Ohio History Journal

KATHLEEN M. DILLON

 

Painters and Patrons: The Fine Arts in

Cincinnati, 1820-1860

 

 

In short, we should foster western genius, encourage western writers, pa-

tronize western publishers, augment the number of western readers and cre-

ate a western heart.¹

-Daniel Drake, 1833

Dr. Daniel Drake, a Cincinnati physician and public benefactor,

made his plea for a distinctly western culture at a gathering of Ohio

and Kentucky teachers in 1833. If the arts received public support,

Drake believed, Cincinnati and the West would lead the nation by

their example of cultural unity.² In Drake's eyes, the West could

achieve everything-commerce, wealth, moral education, and gen-

ius. Culture, the "western heart," would unify and sanctify all as-

pects of Cincinnati's growth.

As Drake evidenced in this and other writings, even leaders of

frontier towns concerned themselves with aspects of city life that

went beyond the income, trade, and population statistics. One might

expect Cincinnati writers in the antebellum period to praise com-

merce and to predict that Cincinnati would grow richer than any oth-

er American city, since economic growth was the basis for Cincinna-

ti's overall growth. Drake and others' interests in the city's cultural

life before the Civil War is more surprising, however, since one associ-

ates frontier boomtowns more often with expanding commerce than

with artists. Then as now, however, the conditions that enable the

arts to flourish add a dimension to the quality of city life that lies be-

yond economic prosperity. Support of the arts is one symbol of urban

maturity, and another area of competition between East and West.

 

 

 

Kathleen M. Dillon is a graduate of Yale University and is currently studying law at

Cornell University.

 

1. Daniel Drake, Remarks on the Importance of Promoting Literary and Social Con-

cert, (Louisville, 1833), 26.

2. Ibid. For more information on Cincinnati's role as a frontier city, see Richard

Wade's The Urban Frontier, (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1959), and John Jakle's Im-

ages of the Ohio Valley (New York, 1977).

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8                                                OHIO HISTORY

 

Cincinnati in 1820 differed dramatically from the city in 1860. As

the town publicists pointed out, Cincinnati in 1820 was only a few

years beyond log cabins and Indian battles. In the forty years after

1820, pork processing, beer brewing, and a transportation network of

the Ohio River, railroad and Miami canal fueled fast-paced economic

growth. Cincinnati became known as the "Queen City" and bur-

geoned in population from less than 20,000 in 1820 to over 160,000 in

1860. By 1850, it was the sixth largest American city after New York,

Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New Orleans, and the largest

city in the trans-Appalachian West. With the possible exception of

Lexington, Cincinnati was the center of artistic activity in the Ohio

Valley before the Civil War.

Thirty years after Drake, John Frankenstein, one of Cincinnati's

most talented painters, left the city in disgust. Cincinnati by 1860

had fallen far short of Drake's vision of promoting public support for

the fine arts. The only art buyers, Frankenstein complained, were

wealthy businessmen who stifled artists' creativity by commissioning

portraits of themselves. Cincinnatians had neither taste nor respect

for serious painting, Frankenstein continued: "Art is not valued at a

song." He saw talented local artists painting "anomalies" and "inani-

ties."³ These artists were heirs to Drake's optimistic vision of the

West, but for them it was a myth. Frankenstein tried to call attention

to the Cincinnati artist's predicament in his verse satire; American

Art: Its Awful Attitude. Even frustrated artists

Breathed our buoyant, free expanding air,

In Europe too, drew inspiration there-

Yet See, what are they? something's wrong somewhere!⁴

Frankenstein felt poor patronage drove him out of Cincinnati-the

same city Daniel Drake had pledged would support the arts. While

Drake had believed that Cincinnati would surpass the eastern cities

in both wealth and culture, Frankenstein denounced it as hopelessly

provincial.

 

I. The 1820s and 30s: A Regional Culture

To understand Frankenstein's criticism of the Cincinnati art scene,

one must examine basic changes in dominant American attitudes to-

ward the fine arts. Daniel Drake's writings reflected early nineteenth-

 

 

 

3. John Frankenstein, American Art: Its Awful Attitude, (Cincinnati, 1864), 94, 95.

4. Ibid.

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Painters and Patrons                                        9

 

century republicanism and sense of American mission. Artistic atti-

tudes by the Civil War era, however, came to embrace European

training and the value of the fine arts. Cincinnati in the 1860s still in-

fluenced by Drake's pedagogical approach to art, could not keep

pace with the cultural sophistication of the East.

In the new American republic of the late-eighteenth and early-

nineteenth centuries, supporters of the Revolution viewed art as un-

necessary in a democracy and possibly dangerous. As historian Neil

Harris has written, "Art, like government, was a badge of shame," a

sign of superfluous wealth, undisciplined energies, and unsatisfied

cravings.5

By 1830, art was a more accepted form of expression, but the artis-

tic profession was still not supported. While most other American in-

stitutions developed with deliberately democratic principles, the fine

arts were left mainly to private patronage by the wealthy. Without a

tradition of fine arts behind them, American painting and sculpture

could not serve their own purposes, but served the cause of moral in-

struction. Artists took on a didactic role that was reflected in Cincin-

nati in Daniel Drake's call for a moral, unifying culture.

American art was, in theory, anti-European. While writers por-

trayed Europe as the home of tyrants and corruption, they de-

scribed the United States as the embodiment of freedom and de-

mocracy. Americans preserved the "notion of unprecedentedness, of

utterly new beginnings"⁶ that resisted European influence. American

art was supposed to reflect American democracy-for the people, in

the sense of easily understood moral lessons, and by the people, in

the sense of anyone becoming an artist.

While many writers called for an American art separate from Eu-

rope, Daniel Drake's background pushed him further to support a

western American culture distinct from that of the East. Drake

(1785-1852) lived nearly all his life in the West. While still an infant,

he moved with his family to Kentucky, then a frontier region across

the Ohio River from fledgling Cincinnati. At the age of fifteen he

moved to the city and studied medicine with a local physician.

Drake went on to become the "Physician to the West," founding

medical facilities and schools in the Cincinnati-Lexington area.⁷ Al-

though medicine was his profession, Drake's activities extended into

 

 

 

5. Neil Harris, The Artist in American Society, 1790-1860, (New York, 1966), viii.

6. Fred Somkin, Unquiet Eagle, (Ithaca, 1967), 57.

7. Emmet F. Horine, Daniel Drake, 1785-1852: Pioneer Physician in the Midwest,

(Philadelphia, 1961), 79.

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10                                                OHIO HISTORY

 

every aspect of civic life-so much so that one author called him

Cincinnati's "one-man chamber of commerce."⁸ His 1815 book, Pic-

ture of Cincinnati, established Drake's reputation both as Cincinna-

ti's first important booster and as a first-rate mind. Drake held the in-

fluential position in Cincinnati of resident intellectual and civic leader.

