Genre Painting

In the field of genre the most conspicuous figure in earlier times was William S. Mount, who is regarded as practically the pioneer of genre art in this country. He was the first to make us intimately acquainted with the affairs of rustic life. Francis W. Edmonds, a bank cashier, found time to paint clever genre pictures, and Henry Inman and Thomas Hicks also produced some work in this vein. Finally John B. Irving, a talented artist, executed cabinet-size genres, careful in drawing and color.

The opening of the West inspired some of our artists, as it did out poets; but the most artistic outcome of this impetus is found in the department of landscape. The men who depicted the picturesque life of the Indian, he trapper, and other border characters, though men of ability, were not artists of the first rank. Yet the vigor of painters like George Catlin, Charles Deas, and William Ranney, may be said to atone for technical defects. Later John G. Brown and Thomas W. Wood became known among the artists taken up with genre art.

The former made a specialty of the New York gamin, while Wood depicted scenes in American village life, and was one of the first to seize upon the artistic possibilities of the negro. In the domain of "ideal art" Elihu Vedder, a native of New York, residing in Italy, Stood by himself in his peculiar style and tendencies. His works showed a predilection for weird subjects, as in his "Lair of the Sea Serpent."

Foreign artists from the early period onwards made New York their scene of action. Not a few such as Emile Renouf, Benjamin Constant and Michael Munkacsy, paid New York professional visits; others, like Jules E. Saintin, Victor Nehlig, worked in the State for long or short periods; and others settled permanently in New York and registered their names in every department of art. Prominent between 1850 and 1870 was John F. Kensett, an artist of advanced theories, who held high rank among landscape painters. The influence of the Dusseldorf school is shown in the productions of Albert Bierstadt, whose bold treatment of imposing scenery insured for his pictures much popular favor.

Thomas Moran did much to make us acquainted with the beauties of scenery made accessible by the opening of the West. Frederick E. Church became noted as a painter of great natural phenomena, producing impressive paintings of Niagara, icebergs, and volcanoes; and the work of Sanford R. Gifford was noted for its luminous atmospheric effects and brilliant coloring. The subjective spirit more conspicuously dominated the productions of later artists, such as the contemplative George Inness, Jervis McEntee, Homer D. Martin, and Alexander H. Wyant.

Marine and Animal Art

In marine art, with the exception of the fine sea pieces of William J. Bennett, New York, despite its situation, possessed hardly any names of note till the later period. William F. DeHaas, a Hollander, had his studio in the city for many years, and his brother, Maurice F.H. De Haas, became some of our best marine painters; while Arthur Quartley, Francis A. Silva, and William Bradford were among those who won both artistic and popular success. Animal painters may be regarded as a later product, though John James Audubon earlier made drawings for his work on American ornithology.

William Hays portrayed the buffalo and the prairie-dog, Thomas B. Thorpe, the author, essayed his skill also in humorous delineations of Western fauna, and Gilbert Burling painted mainly water colors of game birds. William H. Beard took an individual line, depicting the animal world as subject to human foibles after the manner of Aesop. James Hart introduced cattle in his landscapes with good effect, and Peter Moran won a notable reputation also in this field. In the reproduction of still life, fruit and flower pieces and similar subjects, Shepard A. Mount and Henry S. Mount appear to have been the first to gain success.

Mural Paintings, Stained Windows

The decoration of churches afforded a notable field in which a number of artists specialized with success. In the production of stained glass windows John La Farge, William H. Low, Francis Lathrop, Louis C Tiffany, Mrs. Ella Condie Lamb, and others won success. Fine Work in the way of mural paintings, stained windows, and sculpture was executed in a great number of churches and other buildings, and in course of time decorative work became an indispensable feature in the interior of office buildings, which in an older time were marked by an extreme plainness. Naturally in the various theatres and opera houses there was a demand that grew continuously for decorative work of the most spacious kind.