John La Farge (March 31, 1835 – November 14, 1910) was an American artist whose career spanned illustration, murals, interior design, painting, and popular books on his Asian travels and other art-related topics. La Farge is best known for his production of stained glass, mainly for churches on the American east coast, beginning with a large commission for

Henry Hobson Richardson Henry Hobson Richardson, FAIA (September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) was an American architect, best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one ...

's Trinity Church in Boston in 1878, and continuing for thirty years. La Farge designed stained glass as an artist, as a specialist in color, and as a technical innovator, holding a patent granted in 1880 for superimposing panes of glass. That patent would be key in his dispute with contemporary and rival

Louis Comfort Tiffany Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art NouveauL ...

. La Farge rented space in the

Tenth Street Studio Building The Tenth Street Studio Building, constructed in New York City in 1857, was the first modern facility designed solely to serve the needs of artists. It became the center of the New York art world for the remainder of the 19th century. Situated at ...

at its opening in 1858, and he became a longtime presence in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

. In 1863 he was elected into 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 ...

; in 1877 he co-founded 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 ...

in frustration at the National Academy's conservatism. In 1892 La Farge was brought on as an instructor with the Metropolitan Museum of Art Schools to provide vocational training to students in New York City. He served as President of the

National Society of Mural Painters The National Society of Mural Painters (NSMP) is an American artists' organization originally known as The Mural Painters. The charter of the society is to advance the techniques and standards for the design and execution of mural art for the enri ...

from 1899 to 1904. In 1904, he was one of the first seven artists chosen for membership in 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 ...

Early life

La Farge was born in New York City to wealthy French parents, Jean Frédéric "John Frederick" La Farge and Louise Joséphine "Louisa" La Farge (''née'' Binsse de Saint-Victor), and was raised bilingually. As a child, he and his brothers produced a handmade magazine in French entitled ''Le Chinois''. His interest in art began during his studies at

Mount St. Mary's University Mount St. Mary's University (The Mount) is a private Roman Catholic university in Emmitsburg, Maryland. It includes the largest Catholic seminary in the United States. The undergraduate programs are divided between the College of Liberal Ar ...

in Maryland and St. John's College (now

Fordham University Fordham University () is a private Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its original campus is located, Fordham is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit un ...

) in New York. He studied law. His first visit to Paris, France, in 1856 stimulated him to study painting 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 o ...

, and become acquainted with an artistic and literary social circle. La Farge's earliest drawings and landscapes showed marked originality, especially in the handling of color values. La Farge returned from Europe in October 1857, which ended his relationship with Couture. He returned to continue his law studies although, in his own words, at the same time "stealing as much time as I could for some of my new friends, the painters and architects." These included William James Stillman, George Henry Boughton, and members of the second generation of the

Hudson River School The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. The paintings typically depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area ...

. These circumstances changed with the death of his father in June 1858: the pressure to attend law school was gone, and there was a significant inheritance which gave him the freedom to take studio space in the newly created

at 51 West 10th Street in

. The building's communal spaces for artists set the conditions for social networking; its central atrium and traditional Saturday receptions were important in the careers of its tenants, and to the artistic reputation of the Village. Its architect

Richard Morris Hunt Richard Morris Hunt (October 31, 1827 – July 31, 1895) was an American architect of the nineteenth century and an eminent figure in the history of American architecture. He helped shape New York City with his designs for the 1902 entrance fa� ...

recommended that La Farge study under his brother William Morris Hunt in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...

. The artist Hunt was also a product of Couture's ''atelier''.

Career

Between 1859 and 1870, La Farge took up illustration, with

Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

's ''

Enoch Arden ''Enoch Arden'' is a narrative poem published in 1864 by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, during his tenure as England's poet laureate. The story on which it was based was provided to Tennyson by Thomas Woolner. The poem lent its name to a principle in ...

'' and

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical sett ...

's '' Men and Women'', and worked on children's magazine illustrations with engraver Henry Marsh (American, 1826–1912). In the 1870s, La Farge began to paint murals, which became popular for public buildings as well as churches. His first mural was painted in

Trinity Church, Boston Trinity Church in the City of Boston, located in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. The congregation, currently standing at approximately 4,000 households, was founded in 17 ...

