Wallace Nutting was a U.S. minister, photographer, artist, and antiquarian, who is most famous for his pictures. He also was an accomplished author, lecturer, furniture maker —some of whose reproductions pass as antiques— antiques expert and collector. His atmospheric photographs helped spur the Colonial Revival style

Colonial Revival architecture

The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...

.

He was born in Rockbottom

Gleasondale, Massachusetts

Gleasondale, formerly known as Rockbottom or Rock Bottom, is a village in the towns of Hudson and Stow in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It could be considered to start where Main Street in Hudson becomes Wilkins Street, and runs until the intersection of Gleasondale Road and Great...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, on Sunday, November 17, 1861. He was descended from John Nutting, who came from England in 1639 and was killed by Indians during a raid against Groton, Massachusetts

Groton, Massachusetts

Groton is a town located in northwestern Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The population was 10,646 at the 2010 census. It is home to two noted prep schools: Groton School, founded in 1884, and Lawrence Academy at Groton, founded in 1793. The historic town hosts the National Shepley Hill Horse...

. The Indians severed John Nutting's head and put it on a pole to discourage others from settling in the area.

Wallace Nutting studied at Phillips Exeter Academy

Phillips Exeter Academy

Phillips Exeter Academy is a private secondary school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States.Exeter is noted for its application of Harkness education, a system based on a conference format of teacher and student interaction, similar to the Socratic method of learning through asking...

, Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

, Hartford Theological Seminary and Union Theological Seminary

Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York

Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York is a preeminent independent graduate school of theology, located in Manhattan between Claremont Avenue and Broadway, 120th to 122nd Streets. The seminary was founded in 1836 under the Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with nearby Columbia...

. He graduated from Harvard with the class of 1887. On June 5, 1888 he married Mariet Griswold in Buckland, Massachusetts

Buckland, Massachusetts

Buckland is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,991 at the 2000 census. The town shares the village of Shelburne Falls with neighboring Shelburne...

. They had no children.

Wallace Nutting started taking pictures in 1899 while on long bicycle rides in the countryside. In 1904 he opened the Wallace Nutting Art Prints Studio on East 23rd Street in New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. After a year he moved his business to a farm in Southbury, Connecticut

Southbury, Connecticut

Southbury is a town located in western New Haven County, Connecticut, USA. Southbury is located north of Oxford and Newtown; it also is east of Brookfield. Southbury's population was 18,567 at the 2000 census....

. He called this place "Nuttinghame". In 1912 he moved the photography studio to Framingham, Massachusetts

Framingham, Massachusetts

Framingham is a New England town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 68,318 as of the United States 2010 Census. -History:...

, in a home he called "Nuttingholme". Nutting authored several books about the scenic beauties of 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...

, the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, and Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. In the peak of his business he employed about two-hundred colorist

Colorist

In comics, a colorist is responsible for adding color to black-and-white line art. For most of the 20th century this was done using brushes and dyes which were then used as guides to produce the printing plates...

s. By his own account, Wallace Nutting sold ten million pictures. Wallace Nutting's colorists painted the photographs which he took. These colorists would sometimes sign Wallace Nutting's name on the photos which is why the signatures vary. An interesting fact about Nutting's photography is that he was more prolific with pastoral scenes, consequently his interiors are more valuable.

Wallace Nutting died at his home at 24 Vernon St., Framingham, Massachusetts on Saturday, July 19, 1941, at age 79. The body was taken to Augusta, Maine

Augusta, Maine

Augusta is the capital of the US state of Maine, county seat of Kennebec County, and center of population for Maine. The city's population was 19,136 at the 2010 census, making it the third-smallest state capital after Montpelier, Vermont and Pierre, South Dakota...

for burial.

External links

• photo of Wallace Nutting
• The Wallace Nutting Center
• The Wallace Nutting Library
• example of Wallace Nutting's photography
• The Winterthur Library Overview of an archival collection on Wallace Nutting.