Boston Art Club
Encyclopedia
The Boston Art Club, Boston, Massachusetts, for nearly 157 years, serves as a nexus for Members and non Members to access the world of Fine Art. Currently more than 250 members maintain an active environment for the support and promotion of these works.
The Boston Art Club was first conceived in Boston
in 1854 with the consolidation of efforts between local artists, including Benjamin Champney
, Alfred Ordway, Samuel Lancaster Gerry
and Walter Brackett. Their desire was to form a democratic
organization where the European tradition of independent, master-artists would be replaced with cooperation in the promotion, sale and education of art.
They held their first official meeting on New Year's Day
, 1855, when they named themselves the Boston Art Club. They elected three presidents: Joseph Alexander Ames
, Walter Brackett, and Benjamin Champney
. It is not known why they chose three Presidents that first year. The only other two officers elected were a Treasurer and a Recording Secretary. It is said that there were twenty founding Members that also included Francis Seth Frost
, Samuel W. Griggs, Edward Pressey, Frederick Dickinson Williams, and Moses Wright. The Members were a combination of Academically trained Artists who had studied in Europe
, and Artists who picked up their trade studying with local Boston Artists teaching in the old European tradition of Master/Student. The Boston Art Club founding Members painted in the local New England
area.
One of the first orders of business for the newly formed Club was to mount an exhibition. Alfred Ordway
, a Club founder, had a relationship with the Boston Athenaeum, one of the oldest libraries in America, and the Boston Art Club was able to secure an exhibition there in 1855. Ordway became the director of paintings at the Boston Athenaeum from 1856-1863. The first Boston Art Club exhibition was in combination with several New York colleagues, including Frederic Church, Asher Durand, and John Kensett.
The first exhibition was a success. The Club moved to a building on Bedford Street. They held their second exhibition in 1856 which was marred with a burglary of several paintings from the show (which were never recovered). This almost ended the existence of the Club, but for the help of a local thespian
who put on William Shakespeare
's A Midsummer Night's Dream
and raised enough money to pay for the lost paintings. The Club continued at this Bedford Street location until the outbreak of the American Civil War
, when the Club suspended all activities.
After the War, and until 1871, there was no fixed location of the Club. Exhibitions began again in the studios of the various Artist Members. They gained sufficient support from these exhibitions to be formally incorporated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on March 3, 1871. The purpose of the incorporation was, "For the purpose of advancing the fine arts by the establishment of a Gallery and Library". During the period, from 1871-1882, until a more permanent building was established, the Club rented spaces at 64 Boylston Street
, in a building next to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts
. The success of the Boston Art Club during this period was due to Charles Callahan Perkins
, one of the three corporate officers: Charles Callahan Perkins
, Horace H. Moses, and George D. Russell.
According to Art Historian Nancy Jarzombek, "Charles Callahan Perkins
met with an old friend, amateur painter and music publisher George D. Russell, to discuss reviving the Boston Art Club. With Perkins at the helm they called a general meeting, and the suddenly revived club opened its membership to upper-class men who professed an interest in art (it remained firmly closed to women for the next six decades). The Club engaged a bow-front brick townhouse on Boylston Street
for its quarters. In 1871, Perkins, Russell and Horace H. Moses, none of them professional artists, signed the petition to incorporate the Art Club and Perkins was elected President. The Club added a spacious picture gallery behind the building and in 1873 opened its first annual exhibition. From an informal artists' supper club, Perkins created a refined gentlemen's club with dining and reading rooms, an extensive library, paintings collection and a picture gallery. It hosted two juried exhibitions annually and had a large general membership. The Club also hosted informal gatherings for its members on the first Saturday of each month. Artists would bring in prints or watercolors to critique."
In the late 1870s the City of Boston undertook a new project to expand the city through the filling of the Back Bay. While this project was being implemented, the Club decided that it would create a new Club House in what was to become the most fashionable area of Boston. It took nearly a decade to raise sufficient funds, but with over five hundred Members by 1880, eventually there was enough to launch a national contest by architects for the new Club House building. The winning plan was submitted by William Ralph Emerson
. The Club House was completed in 1882 (see above image).
