The American landscape painting tradition.

John Singleton Copley. 1737 - 1815 all images this page from artrenewal.org

I received this comment last night:

This is off topic (kittens and frame toning) but you mentioned that Edward Seago saw himself as working within the English landscape tradition and it got me thinking that I would love to read a blog post on how you see the "American landscape tradition," especially how it developed over the 20th century to today and who you personally consider the most important artists in this regard. Just a thought.

That is a great question. My working concept for this blog was to write down the things you need to know to be a painter. An understanding of the history of our nations art is certainly a "must have". I have deliberately sought to be an American painter. Although I do love the Dutch and a lot of other European landscape ( Constable, Corot) I am particularly fond of American painting. Not just because it is our own but because it IS special. It will take me about a week to do this I think, so here goes. I am going to have to set the stage with the generation before.In order to understand the American tradition we will have to cover a lot of ground.

The first American painters of any note were not landscape painters but portrait painters. Particularly several associated with Boston, the "Athens of America". The two are John Singleton Copley and Gilbert Stuart. Colonial Boston was a merchants and seafarers town and the fortunes built in those days wanted a record of their faces. They were not so much looking for art as a record of themselves. They did get art however.

Copley was born to Irish parents in Boston and grew up in his family's tobacco shop, on Long Wharf. His youthful portrait of his brother with a squirrel was exhibited in London and made his reputation. He had a knack for realistic portraiture that led wealthy patrons to commission his work. He painted many of the important Bostonians of the era.

Here is John Hancock and below is John Quincy Adams. Remember America was a colony of England so Copley was a British painter.

Although he painted many of the leaders of the revolution Copley was apolitical himself. Copley's portraiture made him an excellent income in Boston and he married the daughter of a wealthy agent of the East India company, who was by the way the recipient merchant of the tea thrown into the water at the Boston tea party.
He traveled to Rome to study painting and then to England where he ultimately settled for the rest of his life. In those days if you made it in the colonies you went to England to capitalize on it. Below, Mrs Jerathmael Bowers.

Copley made a painting on arrival in England called Watson and the Shark which is one of the greatest pieces of early American painting.


He made three versions of this painting but the original is in the National Gallery of art in Washington DC. His later career was less successful and he died deeply in debt and lamenting the sale of his Beacon hill estate for which he believed he was underpaid as the buyers were aware of that the statehouse was to be built there and he was not.

I have a workshop to teach in the morning so I will close at that.
I will return tomorrow and continue this thread with a post on Gilbert Stuart.