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Imprint Annotated Bibliography - 2004
176. Helena E.
Wright, "Print
Collecting in the Gilded Age," Vol. 29, no. 1 (Spring 2004), 2-13.
Wright recounts that through much of the nineteenth-century prints were generally acquired for decorative or educational uses. By the 1880s more individuals began to form collections of prints for their intrinsic interest. Among the early collectors Wright treats are George Perkins Marsh (1801-1882), whose collection illustrated the history of engraving through Old Master prints, Francis Calley Gray (1790-1856), and Senator Charles Sumner (1811-1874), who wrote The Best Portraits in Engraving (1872). Wright also describes the collections of artists John Sartain and Stephen J. Ferris, which served them as working libraries. Some of these collections were acquired by major institutions and are still intact. James Lawrence Claghorn (1817-1884) of Philadelphia acquired the largest collection of prints to date and shared it with the public in numerous exhibitions, some at industrial fairs, such as those in Cincinnati. Interest in etchings and in American prints grew, as documented in exhibitions organized by Sylvester Koehler. The new photomechanical processes were included in some of these exhibitions.
. David G. Wright, "American Reproductive and Replica Etchings: Reflections on the Deluxe Auction Catalogues of the 1880s," Vol. 29, no. 1 (Spring 2004), 14-35.Wright distinguishes between reproductive etchings and replica etchings (when the artist makes an etching of his own work) and provides a brief overview of the development of such etchings in America and Europe. The body of the article discusses the eight American auctions of the 1880s that were illustrated with a total of 115 etchings. Consignors include: Charles H. Truax, J. C. Runkle, Thomas Moran, Mary Jane Morgan estate, Alexander T. Stewart estate, Henry T. Chapman, J. Alden Weir with John H. Twachtman, and James H. Stebbins. Of the 31 American artist-etchers whose works are inventoried and tabulated, several receive considerable discussion with illustrations: Stephen J. Ferris, Peter Moran, Camille Piton, Joseph F. Sabin, Jr., Thomas Moran, Mary Nimmo Moran, James David Smillie, Frederick Juengling, Sidney L. Smith, James S. King, Paul Nimmo Moran, Richard Creifelds, and Stephen Parrish. The significance of auctioneer Thomas E. Kirby to the development and refinement of the illustrated auction catalogues is addressed. Contemporary judgments of the etchings by critics including Sylvester R. Koehler, James Ripley Wellman Hitchcock, Montague Marks, and Charles de Kay are included.
178. W. Dale Horst and Rose Marie Horst, "Frederick Stuart Church, Master of Imagination," Vol. 29, no. 1 (Spring 2004), 36-47.
With limited training and a few commissions for commercial illustrations, Frederick Stuart Church (1842-1924) developed into a prolific illustrator and artist in several media. Over his lifetime he produced hundreds of illustrations for newspapers, magazines and books. His works, often including animals and birds, reflected a keen sense of humor, an uncommon imagination, and a gentle spirit. His illustrations were reproduced as wood engravings, photomechanical prints, chromolithographs, and etchings. Although he was among the more successful and prominent American illustrator/artists of the late nineteenth century, changing tastes at the turn of the twentieth century severely reduced appreciation and demand for his work
179. Catharina Slautterback, "Charles Sumner and Political Prints in the Election of 1862," Vol. 29, no. 2 (Autumn 2004), 2-17.
This article looks at the political prints surrounding the controversial career of Massachusetts senator, Charles Sumner. Particular focus is given to the Massachusetts state election of 1862 and the campaign print, I'm Not to Blame for Being White, Sir! Slautterback examines the contemporary concerns expressed in this and other prints regarding the direction of the Civil War, abolitionism, and the emancipation of slaves. The works of the lithographic artists Joseph E. Baker, Dominique C. Fabronius, and Alfred Kipps are considered, as is the role of the Boston lithographic firms of Louis Prang & Co. and J. H. Bufford in the production of Civil War era political prints.
180. Michael J. McCue, "A Fashionable Excursion to the Arcadia of Appalachia: Sheppard's Images for The Land of the Sky," Vol. 29, no 2 (Autumn 2004), 18-27.
McCue analyzes the tone and the messages of illustrations by William Ludwell Sheppard (1833-1912) for Christian Reid.s 1875 travel novel that popularized the Asheville, North Carolina region as .The Land of the Sky.. He argues that the prints had much to do with creating a highly positive impression of that area, in contrast to negative stereotypes of Appalachia generally. The relationship between designer and author is discussed, their creative roles deriving from precedents of Sheppard.s innovative collaboration with writer William Dean Howells for the novel A Chance Acquaintance. McCue points out that the enduring moniker .The Land of the Sky. was coined, not by Reid, as previously has been assumed, but rather by Felix G. de Fontaine in Picturesque America. Twelve selected Sheppard illustrations from The Land of the Sky are presented, with commentary on the artist.s unconventional images of nineteenth century tourism and of Black and White residents in the Southern mountains.
181. Aimee E. Newell, "'Most walls were bare': How Prints Are Used at Old Sturbridge Village," Vol. 29, No. 2 (Autumn 2004), 28-36.
Newell provides an overview of the historic print collection at Old Sturbridge Village, a history museum in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. The Village interprets rural New England life between the years of 1790 and 1840, so the collection is strong in prints from these decades. The museum also specializes in everyday life, relying on its collection of vernacular items rather than high style fashions. Specific examples of lithographs and engravings from the collection are used to explore several of the themes introduced in the museum's village of early-nineteenth-century households.
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