Once the Club House was opened, it became a national attraction for artists to exhibit. William Merritt Chase
, Winslow Homer
, John Singer Sargent
, Edmund H. Garrett
, Frank W. Benson, Edmund Charles Tarbell and virtually every major National and International Artist sent paintings for the many shows. The number of Artist Members was just a quarter or the total Membership. The Club became a social outpost for the wealthy Bostonian Art Collectors like Isabella Stewart Gardner
. In 1910 the Club refitted the Clubhouse to accommodate dining and sleeping. The Membership fees when the Club opened the Club House were $60, but it had increased to almost $800 by 1914 to support the life-style of the new non-Artist Members.
Because there were so few actual artists as club members, there was great resistance for any major change in the artistic taste of the Club. By the early 20th century, artists were returning from Europe
, with a totally different idea of Art. They saw the works of Picasso, Cezanne and Matisse. Then came the Boston exhibition in 1913 of the Armory Show
, and its influence on the local Boston Art scene threatened the Club with new influences and Art Styles; Modernism
, Cubism
, Abstract Art
.
The best description of this eventual conflict in the Club was written, again, by Nancy Jarzombek,
"In 1917 (Charles Hovey) Pepper became Director of the Exhibitions Committee, and he put his friends Charles Hopkinson
and Harley Perkins on the committee. Together they proceeded to exhibit the work by traditional painters shoulder to shoulder with paintings by more modern artists. In the fall of 1918 Pepper initiated the New England Artists' Series, an annual exhibition of young, little-known but talented artists. Pepper's efforts were applauded by some of Boston's most important critics. The general public thought otherwise.... It couldn't last. In 1928 the Art Club fired the entire Exhibitions Committee. The embroglio involved even the Governor of Massachusetts
, Alvan T. Fuller
, who was a Member of the Art Club and who placed himself on the new Exhibition Committee."
The Boston Art Club floundered through the next two decades as the Great Depression
, and World War II
and a fall in Membership eventually made the need for the large Club House unnecessary. In 1950 the Club House was closed and is now a Public School: The Muriel Snowdon International School.
The remaining members of the Boston Art Club maintained their relationship much like their founders after the American Civil War
. They remained connected socially, painted together, and occasionally had exhibitions in their own studios.
With the arrival of a few new artist members, a new president, and the Internet
, the Club was able to create a virtual presence on the World Wide Web. The Club membership began to rise to where now there are over 250 active Members. There are no longer periodic exhibitions. The purpose of the Club is still to develop the appreciation of Art through its Members and also by working nationally with Art Museums in helping to place paintings in prominent Art shows throughout the country.
History
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
in 1854 with the consolidation of efforts between local artists, including Benjamin Champney
Benjamin Champney
Benjamin Champney was a painter whose name has become synonymous with White Mountain art of the 19th century. He began his training as a lithographer under celebrated marine artist Fitz Henry Lane at Pendleton's Lithography shop in Boston...
, Alfred Ordway, Samuel Lancaster Gerry
Samuel Lancaster Gerry
Samuel Lancaster Gerry was an artist in 19th-century Boston, Massachusetts. He painted portraits, and also landscapes of the White Mountains and other locales in New England. He was affiliated with the New England Art Union, and the Boston Artists' Association. In 1857 he co-founded the Boston Art...
and Walter Brackett. Their desire was to form a democratic
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
organization where the European tradition of independent, master-artists would be replaced with cooperation in the promotion, sale and education of art.
They held their first official meeting on New Year's Day
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome...
, 1855, when they named themselves the Boston Art Club. They elected three presidents: Joseph Alexander Ames
Joseph Alexander Ames
Joseph Alexander Ames was an American artist, primarily known for portrait and genre painting. Originally named Joseph Emes, he was born in Roxbury, New Hampshire. Ames began painting at a young age. At the age of twelve Henry Theodore Tuckerman wrote about one of his paintings. After moderate...
, Walter Brackett, and Benjamin Champney
Benjamin Champney
Benjamin Champney was a painter whose name has become synonymous with White Mountain art of the 19th century. He began his training as a lithographer under celebrated marine artist Fitz Henry Lane at Pendleton's Lithography shop in Boston...