, in 1873. Then followed his decorations in the Church of the Ascension (the large altarpiece) and

St. Paul's Chapel St. Paul's Chapel is a chapel building of Trinity Church, an episcopal parish, located at 209 Broadway, between Fulton Street and Vesey Street, in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1766, it is the oldest surviving church building in Man ...

, New York. In his lunette mural ''Athens'' at

Bowdoin College Museum of Art The Bowdoin College Museum of Art is an art museum located in Brunswick, Maine. Included on the National Register of Historic Places, the museum is located in a building on the campus of Bowdoin College designed by the architectural firm McKim, Me ...

, a building designed by

Charles Follen McKim Charles Follen McKim (August 24, 1847 – September 14, 1909) was an American Beaux-Arts architect of the late 19th century. Along with William Rutherford Mead and Stanford White, he provided the architectural expertise as a member of the part ...

, the model for the central figure was the African-American muse

Hettie Anderson Hettie Anderson (born Harriette Eugenia Dickerson; 1873 – January 10, 1938) was an African-American art model and muse who posed for American sculptors and painters including Daniel Chester French, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, John La Farge, Anders ...

. (Anderson also owned one of his paintings of Samoa.) He also took private commission from wealthy patrons (e.g.

Cornelius Vanderbilt Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, Vanderbilt worked his way into lead ...

) and was reputedly worth $150,000 at one point. La Farge continued to create murals through his career: for the

Minnesota State Capitol The Minnesota State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Minnesota, in its capital city of Saint Paul. It houses the Minnesota Senate, Minnesota House of Representatives, the office of the Attorney General and the office ...

at St. Paul, at age 71, he executed four great lunettes representing the history of law. Also among his final works were six murals on the theme of eminent lawgivers, beginning with Moses, for the Baltimore City Court House, now the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse. During an 1880s renovation of the Samuel J. Tilden Mansion, now home to the

National Arts Club The National Arts Club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and members club on Gramercy Park, Manhattan, New York City. It was founded in 1898 by Charles DeKay, an art and literary critic of the ''New York Times'' to "stimulate, foster, and promote publ ...

, La Farge was one of several artisans hired by lead architect

Calvert Vaux Calvert Vaux (; December 20, 1824 – November 19, 1895) was an English-American architect and landscape designer, best known as the co-designer, along with his protégé and junior partner Frederick Law Olmsted, of what would become New York Ci ...

. He created stained glass panels for the interior of the mansion which remain today. La Farge traveled extensively in Asia and the South Pacific, which inspired his painting. He visited Japan in 1886 in the company of

Henry Adams Henry Brooks Adams (February 16, 1838 – March 27, 1918) was an American historian and a member of the Adams political family, descended from two U.S. Presidents. As a young Harvard graduate, he served as secretary to his father, Charles Fran ...

, and the

South Seas Today the term South Seas, or South Sea, is used in several contexts. Most commonly it refers to the portion of the Pacific Ocean south of the equator. In 1513, when Spanish conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa coined the term ''Mar del Sur'', ...

in 1890 and 1891, in particular spending time absorbing the culture of Samoa,

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...

and Fiji, again in Adams' company. In Hawaii in September 1890 he painted scenic spots on

Oahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O ...

and traveled to the Island of Hawaii to paint an active volcano. These travels are extensively recounted in his book ''Reminiscences of the South Seas,'' and in Adams' letters. In 1863 he was elected into the

; in 1877 he co-founded the

in frustration at the National Academy's conservatism (although he retained his National Academy membership). In 1892 La Farge was brought on as an instructor with the Metropolitan Museum of Art Schools to provide vocational training to students in New York City. He served as President of the

from 1899 to 1904. In 1904, he was one of the first seven artists chosen for membership in the

. La Farge also received the Cross of the

Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

from the French Government.

