Louis, Missouri, Pettes and Leathe Gallery * 1867–68: Chicago, Illinois, Opera House Art Gallery * 1868: Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Academy of Fine Arts, Wiswell's Gallery * 1868: New York, New York, National Academy of Design, 43rd Annual Exhibition * 1869: Boston, Massachusetts, Williams and Everett Gallery * 1868–69:Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Academy of Fine Arts, Wiswell's Gallery * 1869: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 46th Annual ExhibitioN * 1870: Cincinnati, Ohio, Wiswell's Gallery * 1870: Cincinnati, Ohio, 1st Cincinnati Industrial Exposition * 1870: New York, New York, National Academy of Design, 45th Annual Exhibition * 1871: Cincinnati, Ohio, Wiswell's Gallery * 1871: New York, New York, National Academy of Design, 46th Annual Exhibition * 1872: Cincinnati, Ohio, 3rd Cincinnati Industrial Exposition * 1873: Cincinnati, Ohio, McMicken School of Design, 3rd Annual Exhibition * 1874: Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Industrial Exposition * 1875: Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Industrial Exposition * 1875: Chicago, Illinois, Chicago Academy of Design * 1875: Glasgow, Scotland, James McCure and Sons, 14 Gordon Street * 1876: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition Art Gallery and Annex * 1877: Cincinnati, Ohio, Wiswell's Gallery * 1878: Cincinnati, Ohio, Women's Art Association, Loan Collection Exhibition * 1879: Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Industrial Exposition * 1880: Chicago, Illinois, Chicago Academy of Design * 1887: Indianapolis, Indiana, Indianapolis Art Association, 4th Annual Exhibition * 1888: Chicago, Illinois, Chicago Art Institute, 1st Annual Exhibition of American Oil Paintings * 1891: Cincinnati, Ohio, Piper Gallery, 2nd Exhibition of the Cincinnati Art Club * 1894–95: Lexington, Kentucky, Lexington Manufacturer's Exposition, Art Loan Gallery * 1895: Atlanta, GA Cotton States and International Exhibition * 1895: Cincinnati, Ohio, Spring Exhibition of the Cincinnati Museum Association * 1896: Cincinnati, Ohio, Spring Exhibition of the Cincinnati Museum Association * 1896: Cincinnati, Ohio, Music Hall, Loan Exhibition of Portraits * 1896: Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, Loan Exhibition of Portraits * 1896–97: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Carnegie Art Galleries, 1st Annual Exhibition * 1896: Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, Exhibition of Studies, Sketches, and Pictures in Watercolors * 1897: Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, 2nd Exhibition of the Society of Western Artists * 1897–98: Detroit, Michigan, Detroit Museum of Art, 2nd Exhibition of the Society of Western Artists * 1898: Chicago, Illinois, Art Institute of Chicago, 2nd Exhibition of the Society of Western Artists * 1898: Indianapolis, Indiana, Indianapolis Propylaeum, 2nd Exhibition of the Society of Western Artists * 1898: Detroit, Michigan, Detroit Museum of Art, 3rd Exhibition of the Society of Western Artists * 1898–99: Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, 3rd Exhibition of the Society of Western Artists * 1899: Indianapolis, Indiana, Indianapolis Art Association, 3rd Exhibition of the Society of Western Artists * 1899: Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, 6th Annual Exhibition of American Art * 1900: Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, 7th Annual Exhibition of American Art * 1901: Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Fall Festival * 1905: Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Business Men's Club * 1906: Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, 13th Annual Exhibition of American Art * 1907: Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, "Exhibition of the Work of the Late Thomas S. Noble" * 1908: Chicago, Illinois, Chicago Art Institute, "Paintings of Thomas S. Noble 1835–1907" * 1908: St. Louis, Missouri, St. Louis Museum of Fine Arts, "Paintings by Thomas S. Noble, et al." * 1910: New York, New York, Ralston Galleries, "Paintings by Thomas S. Noble" * 1915: San Francisco, California, Panama-Pacific International Exposition, Department of Fine Arts * 1923: Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, "Special Exhibition of Former Cincinnati Artists" * 1937–38: Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, "50th Anniversary Exhibition of Work by Teachers and Former Students of the Art Academy" * 1970: College Park, Maryland, University of Maryland Art Gallery, "American Pupils of Thomas Couture" * 1979–80: Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, "The Golden Age: Cincinnati Painters of the 19th Century Represented in the Cincinnati Art Museum" * 1981: Lexington, Kentucky, University of Kentucky Art Museum, "The Kentucky Painter: From the Frontier Era to the Great War" * 1984: Owensboro, Kentucky, Owensboro Museum of Fine Arts, "Kentucky Expatriates: Natives and Notable Visitors" * 1987: Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, "The Procter & Gamble Art Collection" * 1987: New York, New York, Phillips Gallery, "Look Away, Reality and Sentiment in Southern Art" * 1987: New York, New York, ACA