. It is not known why they chose three Presidents that first year. The only other two officers elected were a Treasurer and a Recording Secretary. It is said that there were twenty founding Members that also included Francis Seth Frost
Francis Seth Frost
Francis Seth Frost or F.S. Frost was a painter, photographer, and businessman specializing in artists' materials. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, he travelled widely in the United States. Friends included Albert Bierstadt....
, Samuel W. Griggs, Edward Pressey, Frederick Dickinson Williams, and Moses Wright. The Members were a combination of Academically trained Artists who had studied in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and Artists who picked up their trade studying with local Boston Artists teaching in the old European tradition of Master/Student. The Boston Art Club founding Members painted in the local New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
area.
One of the first orders of business for the newly formed Club was to mount an exhibition. Alfred Ordway
Alfred Ordway
thumb|right|Alfred T.Ordway as President of the Boston Art ClubAlfred T. Ordway was an American landscape and portrait painter, and one of the founding fathers of the Boston Art Club.-Early years:...
, a Club founder, had a relationship with the Boston Athenaeum, one of the oldest libraries in America, and the Boston Art Club was able to secure an exhibition there in 1855. Ordway became the director of paintings at the Boston Athenaeum from 1856-1863. The first Boston Art Club exhibition was in combination with several New York colleagues, including Frederic Church, Asher Durand, and John Kensett.
The first exhibition was a success. The Club moved to a building on Bedford Street. They held their second exhibition in 1856 which was marred with a burglary of several paintings from the show (which were never recovered). This almost ended the existence of the Club, but for the help of a local thespian
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
who put on William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
and raised enough money to pay for the lost paintings. The Club continued at this Bedford Street location until the outbreak of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, when the Club suspended all activities.
After the War, and until 1871, there was no fixed location of the Club. Exhibitions began again in the studios of the various Artist Members. They gained sufficient support from these exhibitions to be formally incorporated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on March 3, 1871. The purpose of the incorporation was, "For the purpose of advancing the fine arts by the establishment of a Gallery and Library". During the period, from 1871-1882, until a more permanent building was established, the Club rented spaces at 64 Boylston Street
Boylston Street
Boylston Street is the name of a major east-west thoroughfare in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. Another Boylston Street runs through Boston's western suburbs....
, in a building next to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts
Grand Lodge of Massachusetts
The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, commonly referred to as the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and abbreviated GLMA, is the main governing body of Freemasonry within Massachusetts, and maintains Lodges in other jurisdictions...
. The success of the Boston Art Club during this period was due to Charles Callahan Perkins
Charles Callahan Perkins
Charles Callahan Perkins was an art critic, author, organizer of cultural activities, and an influential friend of design and of music in Boston.-Biography:...
, one of the three corporate officers: Charles Callahan Perkins
Charles Callahan Perkins
Charles Callahan Perkins was an art critic, author, organizer of cultural activities, and an influential friend of design and of music in Boston.-Biography:...
, Horace H. Moses, and George D. Russell.
According to Art Historian Nancy Jarzombek, "Charles Callahan Perkins
Charles Callahan Perkins
Charles Callahan Perkins was an art critic, author, organizer of cultural activities, and an influential friend of design and of music in Boston.-Biography:...
met with an old friend, amateur painter and music publisher George D. Russell, to discuss reviving the Boston Art Club. With Perkins at the helm they called a general meeting, and the suddenly revived club opened its membership to upper-class men who professed an interest in art (it remained firmly closed to women for the next six decades). The Club engaged a bow-front brick townhouse on Boylston Street
Boylston Street
Boylston Street is the name of a major east-west thoroughfare in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. Another Boylston Street runs through Boston's western suburbs....
for its quarters. In 1871, Perkins, Russell and Horace H. Moses, none of them professional artists, signed the petition to incorporate the Art Club and Perkins was elected President. The Club added a spacious picture gallery behind the building and in 1873 opened its first annual exhibition. From an informal artists' supper club, Perkins created a refined gentlemen's club with dining and reading rooms, an extensive library, paintings collection and a picture gallery. It hosted two juried exhibitions annually and had a large general membership. The Club also hosted informal gatherings for its members on the first Saturday of each month. Artists would bring in prints or watercolors to critique."
William Ralph Emerson
-Biography:Emerson was born in Alton, Illinois, a cousin of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and trained in the office of Jonathan Preston , an architect–builder in Boston, Massachusetts. He formed an architectural partnership with Preston , practiced alone for two years, then partnered with Carl Fehmer...
. The Club House was completed in 1882 (see above image).
Once the Club House was opened, it became a national attraction for artists to exhibit. William Merritt Chase
William Merritt Chase
William Merritt Chase was an American painter known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later would become Parsons The New School for Design.- Early life and training :He was born in Williamsburg , Indiana, to the family...
, Winslow Homer
Winslow Homer
Winslow Homer was an American landscape painter and printmaker, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th century America and a preeminent figure in American art....
, John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent was an American artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era luxury. During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings...
, Edmund H. Garrett
Edmund H. Garrett
Edmund Henry Garrett was an American illustrator, bookplate-maker, and author—as well as a highly respected painter—renowned for his illustrations of the legends of King Arthur.-Biography:Garrett was born in Albany, New York on October 19, 1853...
, Frank W. Benson, Edmund Charles Tarbell and virtually every major National and International Artist sent paintings for the many shows. The number of Artist Members was just a quarter or the total Membership. The Club became a social outpost for the wealthy Bostonian Art Collectors like Isabella Stewart Gardner
Isabella Stewart Gardner
Isabella Stewart Gardner – founder of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston – was an American art collector, philanthropist, and one of the foremost female patrons of the arts....
. In 1910 the Club refitted the Clubhouse to accommodate dining and sleeping. The Membership fees when the Club opened the Club House were $60, but it had increased to almost $800 by 1914 to support the life-style of the new non-Artist Members.
Because there were so few actual artists as club members, there was great resistance for any major change in the artistic taste of the Club. By the early 20th century, artists were returning from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, with a totally different idea of Art. They saw the works of Picasso, Cezanne and Matisse. Then came the Boston exhibition in 1913 of the Armory Show
Armory Show
Many exhibitions have been held in the vast spaces of U.S. National Guard armories, but the Armory Show refers to the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art that was organized by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors...
, and its influence on the local Boston Art scene threatened the Club with new influences and Art Styles; Modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
, Cubism
Cubism
Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...
, Abstract Art
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
.
The best description of this eventual conflict in the Club was written, again, by Nancy Jarzombek,
"In 1917 (Charles Hovey) Pepper became Director of the Exhibitions Committee, and he put his friends Charles Hopkinson
Charles Hopkinson
Charles Sydney Hopkinson was an American portrait painter and landscape watercolorist. He maintained a studio in the Fenway Studios building in Boston from 1906 to 1962. He painted over 800 portraits in a direct style with a palette gradually lightening through his career. Many of his paintings...
and Harley Perkins on the committee. Together they proceeded to exhibit the work by traditional painters shoulder to shoulder with paintings by more modern artists. In the fall of 1918 Pepper initiated the New England Artists' Series, an annual exhibition of young, little-known but talented artists. Pepper's efforts were applauded by some of Boston's most important critics. The general public thought otherwise.... It couldn't last. In 1928 the Art Club fired the entire Exhibitions Committee. The embroglio involved even the Governor of Massachusetts
Governor of Massachusetts
The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the executive magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The current governor is Democrat Deval Patrick.-Constitutional role:...
, Alvan T. Fuller
Alvan T. Fuller
Alvan Tufts Fuller was a United States Representative from Massachusetts. He became one of the wealthiest men in America, with an automobile dealership which in 1920 was recognized as "the world's most successful auto dealership." He was elected a member of the Massachusetts House of...
, who was a Member of the Art Club and who placed himself on the new Exhibition Committee."
The Boston Art Club floundered through the next two decades as the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and a fall in Membership eventually made the need for the large Club House unnecessary. In 1950 the Club House was closed and is now a Public School: The Muriel Snowdon International School.
The remaining members of the Boston Art Club maintained their relationship much like their founders after the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. They remained connected socially, painted together, and occasionally had exhibitions in their own studios.
With the arrival of a few new artist members, a new president, and the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, the Club was able to create a virtual presence on the World Wide Web. The Club membership began to rise to where now there are over 250 active Members. There are no longer periodic exhibitions. The purpose of the Club is still to develop the appreciation of Art through its Members and also by working nationally with Art Museums in helping to place paintings in prominent Art shows throughout the country.