Stained glass

In 1875, La Farge began experimenting with problems of shifting and deteriorating color, especially in the medium of stained glass. At this time, stained glass had not yet been widely adopted as a medium in the United States, making his early efforts critical to its success. His work rivaled the beauty of medieval windows and added new resources by his use of opalescent glass and by his original methods of layering and welding the glass, which created a sense of three-dimensionality. Opalescent glass had been used for centuries in tableware, but it had never before been formed into flat sheets for use in stained-glass windows and other decorative objects. For his early endeavors, La Farge had had to custom-order flat sheets of opalescent glass from a Brooklyn glass manufacturer. La Farge filed a patent application on Nov. 10, 1879, shortly after a newspaper account praised a recent window he made for Richard Derby of Long Island as "the first application of a new material palescent glassto windows." He was granted patent no. 224,831 on February 24, 1880, for a "Colored-Glass Window", with technical details about manufacturing opalescent sheet glass and layering it to create windows.

Work

Among La Farge's many stained-glass works are windows at: *

(1877–78) *

Biltmore Estate Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum and tourist attraction in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore House (or Biltmore Mansion), the main residence, is a Châteauesque-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 a ...

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

(1881) * Samuel J. Tilden House, NYC (1881; building converted into the

in 1906) *

Thomas Crane Public Library The Thomas Crane Public Library (TCPL) is a city library in Quincy, Massachusetts. It is noted for its architecture. It was funded by the Crane family as a memorial to Thomas Crane, a wealthy stone contractor who got his start in the Quincy quarri ...

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 101,636, making ...

(c. 1882) * Unity Church of

North Easton, Massachusetts Easton is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 25,058 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Greater Boston area. Easton is governed by an elected Select Board. Open Town Meeting acts as the legislative branc ...

(1882) *

Church of St. Joseph of Arimathea Church of St. Joseph of Arimathea, originally known as Worthington Memorial Chapel, is a historic Episcopal church at 2172 Saw Mill River Road in Greenburgh, Westchester County, New York. It was designed by architect Richard M. Upjohn (1828 � ...

Greenburgh, New York Greenburgh is a town in western Westchester County, New York. The population was 95,397 at the time of the 2020 census. History Greenburgh developed along the Hudson River, long the main transportation route. It was settled by northern Europeans ...

(1883) * Blessed Sacrament Church,

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

The church was designed by George Lewis Heins and Christopher Grant La Farge, LaFarge's brother-in-law, and his eldest son. https://library.bc.edu/lafargeglass/exhibits/show/descriptions/st-john/blessed-sacrament * Christ Church in Lincoln, Rhode Island (1884) * Trinity Episcopal Church in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

(1886–89) *

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, NYC (1888–99) * All Saints Episcopal Church,

Briarcliff Manor, New York Briarcliff Manor () is a suburban village in Westchester County, New York, north of New York City. It is on of land on the east bank of the Hudson River, geographically shared by the towns of Mount Pleasant and Ossining. Briarcliff Manor in ...

(1889) *

All Souls Unitarian Church All Souls Unitarian Church is a Unitarian Universalist (UU) church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is one of the largest UU congregations in the world. All Souls Unitarian Church was founded in 1921 by two leading Tulsans from families with Unitarian r ...

, Roxbury, Massachusetts *

First Unitarian Church of Detroit The First Unitarian Church of Detroit was located at 2870 Woodward Avenue in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. Built between 1889 and 1890, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. It was destroyed by fire on May 10, 2014. ...

(1890) * St. Mary's-in-Tuxedo Episcopal Church,

Tuxedo Park, New York Tuxedo Park is a village in Orange County, New York, United States. Its population was 623 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area as well as the larger New York metropolitan area. Its name ...

(1890) * The Cathedral of All Saints, Albany, New York (c. 1890) *

Judson Memorial Church The Judson Memorial Church is located on Washington Square South between Thompson Street and Sullivan Street, near Gould Plaza, opposite Washington Square Park, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan. ...

, NYC (1890–93) *

First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia The First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia is a Unitarian Universalist congregation located at 2125 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a regional Community Center it sponsors cultural, educational, civic, wellness and spiritual ...

(1891) * Caldwell Sisters' chapel,

, re-located to Our Lady of Mercy Chapel at

Salve Regina University Salve Regina University is a private Roman Catholic university in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It was founded in 1934 by the Sisters of Mercy and is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. The university enrolls m ...

in Newport (1891) *

Mount Vernon Church, Boston Mount Vernon Church (established 1842) in Boston, Massachusetts, was a Congregational church located on Beacon Hill (1844–1891) and later in Back Bay (1892–present). History Beacon Hill, 1844–1891 The Mount Vernon Church was or ...

(c. 1893) * Church of the Transfiguration, Episcopal, New York City (1898) * John Harvard Window,

Southwark Cathedral Southwark Cathedral ( ) or The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie, Southwark, London, lies on the south bank of the River Thames close to London Bridge. It is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Southwark ...

, London, England (1907) Several of his windows, including ''Peonies Blown in the Wind'' (1880), are in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Dispute with Tiffany

La Farge apparently introduced Tiffany to the new use of opalescent glass sometime in the mid 1870s, showing him his experiments. Sometime in the late 1870s or early 1880s, however, relations between the artists soured, probably due to a lawsuit between the two men. Eight months later, Tiffany applied for a similar patent, which was granted in 1881 as no. 237,417. The major difference in their patents is that Tiffany lists somewhat different technical details, for instance relating to the air space between glass layers. Since La Farge's patent focused more on the material and Tiffany's more on its use in construction, it appeared that the two patents might be mutually dependent, prohibiting either artist from making stained-glass windows without the other's permission. There is some indication that La Farge may have come to some kind of agreement with Tiffany on the use of La Farge's patent, but the details are unclear and disputed by scholars. What does seem certain is that around 1882 La Farge planned to sue Tiffany, claiming that Tiffany had infringed his patent by appropriating some of his working methods for opalescent sheet glass. Official records of the lawsuit have not been found, suggesting it was never filed, but there are multiple references to it in the correspondence of both men. Possibly, as stained glass increased in popularity, drawing other artists to the medium, both La Farge and Tiffany decided it would be too much trouble to legally defend their patents.

Personal life

On October 15, 1860, he was married to Margaret Mason Perry (1839–1925) at Newport, Rhode Island. She was the daughter of Christopher Grant Perry, and the granddaughter of Commodore

Oliver Hazard Perry Oliver Hazard Perry (August 23, 1785 – August 23, 1819) was an American naval commander, born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. The best-known and most prominent member of the Perry family naval dynasty, he was the son of Sarah Wallace A ...

, and great granddaughter of Sarah Franklin Bache. They were descendants of colonial leaders Governor

Thomas Prence Thomas Prence (c. 1601 – March 29, 1673) was a New England colonist who arrived in the colony of Plymouth Colony, Plymouth in November 1621 on the ship ''Fortune''. In 1644 he moved to Massachusetts Bay Colony, Eastham, which he helped found, re ...

(1599–1673) and Elder William Brewster (c. 1567–1644), who had been a passenger on the

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, ...

. Together, Margaret and John had eight children: * Christopher Grant La Farge (1862–1938), who was a partner in the New York-based architectural firm of

Heins & LaFarge Heins & LaFarge was a New York-based architectural firm composed of the Philadelphia-born architect George Lewis Heins (1860–1907) and Christopher Grant LaFarge (1862–1938), the eldest son of the artist John La Farge. They were respons ...

. He designed projects in

Beaux-Arts style Beaux-Arts architecture ( , ) was the academic architectural style taught at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, particularly from the 1830s to the end of the 19th century. It drew upon the principles of French neoclassicism, but also incorporat ...

, notably the original Byzantine

Cathedral of St. John the Divine The Cathedral of St. John the Divine (sometimes referred to as St. John's and also nicknamed St. John the Unfinished) is the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. It is at 1047 Amsterdam Avenue in the Morningside Heights neighborhood ...

, the Yale undergraduate society St. Anthony Hall (extant 1893–1913) and the original Astor Court buildings of the

Bronx Zoo The Bronx Zoo (also historically the Bronx Zoological Park and the Bronx Zoological Gardens) is a zoo within Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York. It is one of the largest zoos in the United States by area and is the largest metropolitan zoo in ...

. * Emily Marie La Farge (1862–1890), who married William Rehn Claxton *

John Louis Bancel La Farge Bancel La Farge (1865–1938) was an American artist known for his mural painting and decorative work. Biography La Farge was born in Newport, Rhode Island on September 23, 1865. He was the son of the artist John LaFarge and Margaret Perry LaF ...

(1865–1938), who married Mabel Hooper * Margaret Angela La Farge (1867–1956) * Oliver Hazard Perry La Farge (1869–1936), who also became an architect and real estate developer. Part of his career in real estate was in a Seattle partnership with Marshall Latham Bond, Bond & La Farge. He designed the Perry Building, still standing in the city. Later in life O.H.P. La Farge designed buildings for

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

. * Joseph Raymond La Farge (1872–1872), who died in infancy * Frances Aimee La Farge (1874–1951), who married Edward H. Childs (b. 1869) * John La Farge, Jr., S.J. (1880–1963), who became a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

and a strong supporter of anti-racist policies. La Farge died at

Butler Hospital Butler Hospital is a private, non-profit, psychiatric and substance abuse hospital for adolescents, adults, and seniors, located at 345 Blackstone Boulevard in Providence, Rhode Island. The hospital is affiliated with the Warren Alpert Medical Sch ...

, in

, in 1910. The interment was at

Green-Wood Cemetery Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope/ Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park, and lies several blo ...

, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. Through his eldest son Christopher, he was the grandfather of Christopher La Farge, a novelist and poet, and

Oliver La Farge Oliver Hazard Perry La Farge II (December 19, 1901 – August 2, 1963) was an American writer and anthropologist. In 1925 he explored early Olmec sites in Mexico, and later studied additional sites in Central America and the American Southw ...

, a noted writer and

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms an ...

. Peter La Farge, son of Oliver, was a celebrated songwriter in Greenwich Village in the 1960s. He penned "The Ballad of Ira Hayes," made famous by Johnny Cash. Through his daughter Frances, he was the grandfather of Frances Sergeant Childs, who was a member of the founding faculty of

Brooklyn College , mottoeng = Nothing without great effort , established = , parent = CUNY , type = Public university , endowment = $98.0 million (2019) , budget = $123.96 m ...

, where she was a professor of history."Childs-LaFarge". ''Newport Mercury'', June 16, 1900.

Writing

La Farge's writings include: * ''The American Art of Glass'' (a pamphlet) * ''Considerations on Painting'' (New York, 1895) * ''An Artist's Letters from Japan'' (New York, 1897) * ''The Great Masters'' (New York) * ''Hokusai: a talk about Japanese painting'' (New York, 1897) * ''The Higher Life in Art'' (New York, 1908) * ''One Hundred Great Masterpieces'' * ''Reminiscences of the South Seas'' (1912) * ''The Gospel Story in Art'' (New York, 1913) * ''Letters from the South Seas'' (unpublished) * ''Correspondence'' (unpublished) His papers, together with some of those of certain children and grandchildren, are held by Yale University Library.

In popular culture

John La Farge is a minor character in Anya Seton's novel ''

The Hearth and Eagle ''The Hearth and Eagle'' is a historical novel by Anya Seton. Set primarily in the old New England fishing village of Marblehead, Massachusetts, the story centers on strong-willed, passionate Hesper Honeywood and her search for love and fulfillmen ...

'', where he appears as a friend of the fictional artist Evan Redlake.

Notes and references

Bibliography

*Adams, Foster, La Farge, Weinberg, Wren and Yarnell, ''John La Farge'', Abbeville Publishing Group, NY, NY 1987 * Cortissoz, Royal, ''John La Farge: A Memoir and a Study'',

Houghton Mifflin Company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults. The company is based in the Boston Fina ...

, Boston 1911 *Forbes, David W., "Encounters with Paradise: Views of Hawaii and its People, 1778–1941", Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1992, 201–220. *Gaede, Robert and Robert Kalin, ''Guide to Cleveland Architecture'', Cleveland Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, Cleveland OH 1991 *Kowski, Goldman et al., ''Buffalo Architecture:A Guide'', The MIT Press, Cambridge MA 1981 * *Waern, Cecilia, ''John La Farge: Artist and Writer'', Seeley and Co. Limited, London 1896

Gallery

File:William James - John La Farge.jpg, Portrait of William James, circa 1859 File:John LaFarge, Agathon to Erosanthe.jpg, ''Agathon to Erosanthe, Votive Wreath'', 1861 File:John LaFarge, Portrait of Henry James.jpg, ''Portrait of the Novelist

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

'', 1862 File:John La Farge - Wreath of Flowers - Smithsonian American Art Museum.jpg, ''Wreath of Flowers'', 1866,

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 ...

File:John LaFarge, Paradise Valley.jpg, ''Paradise Valley'', 1866–68 File:The Golden Age - John La Farge.JPG, ''The Golden Age'', 1878,

File:John LaFarge, Portrait of Faase the Taupo.jpg, ''Portrait of Faase, the Taupo of the Fagaloa Bay, Samoa'', 1881 File:John LaFarge, The Great Statue of Amida Buddha at Kamakura.jpg, ''The Great Statue of Amida Buddha at Kamakura'', 1886 File:Brooklyn Museum - Centauress - John La Farge - overall.jpg, ''

Centauress A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse. Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being ...

'', c. 1887 File:John LaFarge (1835-1910) - 'Kilauea, Looking at Cone of Crater, watercolor, 1890.jpg, ''Kilauea, Looking at Cone of Crater'', 1890,

Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. The museum has one of the largest single co ...

File:John LaFarge, La Farge John Girls Carrying A Canoe Vaiala In Samoa.jpg, ''Girls Carrying a Canoe, Vaiala in Samoa'', 1891 File:La Farge, John, Study of Afterglow from Nature (Tahiti, Entrance to Tautira Valley), 1891.jpg, ''Study of Afterglow from Nature (Tahiti: Entrance to

Tautira Tautira is a Polynesian beach village, valley, and point on the south-east coast of the island of Tahiti in the Pacific. It is part of the commune Taiarapu-Est. With a population of 2338 (in 2007), it is located 49 kilometres southeast of the Tah ...

Valley)'', 1891,

Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 113,000 works ...

File:John LaFarge - Young Girls Preparing Kava Outside of the Hut Whose Posts Are Decorated wih Flowers.jpg, ''Young Girls Preparing Kava Outside of the Hut whose Posts are Decorated with Flowers'', 1891 File:John LaFarge - View in Ceylon near Dambula Looking over Rice Fields.jpg, ''View in Ceylon, near Dambula'' File:Brooklyn Museum - Diadem Mountain at Sunset, Tahiti - John La Farge - overall.jpg, ''Diadem Mountain at Sunset, Tahiti'' -

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Cro ...

File:The-Turn-of-the-Screw-LaFarge.jpg, Title illustration for the ''Collier's Weekly'' serialization of ''

The Turn of the Screw ''The Turn of the Screw'' is an 1898 horror novella by Henry James which first appeared in serial format in '' Collier's Weekly'' (January 27 – April 16, 1898). In October 1898, it was collected in ''The Two Magics'', published by Macmil ...

'', 1898 File:"Welcome"-_Study_for_a_Window_MET_134588.jpg

External links

STAINED GLASS QUARTERLY OF THE STAINED GLASS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA Volume 102, Number 1 • Spring 2007
"Two American Masterpieces restoried"
"John La Farge's South Seas Sketchbooks:1890–1891" at the Yale University Art GalleryLa Farge Gallery at MuseumSyndicateJohn La Farge exhibition catalogs
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John La Farge Stained Glass in New England: A Digital Guide (Boston College Libraries)

John La Farge drawings, circa 1860-1899
{{DEFAULTSORT:La Farge, John 1835 births 1910 deaths American muralists American Roman Catholics Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Art Students League of New York faculty Fordham University alumni American stained glass artists and manufacturers Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery American people of French descent Painters from New York City Hawaii artists 19th-century American painters 19th-century male artists American male painters 20th-century American painters Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Perry family La Farge family Fordham Preparatory School alumni