Gallery, Visions of America 1787–1987: "200 Years of American Genre Painting in Commemoration of the Bicentennial of the US Constitution" * 1988: Lexington, Kentucky, University of Kentucky Art Museum, "Thomas S. Noble 1835–1907" * 1988: Greenville, South Carolina, Greenville County Museum of Art, "Thomas S. Noble 1835–1907" * 1988: Cincinnati, Ohio, Art Academy of Cincinnati, "Thomas S. Noble 1835–1907" * 1990: Washington, DC, Corcoran Gallery, Facing History: "The Black Image in American Art, 1710–1940" * 1990: Brooklyn, New York, Brooklyn Museum of Art, "Facing History: The Black Image in American Art, 1710–1940" * 2009.9.3: Oxford, Ohio, Miami University Art Museum "Figure and Form" * 2015.3.25-2015.5.31: Greenville, SC, Greenville County Museum of Art, "Romantic Spirits: 19th Century Paintings from the Johnson Collection" * 2016.1.13-2016.9.21: Greenville, SC, Greenville County Museum of Art, "Right Before your Very Eyes: Art + History" * 2016: Highland Heights, Kentucky, Northern Kentucky University, Steely Library * 2017.2.15- 2017.9.10: Greenville, SC, Greenville County Museum of Art, "In a Mirror, Darkly" Major museum/collection holdings *
Allen Memorial Art Museum The Allen Memorial Art Museum (AMAM) is an art museum located in Oberlin, Ohio, and it is run by Oberlin College. Founded in 1917, the collection contains over 15,000 works of art. Overview The AMAM is primarily a teaching museum and is aimed at ...
: ''The Present'' (1865) *
Chazen Museum of Art The Chazen Museum of Art is an art museum located at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in Madison, Wisconsin. The Chazen Museum of Art is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. History Until 2005, the Museum was known regularly as th ...
: ''Grandfather's Story (80th Birthday, The Old Sailor)'' (1895) *
Cincinnati Art Museum The Cincinnati Art Museum is an art museum in the Eden Park neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies, and is one of the oldest in the United States. Its collection of ov ...
: ''Back to School'' (1859), ''Ohio'' ''Landscape'' (1890), ''Study Head of a Man'' (1865), ''Portrait of Joseph Longworth'' (1894), ''Portrait of David Sinton'' (1896), ''Landscape near T.S. Noble's House on Kemper Lane'' (unknown) *
The Filson Historical Society The Filson Historical Society, founded in 1884, is a privately supported historical society located at 1310 South 3rd Street in Louisville, Kentucky. The Filson is an organization dedicated to providing continuing adult education in the form of qua ...
: ''Study for a Figure in Witch Hill (possibly self-portrait)'' (1867) *
Greenville County Museum of Art The Greenville County Museum of Art (GCMA) is an art museum located in Greenville, South Carolina. Its collections focus mainly on American art, and its holdings include works by Andrew Wyeth, Josef Albers, Jasper Johns (raised in South Carolina), ...
: ''The Sybil'' (1896), ''Cleaning Antiques'' (1904), ''Fugitives in Flight'' (1869) * The Johnston Collection: ''Forgiven'' (1872) *
Kentucky Historical Society The Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) was originally established in 1836 as a private organization. It is an agency of the Kentucky state government that records and preserves important historical documents, buildings, and artifacts of Kentucky's ...
: ''The Last Communion of Henry Clay'' (1870) (also attributed to Robert Walker Weir) *
Missouri Historical Society The Missouri Historical Society was founded in St. Louis on August 11, 1866. Founding members created the historical society "for the purpose of saving from oblivion the early history of the city and state". Organization The Missouri Historica ...
: ''The Last Sale of Slaves in St. Louis'' (1870) *
Morris Museum of Art The Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia was established in 1985 as a non-profit foundation by William S. Morris III, publisher of The Augusta Chronicle, in memory of his parents, as the first museum dedicated to the collection and exhibition ...
: ''Price of Blood'' (1868) *
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 ...
: ''Self Portrait'' (unknown) *
New York Historical Society The New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library in New York City, along Central Park West between 76th and 77th Streets, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum. ...
: ''John Brown's Blessing'' (1867) and ''Witch Hill'' (1869) * Underground Railroad Museum: ''Margaret Garner (The Modern Medea)'' (1867) *
Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. ...
: ''Blind Man of Paris'' (1895), ''Still Life-A Potted Plant'' (1875), ''Man in Brown Suite (from behind)'' (1870s)


References


External links


Thomas Satterwhite Noble website
*
Thomas Satterwhite Noble Facebook page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noble, Thomas Satterwhite 1835 births 1907 deaths 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters Painters from Kentucky Artists from Lexington, Kentucky Burials at Spring Grove Cemetery Transylvania University alumni Art Academy of Cincinnati faculty People of Kentucky in the American Civil War 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists