Sylvester Rosa Koehler
Encyclopedia
Sylvester Rosa Koehler was an author, and the first curator of prints at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
.
His grandfather was a musician and composer of note, and his father an artist. Koehler came to this country in 1849 after he had received the rudiments of a classical
education. He moved to the Boston area in 1868, residing for a time in Roxbury, Massachusetts
, and became a technical manager at L. Prang
and Company for 10 years. He edited the American Art Review while it existed (1879–1881). He commissioned original etchings for it.
He made many contributions on art to periodicals in the United States
and Europe
. He published translations of von Betzold's Theory of Color, edited by Prof. Edward C. Pickering (Boston, 1876), Lalanne's Treatise on Etching, with notes (1880), and was the author of Art Education and Art Patronage in the United States (1882), and Etching, an Outline of its Technical Processes and its History, with Some Remarks on Collections and Collecting (New York, 1885). Koehler wrote the text for Original Etchings by American Artists (1883), Twenty Original American Etchings (1884) and American Art (in press, 1887). He also edited the United States Art Directory and Year Book for 1882 and 1884. In 1887, he was engaged in writing a history of color-painting.
Through his work on the American Art Review, his writings, and exhibitions he organized, he helped foster a revival of etching in the United States
in the 1880s. He became acting curator for the prints department at the MFA, Boston, in 1885 and regular curator in 1887. He was curator of graphic arts at the Smithsonian in Washington, D. C., from 1886 to 1900. He gave a series of eight lectures on "Engraving" for the Lowell Institute
's 1893-94 season. He willed his considerable library and print collection to the MFA.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
.
His grandfather was a musician and composer of note, and his father an artist. Koehler came to this country in 1849 after he had received the rudiments of a classical
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
education. He moved to the Boston area in 1868, residing for a time in Roxbury, Massachusetts
Roxbury, Massachusetts
Roxbury is a dissolved municipality and current neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was one of the first towns founded in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, and became a city in 1846 until annexed to Boston on January 5, 1868...
, and became a technical manager at L. Prang
Louis Prang
Louis Prang was an American printer, lithographer and publisher. He is sometimes known as the "father of the American Christmas card".- Youth :...
and Company for 10 years. He edited the American Art Review while it existed (1879–1881). He commissioned original etchings for it.
He made many contributions on art to periodicals in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and 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...
. He published translations of von Betzold's Theory of Color, edited by Prof. Edward C. Pickering (Boston, 1876), Lalanne's Treatise on Etching, with notes (1880), and was the author of Art Education and Art Patronage in the United States (1882), and Etching, an Outline of its Technical Processes and its History, with Some Remarks on Collections and Collecting (New York, 1885). Koehler wrote the text for Original Etchings by American Artists (1883), Twenty Original American Etchings (1884) and American Art (in press, 1887). He also edited the United States Art Directory and Year Book for 1882 and 1884. In 1887, he was engaged in writing a history of color-painting.
Through his work on the American Art Review, his writings, and exhibitions he organized, he helped foster a revival of etching in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the 1880s. He became acting curator for the prints department at the MFA, Boston, in 1885 and regular curator in 1887. He was curator of graphic arts at the Smithsonian in Washington, D. C., from 1886 to 1900. He gave a series of eight lectures on "Engraving" for the Lowell Institute
Lowell Institute
The Lowell Institute is an educational foundation in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., providing for free public lectures, and endowed by the bequest of $250,000 left by John Lowell, Jr., who died in 1836. Under the terms of his will 10% of the net income was to be added to the principal, which in...
's 1893-94 season. He willed his considerable library and print collection to the MFA.