Harriet Martineau, a British abolitionist who visited the United

States in 1835, was impressed with Drake above all other Cincinnati-

ans, calling him "a complete and favourable specimen of a Western-

er.⁹ It is safe to consider Drake one of the leading exponents of elite

views in Cincinnati before 1840.

Drake's writings covered a variety of subjects, but nearly all ex-

pressed his desire to advance the West. Defining culture and the re-

gion's potential consumed twenty years of Drake's life. For him, cul-

ture was a crucial tool in fulfilling the promise of the West. In An

Address to the People of the Western Country (1818), young Drake saw

Cincinnati's potential in commercial wealth and had a broad view of

culture, including scientific exhibits, the arts, and education. The

Address was a plea for donations to the newly founded Western Mu-

seum, "a society for the collection, preservation, exhibition and illus-

tration of natural and artificial curiosities, particularly those of the

Western Country." Drake's interest in science influenced the Muse-

um's collection, but of "first and greatest importance," he collected

minerals to discover their commercial uses.¹⁰ By developing its natu-

ral resources, Cincinnati could attract more residents and business.

In 1818, at the age of 33, Drake's idea of urban culture focused on sci-

entific collections and the increase of western wealth.

Interestingly enough, however, Drake had considered opening a

painting gallery instead of the Western Museum. He wanted to "offer

the lovers and cultivators of the fine arts a few of those models

which are absolutely necessary to the gratification and improvement

of their taste."¹¹ His decision to collect minerals instead of canvases

was not based on ignorance, but on his view of what was most feasi-

ble and appropriate for Cincinnati in 1818. The arts in Cincinnati at

that time were on a rudimentary level that would take years to ad-

vance. An art gallery might begin to educate the public and artists,

but it would not spur Cincinnati's growth the way developing natural

 

 

8. Ohio Writer's Project, Cincinnati: A Guide to the Queen City and Its Neighbors,

(Cincinnati, 1943), 20.

9. Harriet Martineau, Retrospect of Western Travel, (London, 1838), 223.

10. Daniel Drake, An Address to the People of the Western Country, (Cincinnati,

1818), p. 1.

11. Ibid., 2.

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Painters and Patrons                                       11

 

resources would. Drake kept his patriotic allegience to the West by

focusing his public efforts on what was indigenous to the Ohio

Valley.

One of Drake's most extensive statements on the potential role of

culture in the West was his Remarks on the Importance of Promoting

Literary and Social Concert, written in 1833 when he was 48. While

much of Drake's motivation for a regional, distinctly western culture

stemmed from personal pride in his home, he also believed that a

culturally unified West would save the republic from splintering and

total disintegration. As Drake saw the problem, the competing pow-

ers of the state and Union were too complex and with a sectional

dispute over slavery rising in the United States, the Union was "lia-

ble to decomposition." Drake claimed that "such a catastrophe is

spoken of by all, and apprehended by many." The Mississippi Val-

ley, if united itself, however, could serve as an anchor for the rest of

the nation. Considering the region's growing economy and natural

transportation advantages, Drake wrote, the "cement of future adhe-

sion among all the states exudes . . . from the soil of the West."¹²

With tremendous optimism, Drake predicted that Cincinnati and the

West would surpass all other areas of the nation. Culture, the "west-

ern heart," became the regional unifier in Drake's theory.

Drake considered uniting the West "a holy task of patriotism" and

proposed specific steps to spread a common western culture: 1) hold

local literary meetings, 2) hold conventions "in the central cities" for

discussion among academics and professionals, 3) identify the moral

needs of the community and ways to fill them, 4) exchange educa-

tional methods and materials, and 5) promote correspondence among

the Mississippi Valley colleges. ³ The suggestion for city conventions

fitted well with Drake's promotion of Cincinnati; gatherings could be

held, and money generated in his city. Overall, the five points illus-

trated Drake's concern for group unity through moral education. In

addition to the five suggestions in his Remarks, Drake also promoted

public education as a means of unifying western culture. Harriet

Martineau reported in 1835 that Drake considered the success of the

"common schools" he helped found to be his greatest achieve-

ment.14 Overall, Drake's proposals were practical, immediate at-

tempts to stimulate culture for all members of society.

 

 

 

12. Daniel Drake, Remarks on the Importance of Promoting Literary and Social Con-

cert, (Louisville, 1833), 7, 16.

13. Ibid., 17, 25.

14. Martineau, 223.

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12                                                 OHIO HISTORY

 

Drake supported the fine arts and individual artists in his private

life, however. In 1820, for example, he hired taxidermist and bird

watcher John James Audubon, then struggling as a drawing tutor in

Cincinnati, to mount wildlife exhibitions in the Western Museum for

$125 a month. Audubon also painted display cases to resemble the

animals' natural habitat.15 In addition to work at the museum, Drake

arranged at least four portrait commissions for Audubon. By the time

Audubon left Cincinnati in 1821, he and Drake, both the same age,

had become close friends.

Another painter Drake took an interest in was Aaron H. Corwine

(1802-1830). Corwine came to Cincinnati in 1817 at the age of 15. By

the following year the editor of the Cincinnati Inquistor-Advertiser

praised his "ingenious and promising youth" and urged Cincinnati's

wealthy citizens to support him.¹⁶ Drake responded with more than

money. To enable Corwine to develop his artistic talents with more

advanced training than Cincinnati offered. Drake lined up a number

of portrait commissions for him in Cincinnati for which the buyers

paid in advance. Corwine then used the cash to study in Philadel-

phia with painter Thomas Sully.¹⁷ After his time in the East, Cor-

wine returned to Cincinnati, completed his commissions, and worked

on other paintings-including a portrait of Andrew Jackson, painted

during Jackson's ten-day visit to Cincinnati in 1825.18 Corwine again

left the Queen City, this time for Europe. Unfortunately, he became

ill on his return trip and died in 1830 at the age of 28.19

Western culture, by Drake's definition, did not necessarily empha-

size the fine arts. Although Drake respected professional painters, as

shown by his generosity to Audubon and Corwine, his primary obli-

gation as he saw it was to educate the citizens of the West and secure

their future prosperity. While Drake described Cincinnati and the

West as a "green and growing" sapling, with the potential to lead the

world,²⁰ the fine arts, were a consideration but not a top priority in

his vision.

Corwine and Audubon's financial support revealed a great deal

about Cincinnati artists' experience in Cincinnati before 1830. Both

 

 

15. Ophia D. Smith, "A Survey of Artists in Cincinnati, 1789-1830," Bulletin of the

Cincinnati Historical Society, XXV, (January, 1967), 12.

16. Cincinnati, Inquirer-Advertiser, August 11, 1818, quoted by Robert C. Vitz,

"Seventy Years of Cincinnati Art: 1790-1860," Bulletin of The Cincinnati Historical So-

ciety, XXV (January, 1967), 52.

17. Vitz, 52.

18. Smith, 11-12.

19. Vitz, 53.

20. Martineau, 236.

• 6
 

Painters and Patrons                                      13

 

Corwine and Audubon relied on personal connections to garner com-

missions, in this case from Daniel Drake. Although drawing tutors

advertised in local newspapers for business, professional painters

more often depended on the praise of the local elite, whether in the

papers or by word of mouth. What work artists managed to find was

almost exclusively in portraiture. While London patronized the Royal

Academy painters and exhibitions in all artistic genres, Cincinnati

civic leaders like Drake directed public support to scientific and com-

mercial ventures like the Western Museum.

Drake's view was understandable, given the conditions of Cincin-

nati from 1820 to 1830. There were not enough trained artists to paint

higher quality works, and not enough buyers to sustain a varied art

market. The early Ohio artist was usually entirely self-taught and

itinerant. James H. Beard, a painter, grew up in the interior farmlands

of Ohio, isolated from all art except for occasional "daubs" of travel-

ing painters.²¹ After practicing with homemade paints, Beard set off

to find fame and fortune in the nearest city, Cincinnati. Beard's expe-

rience was fairly common. John and Godfrey Frankenstein grew up in

Springfield, Ohio, in a frontier family. Hiram Powers, Cincinnati's

famed sculptor, moved with his family from Vermont to Ohio in 1803.

Lilly Martin Spencer, one of the few female artists in Cincinnati, grew

up in Marietta, an older but smaller town on the Ohio River. For

small-town youth in the Trans-Appalachian West, Cincinnati lured

untrained artists from the Ohio Valley, just as the East and Europe

drew Aaron Corwine and later many more artists away from Cincin-

nati.

In some cases, however, European-trained artists came to Cincinna-

ti. Frederick Eckstein, who arrived in 1826 from Germany, has been

hailed as the "Father of Cincinnati Art" by historians because he

opened the first art school teaching sophisticated European tech-

niques. Eckstein had studied painting and sculpture in Germany

where his grandfather had been a court painter.²² Eckstein taught

some of the artists wandering in from the hinterland, most notably

sculptor Hiram Powers and painter Miner Kellog. Eckstein's "acade-

my" was rudimentary, however. It consisted of one room, rented two

nights a week, for sketching and painting sessions. Worse still, Eck-

stein's school and fledgling museum failed within a year.²³ Even

 

 

 

21. Drake, Remarks, 26.

22. Smith.

23. Vitz, 50-55.

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14                                                 OHIO HISTORY

 

when well-trained artists practiced in Cincinnati, they did not always

find success.

The few artists in the city all knew and taught each other. When

the French painter Auguste Hervieu arrived in Cincinnati in 1828 with

the British traveler Frances Trollope, Eckstein employed him imme-

diately as assistant instructor and started classes once again. Hervieu

soon resigned in order to paint privately.²⁴ Since commissions in

Cincinnati were scarce, however, Hervieu teamed up with Hiram

Powers for practice. Powers sculpted Hervieu while Hervieu painted

Powers. The two exchanged ideas and argued over style during their

reciprocal sittings,²⁵ in a manner that typified artists' interaction in

Cincinnati before 1830. Hervieu sought always to "capture the ex-

pression" of his subject and chided Powers for constantly measuring

his sculpture for exact likeness. Nevertheless, Powers' precision ap-

parently influenced Hervieu. In 1830, two years after their first meet-

ing, Hervieu unveiled his masterwork, "The Landing of General La-

fayette at Cincinnati," which was admired most for its more than

fifty recognizable portraits.²⁶

Cincinnati artists continued to exchange ideas, but their ability to

make a living as professional painters and sculptors remained limited

in the 1830s. Hervieu earned money from "The Landing of Lafay-

ette" by taking it from Cincinnati to New York for exhibition. Anoth-

er artist, Miner Kellog, complained in 1830 that the scarcity of materi-

als, dealers, and paintings to study forced many artists to leave the

Queen City.²⁷ Hervieu's friend Powers molded mechanical figures

for "The Infernal Regions," a model of hell at Dorfueille's Cincinnati

Wax Museum.²⁸ Cincinnati artists found very few outlets for their

paintings and sculptures as serious art work.

Without support from public or private fine art institutions, Cincin-

nati artists continued to rely on private patronage by the local elite for

commissions. In frontier towns like Cincinnati in the 1830s only a

handful of wealthy men bought local artists' works. Nicholas Long-

worth (1782-1863), who had amassed a huge fortune in Cincinnati

 

 

 

24. Smith, 17.

25. Louis L. Tucker, "Hiram Powers and Cincinnati," Bulletin of The Cincinnati His-

torical Society, XXV (January, 1967), 25.

26. Smith, 17.

27. Thomas B. Brumbaugh, ed., introduction to "A New Letter of Hiram Powers,"

The Ohio Historical Quarterly, 65 (October, 1956), 399.

28. Miner Kilbourne Kellogg Scrapbook, Archives of American Art, microfilm 986,

frame 1128, cited by Dennis Carter in The Golden Age: Cincinnati Painters of the 19th

Century, (Cincinnati, 1979).

• 8
 

Painters and Patrons                                             15

 

real estate, was the best-known patron. Longworth was a small man,

always dressed in black, with shaggy eyebrows and sharp eyes that

Cincinnati painter Worthington Whittredge described as startling.²⁹

Lilly Martin Spencer, another local painter, described her first im-

pression of Longworth:

.... a little bit of an ugly man came in (much shorter than father) ... he

came forward and, taking my hand and squeezing hard, he looked at me

with a keen, earnest gaze . . . His manners are extremely rough and almost

coarse, but his shrewd eyes and plain manner hide a man of very strong

mind and high and generous heart. 30

Longworth usually showed his generosity by writing letters of intro-

duction for Cincinnati's traveling artists or financing their training in

New York or Europe. His favorite artist, Hiram Powers, thanked God

and Longworth for his success after thirty years as a sculptor.³¹

Other Cincinnatians, such as Peyton Symmes, Charles Stetson,

and John P. Foote, also collected paintings and sculptures, often

done by local artists. Cincinnati artists found that the surest road to

professional success was to be "adopted" by one of the city's pa-

trons. Local patrons often found favorites among Cincinnati artists

and bought almost exclusively from them. While Longworth took a

special interest in Powers, Charles Stetson patronized painter James

H. Beard, purchasing at least four paintings from him, more than

from  any other local artist.³² Stetson's private collection of over

twenty-five paintings was one of the largest in Cincinnati.

Public exhibition space in Cincinnati was extremely limited most of

the antebellum period. Although Drake occasionally displayed

paintings for the Western Museum, most art was shown in private

homes of the elite. Judge Jacob Burnet wrote to Hiram Powers in 1843

that Longworth's home was "crowded with visitors for weeks" after

Powers' bust Genevra arrived in Cincinnati.³³ Longworth opened his

home to other wealthy Cincinnatians to unveil new art acquisitions.

Harriet Martineau described a party at this house in 1835 at "the

largest and most elegant" of any she attended in Cincinnati.³⁴ Public

 

 

29. John I. H. Baur, ed., The Autobiography of Worthington Whittredge, (New York,

1969), 17, cited in Carter, 15.

30. Letter from Lily M. Spencer to her mother, November 3, 1841, quoted in Carter,

15.

31. Harris, 107; "Letters of Hiram Powers to Nicholas Longworth, Esq., 1856-1858,"

Quarterly Publication of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, I, 1906, 55.

32. Carter, 21.

33. Letter from Jacob Burnet to Hiram Powers, January 13, 1843, Hiram Powers Pa-

pers, Cincinnati Historical Society.

34. Martineau, 224-25.

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16                                                 OHIO HISTORY

 

viewing space increased in the late 1840s and 1850s, but in the 1830s

Cincinnati artists had few outlets beyond private homes.

While Drake urged Cincinnatians to "foster Western genius" and

create a regional culture, most local patrons bought few works from

Cincinnati artists. Collectors Peyton Symmes and Longworth pur-

chased mainly Eastern and foreign paintings. Symmes owned at least

eighteen works, only a few of which were done by Cincinnati artists,

including Aaron Corwine, Samuel Lee, and John King (1806-1847).35

Longworth also owned few works by Cincinnati artists-two by Hi-

ram Powers, two by sculptor Shubal Clevenger, one by sculptor A.

Rostaing, and a portrait by William Powell.³⁶ Certainly, Symmes and

Longworth had the right to purchase whatever art they chose, but

they made it more difficult for artists to find work and remain in the

Queen City.

Some Cincinnati artists openly criticized the private patronage sys-

tem. While American intellectuals criticized European art as the pro-

duct of elitism, royalty, and tyranny, Cincinnati artists often felt their

situation differed only in the absence of royal titles for their patrons.

In return for financial support, some patrons demanded excessive

control over artists' lives. Painter John Frankenstein, in his satire

American Art: Its Awful Attitude, called Longworth "Nick Little-

worth" and artists supported by Longworth, "pets." Frankenstein

attributed manipulative, evil motives to Longworth. Littleworth

sought to control artists' destiny by giving or withholding financial

support.

"Give artists work!" [Littleworth] cries, "I'm no such fool!

G-d d-n 'em, starve 'em! starve 'em! that's my rule!

To bring them out, it is the only way,

The shiftless, good-for-nothing dogs, I say!"³⁷

Frankenstein wrote his criticism as satire and clearly used extreme

language. He was not alone, however, in finding elitist tendencies in

private patronage in Cincinnati. James H. Beard, a Cincinnati painter,

described an instance in which Longworth offered to finance study

in New York if Beard left his family behind-perhaps for several

years. His arrogance struck Beard most; Longworth apparently as-

 

 

 

35. Charles Cist, Cincinnati in 1841: Its Early Annals and Future Prospects, (Cincin-

nati, 1841), 139-41. See also, E. D. Mansfield, Personal Memoirs, Social Political and

Literary Sketches of Many Noted People, 1803-1843, (Cincinnati, 1879), 148-49, and

Harris, 107.

36. Cist, 1841, 139-41, and Carter, 21.

37. Frankenstein, 89, 14.

• 10
 

Painters and Patrons                                          17

sumed that any artist would greedily accept his offer of support, un- der any conditions.38 Cincinnati artists before 1840 were not alone in disliking their total dependence on private patronage. Nationwide, many artists believed that patrons restricted their expressions and training. Money made patrons, not fine taste. And since artists needed money to survive, they catered to the major source of demand in the American art market-portraiture. Painter Henry Inman complained that no one would commission landscapes or genre scenes. An "exclusive slavery to portraiture" prevailed.39 By the late 1830s, the artist's experience in Cincinnati had changed very little from the days of Audubon and Corwine, more than fifteen years before. Although the number of wealthy patrons rose as Cin- cinnati grew, the type of support remained basically the same: artists had no schools of instruction and depended on the favor of individ- ual patrons for sales. In the next decade, however, artists and patrons       38. James H. Beard Autobiographical Notes, Daniel Carter Beard Papers, Library of Congress, 21-22. Cited in Carter, 16. 39. Harris, 66. See also, Harris' chapter "The Burden of Portraiture" for more de- tails on the national art scene.

• 11
 

18                                              OHIO HISTORY

 

experimented with new ways to support the arts financially and to ex-

tend their support beyond the Cincinnati elite.

 

II. The 1840s: Decade of Experimentation

 

In response to the limited artistic market and restrictive conditions,

many artists sought alternatives to the private patronage system, ways

to become self-sufficient by training prospective artists and marketing

their own works. An early step toward this goal was the opening of art

academies managed and staffed by professional artists. Modeled af-

ter the European schools, American art academies sought to create a

trained, professional community. New York's National Academy of

Design was one of the earliest founded in the United States, but its

success at training artists and holding exhibits was short-lived. Polit-

ical infighting and mismanagement destroyed many other academies.

Although founded to open opportunities for American artists to im-

prove their skills, the National Academy became a status symbol

among artists-the antithesis of democratic art. Training students,

the academies also found, did not necessarily imply commercial suc-

cess for the school. Academies still relied on financial support from

the wealthy, whether to purchase paintings or subsidize instruction

costs.40

In Cincinnati, academies of the fine arts faced conditions similar to

those of New York. Godfrey Frankenstein, brother of the satirist and

himself a painter, founded the Cincinnati Academy of Fine Arts in

1838. His attempt to train artists and cultivate artistic taste was even

more difficult to sustain in the West since art appreciation and patrons

were scarcer than in New York. The Cincinnati Academy met three

times each week to draw but could not afford to transport plaster

casts and models from New York. The "first collection of the kind [of

casts and models] that has ever been brought east of the moun-

tains," was purchased for the academy two years later by a few pri-

vate donors. Their first art exhibition in 1838 of over 150 paintings (in-

tended to finance the purchase of supplies and models) was poorly

attended and failed miserably.41 There were simply too few potential

buyers of fine art in the city. As in New York, Cincinnati artists found

themselves dependent on private dollars. Frankenstein pointed out

that the difficulties of his organization were common throughout the

Queen City. All other fine art academies in Cincinnati, he claimed in

 

 

40. Harris, 62-63, 94, 99.

41. Cincinnati Enquirer, December 23, 1840; Cist, 1841, 142.

• 12
 

Painters and Patrons                                     19

 

1840, had also failed. Artists still needed the private support of the

rich.

Cincinnati booster Charles Cist called for a change in elite attitudes

towards the fine arts in 1841. While Daniel Drake believed support of

the fine arts should be left to the individual patron, Cist called for

elite cooperation with artists and institutions in elevating the public's

aesthetic tastes. In his book Cincinnati in 1841: Its Early Annals and

Future Prospects, Cist promoted art for its aesthetic value alone-a

change from Drake's emphasis on cultural unity for political strength.

One of the main examples of cooperation in Cincinnati culture that

Cist described was the Society for the Promotion of Useful Knowl-

edge. Wealthy professionals, artists, and the general public attended

lectures on the "fine arts" as well as the "practical arts" and "moral

and intellectual philosophy." Another organization, The Eclectic

Academy of Music, set out to improve Cincinnatians' musical knowl-

edge and taste, but concentrated on works "such as are adapted to

moral and religious purposes." Support by the wealthy of such or-

ganizations could be seen in the society rosters. Art collector Peyton

Symmes headed the fine arts section of the society for Useful Knowl-

edge, and Jacob Burnet, Cincinnati judge and later United States

senator, was president of the Eclectic Academy of Music. Although

Drake never emphasized direct involvement of Cincinnati's prominent

citizens in artistic organizations, Cist applauded it.

While Drake insisted on an independent, regional culture, Cist

praised those organizations for serious artistic study that were based

"on a plan similar to those of Philadelphia and New York." By

praising copies of eastern artistic societies, Cist acknowledged a cul-

tural debt to the East that Drake would never have admitted so

openly. Cincinnati's youth as a city, which Drake had described op-

timistically, Cist recognized to be a cultural liability. "The fine arts

do not spring at once into being in a new community," Cist wrote.

"The wealth that exists here is amply sufficient" for artistic patron-

age, he stated; "one generation, however, must pass before that

wealth will be thus elegantly spent."

Cist also focused on urban, as opposed to regional, culture. "The

'Society for the Promotion of Useful Knowledge' has formed the

worthy, even if bold, project, of seeking to realize for Cincinnati some

of those benefits which seem peculiarly to belong to cities." The city

was unique, Cist claimed, in its potential to transcend the sum of indi-

vidual accomplishments. "Unless the higher feelings are stifled,"

wrote Cist, "nobler relations . . . spring up between fellow-citizens.

For they find themselves mutually dependent for the moral, intellec-

• 13
 

20                                              OHIO HISTORY

 

tual, and social influences which combine to make the spiritual at-

mosphere of this community." Cist focused on the spiritual appeal of

art, moving beyond Drake's moral and political goals. Cist believed

that "Truth, beauty, and happiness, which are the life-blood of so-

ciety" emanated from the fine arts. For Cist, the purpose of culture

was intangible aesthetic gratification.⁴²

At the time of Cist's writing, an informal, artistic community had

developed in Cincinnati. Cist in 1841 listed nineteen artists working in

Cincinnati. A dozen more artists had recently left the city, however,

for training at European and eastern art centers.⁴³ After the failure of

a traditional model of instruction, Godfrey Frankenstein's Academy

of the Fine Arts, Cincinnati artists turned to another sales method.

The problem, as they saw it, was twofold. First, the market for non-

commissioned works was limited as the failure of the Academy's ex-

hibit had shown. Only a handful of wealthy residents purchased

large, non-commissioned works. Second, the demand for commis-

sioned portraits severely limited their expression. Cincinnati needed

a larger pool of buyers with a broader range of tastes.

They therefore turned to the art union as a way of encouraging

public support of the arts. The art union operated on a lottery princi-

ple. Anyone could become a member of the union for a small fee (in

Cincinnati the price was $5.00). With membership money received,

the art union directors purchased paintings and sculptures. The art

works were exhibited to the public, and at the end of the year were

distributed by lottery. For a $5.00 investment, a member could win a

$200.00 painting. The art union originated in London, was copied in

New York, and in Cincinnati in 1846 as the Western Art Union. The

Western Art Union was a cooperative effort of the wealthy Cincinnati

professionals and artists. Charles Stetson and John P. Foote, two art

patrons, served on the Board of Directors. In its stated goals, the di-

rectors hoped to broaden the pool of art buyers and to stimulate a

"refining influence . . . upon the heart and mind" of Cincinnati socie-

ty. Recalling earlier criticisms of European royal patronage, the Art

Union directors to support the arts "not through the pride of the

Prince, but from the love of the People."⁴⁴

From the artists' perspective, the art union held several advan-

tages over commissioned patronage. Since the art union purchased all

styles of painting, artists found the opportunity to shed the burden of

 

 

 

42. Cist, 1841, 133, 135-41.

43. Ibid., 139-41.

44. Transactions of the Western Art Union, (Cincinnati, 1847), 31, 23.

• 14
 

Painters and Patrons                                     21

portraiture. Financially, purchases by the union greatly expanded and stabilized the local and regional art markets. Of the twenty-seven artists who contributed to the Western Art Union's 1846 distribution, eighteen, or two-thirds, were from the West.45 Local landscape painting was particularly encouraged. The West- ern Art Union's directors, all wealthy Cincinnati citizens, solicited a "selection of such local and national subjects as may enlist the pride of our country in the support of good taste."46 Two-thirds of the paintings in 1846 were landscapes. Only seventeen of seventy-four were portraits.       45. Ibid, 23. 46. Ibid., 7. See also Thomas Cole's article "Essay on American Scenery," The American Monthly Magazine, new series, 1 (1836), 1-12 and "Fine Arts: Opening of the Sixth Seal" for a description of the sublime.

• 15
 

22                                              OHIO HISTORY

 

The Western Art Union's emphasis on landscape was part of a

larger trend in American painting to depict the native scenery. The

wild, free character of American scenery was suited to express feel-

ings of the sublime on canvas. Stimulated by British and German Ro-

manticism, Thomas Cole and other members of the Hudson River

School of American landscape painting wanted to capture the sub-

lime in the American wilderness. Cole gave a catalog of America's nat-

ural wonders that were suitable for painting. In his list of specific

mountains, lakes, rivers, forests, and cloud types, Cole found Niagara

Falls, "the voice of the landscape," to be closest to the sublime. The

viewer became part of the swirling water, sensing its awesome power.

Cincinnati artist Godfrey Frankenstein depicted the Falls at every

time of day and year. His paintings were often included in the Art Un-

ion distribution.

Ideally, both artist and public benefitted from the Western Art

Union. Members received a free engraving and the chance to win an

original painting. The Art Union exhibit, housed in a four-story

building, was open to non-members and was a "subject of just

pride" to all as Cincinnatians. Art became accessible and enjoyable

visiting the exhibit became a form of public recreation. By shrewdly

combining business and aesthetics, the Art Union started an educa-

tional process that fueled itself. The Union exhibit was convenient

and, as its promoters explained, a "very successful mode, of dissemi-

nating a taste for the arts and of obtaining subscribers to the Art

Union."⁴⁷

The method was successful in the beginning. In its first four

years, from 1846 to 1849, Western Art Union membership increased

seven-fold, from 700 to nearly 4800. Income totaled $24,000 in 1849.

Seventy-four paintings were distributed in 1846, 110 in 1850. Painting

quality and value increased each year as well.⁴⁸ About half of the

works distributed were done by Cincinnati artists.

The Western Art Union's final significance, however, lay in its crea-

tion rather than actual results. In theory it was an alternative to pri-

vate patronage. In practice, however, ties to wealthy Cincinnati pa-

trons were still strong. Nicholas Longworth and Judge Jacob Burnet

drew members' names for the first distribution. The Director,

Charles Stetson, was a bank president. The Art Union was a

cooperative effort between the local elite and artists, but Union di-

rectors viewed their organization as a purely temporary stimulus of

 

 

47. Ibid., 6.

48. Western Art Union, 1847, 1849, 1850.

• 16
 

Painters and Patrons                                       23

 

Cincinnati art. They did not want to become the "regular and natural

patron and supporter" of the arts.⁴⁹ That position was still occupied

by individual, private patrons.

The Art Union also refused to pay more than the local going rate for

paintings. It provided a "more frequent and steadier market^"50 for

artists, but the payment per work remained the same. While artistic

development in the abstract was a proof of a city's cultural achieve-

ment and maturity, individual artists and their works were often con-

sidered extravagant.

The story of the Western Art Union is more a story of what might

have been than of what was. In theory, the Art Union promised to

offer an alternative to private patronage by broadening artistic taste

and support. It could be seen as democratic in its effort to spread art

to the general public. In practice, however, the Art Union was domi-

nated by local elites, and the $5.00 membership fee, though less

than the price of most canvases, certainly excluded many members

of society. The Union widened the scope of artistic support to a limit-

ed degree only.

The Western Art Union failed in more practical terms as well in

1851. Through mismanagement and accusations of corruption, the

Union became insolvent. Charles Stetson, a director, and other offi-

cers were accused of unfairly favoring some artists over others. Wil-

liam Steele, a painter on the Board of Directors, sold ten of his works

to the Union in 1849, more than any other single artist that year.

Though the Union never intended to become a permanent fixture in

the Cincinnati community, no one expected it to go down amidst

scandal as it did. After only four years, in 1851, the Western Art Un-

ion folded.

Many viewed the collapse of the Western Art Union as a betrayal of

public trust by the directors. Once fooled, the less wealthy support-

ers would be reticent to buy into any art organization again. As John

Frankenstein later stated, Stetson and the other officers twisted the

Art Union into "vile and villainous work." Their self interest mocked

the public's earnest support of the arts. He continued:

The People freely paid, true Art to speed,

But in its name would not corruption feed;

The growing popularity of Art

These rascals stifled at its very start.⁵1

 

 

49. Ibid., 1847, 28, 17.

50. Ibid., 1847, 21.

51. Frankenstein, 18.

• 17
 

24                                               OHIO HISTORY

 

In the end, both Cincinnati and artists lost in the Art Union's col-

lapse, reversing the organization's original goal of helping both.

The failure of the Western Art Union was a turning point in Cincin-

nati's artistic development from 1820 to 1860. While successful, the

Art Union marked a highpoint in popular participation in the Cincin-

nati fine arts market for most of the century.⁵² Until the opening of

the Cincinnati Art Museum after the Civil War, the public had only

limited viewing opportunities and, even with the Museum, rarely had

the means or commitment to buy costly paintings. The Art Union ex-

hibitions were simple and sound investments. During the antebellum

period, Cincinnati artists never regained the large market that the Art

Union had provided. By 1861, artists frequently left town for commis-

sions or worked as craftsmen to earn some income.⁵³

After the Western Union failed, no one again attempted to enlarge

the patronage pool the way the Art Union had done for a short time.

In the history of Cincinnati arts the Art Union was an experimental re-

sponse to patronage problems. The fine arts of painting and sculpture

appealed to a limited group of supporters-the Cincinnati elite.

 

III. The 1850s and Early '60s

As Cincinnati grew in wealth and population (over 160,000 by 1860),

the artistic community also expanded, but its dependence on private

patronage by the rich remained the same. Osgood Mussey, a local

journalist, heralded a "new era" in Cincinnati culture as two painting

galleries, fine architecture and a landscaped cemetery opened to the

public.⁵⁴ Artists' studios, supply stores, and galleries were clustered

around Fourth St. and Main. The anchor for all the fine art activity

was William Wiswell's gallery.

All the full-time portrait and landscape painters listed in the 1858

city directory operated out of studios within three blocks of Wis-

well's gallery on Fourth St. James Beard, still in Cincinnati after thirty

years, worked in the same building as painter Henry Kemper. John

Frankenstein and Robert Duncanson also opened studios on Fourth

St. Some artists, like John Aubery, opted for less expensive loft space

in the four-story stone and brick buildings. For supplies, artists

walked to William H. Harrison & Co., "Paints, Oils and Glass," at 23

 

 

52. After the Civil War, the Cincinnati Museum of Art, McMicken School of Design,

and the Ladies' Fine Arts Gallery offered greater viewing space.

53. The Sketch Club, 1 (Cincinnati, March, 1860).

54. Osgood Mussey, "The Fine Arts in Cincinnati and the West," Moore's Western

Lady's Book, 11, 1854, 67.

• 18
 

Painters and Patrons                                            25

 

W. Fourth St. or Hoffman and Moses at 222 Main.⁵⁵ Artists could

buy paints or study quality works at Wiswell's with ease-quite an

advance over the 1830s when plaster casts and linseed oil were rare

commodities.

Wiswell's gallery on the "entire lower floor of No. 70 West Fourth

St." opened in 1851, attracted artists, Cincinnati patrons, and tour-

ists.⁵⁶ As a professional picture framer, Wiswell had been a middle-

man in the Cincinnati art scene for years. Both artists and patrons

knew him and frequented his gallery. He continued his intermediary

role by allowing the struggling artists of the Cincinnati Sketch Club to

post drawings in his window each week, hoping to catch the eye of

incoming patrons. Wiswell bought finished paintings and sculptures

from local artists as well as European and other American painters.⁵⁷

Wiswell's gallery occupied a prime location to attract potential buy-

ers in downtown Cincinnati. Fine shops lined most of Fourth Street,

pulling in wealthy residents from outlying suburbs and tourists from

Cincinnati's best hotels, the Burnet House and Galt House, only a

block away. Guidebook writer Stevens described Fourth Street as

"the fashionable promenade of the city," thronged with shoppers

and tourists gazing at the river below.⁵⁸

By 1860, Cincinnati appeared to have all the components of a flour-

ishing art center. The artists themselves, however, thought other-

wise. Artists still sought respect for their profession. They wanted

the public to recognize their work as the product of knowledge and

years of training. John Frankenstein grew so frustrated with public

misperceptions of artists, he declared "that artist is of fool the syno-

nym"⁵⁹ to expect recognition. As members of the Sketch Club stat-

ed, "The public generally have an idea that painters, poets, sculp-

tors, et hoc genus omne have an art of living upon the food of fancy,

and the dainty sweetmeats from the bills of providential ravens."⁶⁰

An artist without a second supporting profession was rare. Most art-

ists found that painting and sculpture were still not appreciated in

Cincinnati. Members of the Sketch Club described themselves as

 

 

55. William's Cincinnati Directory, City Guide, and Business Mirror; For 1858, (Cin-

cinnati, 1858), 315.

56. Charles Cist, Sketches and Statistics of Cincinnati in 1859, (Cincinnati, 1859),

205.

57. The Sketch Club, I (April 21, 1860), 5; George E. Stevens, The Queen City in 1869,

(Cincinnati, 1869), 66. See also, A New Pocket Map of Cincinnati, Ohio, (Cincinnati,

1860); Cist, 1859, 205.

58. Stevens, 24.

59. Frankenstein, 101.

60. Sketch Club, no. 1, 5.

• 19
 

26                                               OHIO HISTORY

 

sculptors "who of necessity touch up an occasional grave-stone" and

painters who doubled as engravers, achieving "wonderful feats of

horsemanship on a seven-feet circus bill." Together they entered into

a "conspiracy against ignorance and prejudice" in Cincinnati.⁶¹ On

both the intellectual and monetary level, the artistic profession re-

mained in low esteem in Cincinnati.

Though Charles Cist had valued art mainly for its aesthetic ap-

peal, a major obstacle for appreciation of the fine arts in Cincinnati

was the dominant view of reformers and publicists that art ought to

be utilitarian. Art best served the public good if it were somehow

useful in technology or practical moral education. Until 1830 art was

more closely allied with the trades than the elite. Most artists were

poorly educated, itinerant portraitists whose main aim was to create a

likeness rather than an interpretation.⁶² In these circumstances, a

practical, utilitarian view of art was not unwarranted. As American

artists became more educated, craftsmanship and the fine arts split.

The utilitarian rationale for all art, however, was still imposed on

both. Refueled by the revivalism and reform of the 1830s, the utili-

tarian ideal took on the power of moral improvement. It was appropri-

ate that Cincinnati's Society for Useful Knowledge, founded in the

1830s, held classes in the fine arts alongside science and mechan-

ics.⁶³

The Western Art Journal, published in Cincinnati in 1855, pro-

posed a definition of the utilitarian arts. Articles included "Photogra-

phy," "Steamboat Building on the Ohio," and "The Steam Fire En-

gine." In the essay "American Art," editors argued that although

the fine arts could be pursued, America's distinctive character lay in

technological advancement. Particularly in the West, where the arts

were young, residents should pursue mechanics and agricultural ad-

vances. The Western Art Journal claimed "to promote a correct ap-

preciation of what is really useful and beautiful."⁶⁴

Photography, the combination of portrait and technology, epito-

mized the utilitarian view of art. Painters in the Sketch Club saw

photography as a crass abandonment of artist skill. Photography ap-

peared in Cincinnati in the 1840s and became exceptionally popular

for portraits in the mid-'50s. Painters in 1860 lamented the "fact that

Photography has almost entirely absorbed everything in the way of

 

 

 

61. Ibid., no. 1, 2.

62. Harris, 77, 58-59.

63. Cist, 1841, 133-35.

64. Western Art Journal, (Cincinnati, 1855).

• 20
 

Painters and Patrons                                     27

art." Photographs were useful as studies, but they were also "some- what soulless" as portraits.65 Many artists believed utilitarianism caused or at least abetted the extreme commercialization of art. A painter's ability to sell works of- ten determined his artistic talent in the public eye. As John Franken- stein wrote, "Here [in Cincinnati], merit's measured by the rule of cash,/what fails in this, is deemed but worthless trash."66 Outside the group of artists, promoters tried to merge the artistic and the utilitarian. The fine arts, they argued, would actually further the useful arts by raising the general level of knowledge. As one news- paper editor explained, the fine arts gave "a refinement and polish" to Cincinnati, "as necessary to its advanced progress as the cultiva- tion of the more sturdy arts."67 Publications and promoters devoted to art, and supposedly familiar with artists' concerns, also supported the utilitarian justification for art. In 1855, Osgood Mussey, a local       65. Sketch Club, no. 2 (April 21, 1860), 4-5. 66. Frankenstein, 11. 67. Enquirer, June 10, 1842.

• 21
 

28                                               OHIO HISTORY

 

journalist, praised Cincinnatians as a "practical and progressive peo-

ple" in "a utilitarian age." Every act or experience improved the intel-

lect, he claimed, and hence viewing a painting contributed to the

"atmosphere of intelligence" so sought after in Cincinnati. Under

these assumptions, "the fine arts march hand in hand with the utili-

tarian."⁶⁸ For Mussey, utilitarianism did not have to remain an ob-

stacle to the appreciation of fine art.

Utilitarianism forced art into a practical framework which many art-

ists saw as stifling and destructive of the human spirit. As early as

1836, Thomas Cole, a nationally-known Ohio painter, denounced the

"meagre utilitarianism" that he saw dominating art in his time. In a

New York art and literature journal, Cole appealed to the reader's ro-

mantic nature to abandon a merely utilitarian outlook:

What is sometimes called improvement in its march makes us fear that the

bright and tender flowers of the imagination shall be crushed beneath its

iron tramp.⁶⁹

Those "bright and tender flowers," a contemporary of Cole

claimed, represented the essential human spirit endangered by a

misguided society. Before the "benign influence" of the fine arts, he

wrote, "man existed; [but] he can scarcely be said to have lived, as

man."⁷⁰

Those who supported pragmatic improvement at the expense of

the imagination were repugnant and "meagre" in Cole's eyes. Utilitar-

ianism stood as the polar opposite to Romanticism. Artists perceived

a fundamental gap between utilitarian minds and themselves, one

that went beyond professional and financial concerns. The non-artist

public was often on a conflicting path with the fine arts. Given these

basic differences in outlook, one can understand why John Franken-

stein remained so bitter and why many artists left Cincinnati in frus-

tration. They hoped, sometimes in vain, that the East And Europe

would nurture their romantic nature rather than repress it.

Many of Cincinnati's most talented artists did leave the city, even

before the 1850s. Cist in 1841 listed nineteen artists working in Cincin-

nati and twelve more Queen City residents who worked in other

American cities or in Europe. Miner Kellogg and Hiram Powers, sculp-

tor Frederick Eckstein's star pupils, both lived in Florence in 1841.

 

 

68. Mussey, 48.

69. Thomas Cole, "Essay on American Scenery," The American Monthly Magazine,

1 (1836), 3.

70. William Dunlap, "Essay on the Influence of the Arts of Design," The American

Monthly Magazine, new series vol. 1 (1836), 114.

• 22
 

Painters and Patrons                                            29

 

Some artists left for further training, and others left to find work.

Painter T. Buchanan Read was forced to leave Cincinnati many times

for commissions.71

By the 1850s and early 1860s, more and more artists not only left

Cincinnati for other American cities but for Europe as well. Cincinnati

could not offer financial support or extensive collections to its artists.

Europe offered both. Local painter Moses Ezekiel (1844-1917) spoke

of Europe as the ideal place to study and practice fine art:

When I had finished the statuette in all of its most minute details, it was

exhibited in a prominent window of an art-shop in 4th St., and the papers

spoke about the work in a very encouraging manner. I never expected any-

body to buy or order the work, but the encouragement made up my mind

that the only thing left for me to do would be to go to Europe, and study in

some one of the great centers of art.⁷²

Though it is impossible to determine each artist's motive for leav-

ing Cincinnati, by examining the conditions for artists in the city in

the 1850s one can see that there were few alternatives to Europe.

Staying in the city meant struggling for recognition from an uneducat-

ed public and working second jobs to support painting and sculpting.

In response to these conditions, at least nine local artists were in

Europe in 1859.⁷³

Cincinnatians were not the only artists traveling to Europe. Many

American painters, sculptors, and writers lived in Europe for several

years before the Civil War. Over one hundred American artists lived

in Italy alone.⁷⁴

In place of alienation, Europe offered American artists public re-

spect, established academies, and a tradition of artistic greatness. As

James Russell Lowell described the American artists European expe-

rience, "Italy gives cheaply what gold cannot buy for him at home."

In contrast to Cincinnati, Europe offered original masterpieces. Eu-

rope had history, "a Past at once legendary and authentic."⁷⁵ Au-

thor Washington Irving was drawn to the "shadowy grandeur"⁷⁶ of

Europe's ruined castles and aqueducts. The scenes of great achieve-

ments enthralled Irving and other American writers and painters.

 

 

71. Cist, 1841, 140-141; Sketch Club, no. 2, 4.

72. Moses Ezekiel, undated, American Archives of Art, 97, quoted in Carter, 20.

73. Cist, 1859.

74. Cushing Strout, The American Image of the Old World, (New York, 1963), 68.

75. James Russell Lowell, quoted by Otto Whitman, Jr., "The Italian Experience,"

American Quarterly, 4 (Spring, 1952), 11.

76. Roderick Nash, Wilderness and the American Mind, (New Haven: Yale Univ.

Press, 1967), 72.

• 23
 

30                                               OHIO HISTORY

 

While Americans faced an unfathomable wilderness in the 1830s,

Europe offered "monuments of man's fierce passions, of furious battle

and heroic, martial deeds"⁷⁷ that dated back thousands of years.

From an American viewpoint, Europe was inundated with art. One

New York writer, Charles Dunlap, in 1836 described how fine archi-

tecture and ornamentation abounded, even in small European vil-

lages. The common people, he argued, were more sensitive to all art

forms because they had been exposed to such beauty all their lives.

By 1859, Cincinnati booster Charles Cist adopted a similar argument.

Introducing a chapter on Cincinnati fine arts, Cist described how in

Europe art touched all aspects of city life and artists got credit for

creating it. "The [European] towns are populous with statues of great

artists," he wrote,

the chiefest attraction of the cities are the galleries of their works; streets

are named after them, and the great living painters and sculptors are the

companions of sovereigns, and are loaded with honors."⁷⁸

In Europe, art was plentiful and rewarded.

Artists were not the only Americans in Europe before the Civil

War. Patrons went too. After 1830, a growing economy in the United

States enabled many Americans to visit Europe as tourists for the first

time. Most travelers were educated and affluent, and those Ameri-

cans who could afford to travel to Europe developed a more sophisti-

cated appreciation of fine art than those who never left the United

States. The old dominance of portraiture began to fade as Americans

returned with a greater interest in all genres of painting and sculpture.

For this new group of American patrons, "emotional excitement pro-

duced intellectual commitments"⁷⁹ to support a broader range of art

in the United States. Ironically, intellectual and financial support for

an American art form became possible only after Americans saw and

accepted the art of Europe.

Cincinnati artists also defined themselves in relation to Europe. As

strangers in a foreign country, they felt a heightened sense of identity

as Americans. Cincinnati sculptor Hiram Powers celebrated Washing-

ton's Birthday with other American artists in Florence, serving bot-

tles of Nicholas Longworth's Cincinnati wine.⁸⁰ Powers kept in close

touch with many Cincinnati residents, both artists and patrons,

 

 

 

77. Mussey, 47.

78. Cist, 1859, 201.

79. Harris, 127, 144.

80. "Letters of Hiram Powers," Quarterly.

• 24
 

Painters and Patrons                                         31

 

while living in Europe. Nicholas Longworth and Jacob Burnet still

ordered sculptures from him, and Cincinnatians planning trips to

Europe asked Powers for travelers' advice.⁸¹ Even after twenty years

in Florence, Powers still called Cincinnati home. His wife believed,

he wrote to Longworth, "that the original paradise was situated at,

or not far from Cincinnati" to which he hoped soon to return.⁸² Al-

though financial difficulties kept Powers in Europe, he and other

American artists became more aware of their nationality when

abroad. Europe was a land of training and opportunity, but the Unit-

ed States still claimed first allegiance.

Unlike Powers, who remained in Florence permanently, most artists

returned to the United States,⁸³ bringing the European experience

home with them. The American artist of the 1840s and 1850s was

more likely to have European training than his counterpart before

1830. Armed with new skills and a heightened American identity,

artists returned to the United States determined to raise the general

level of American art.

Though it is unclear whether Charles Cist ever visited Europe,

in his last work, Sketches and Statistics of Cincinnati in 1859, Cist

viewed European culture as ideal. "The most lasting and honorable

monuments of a people's greatness," he wrote, "are those connected

with the national art." Art need not serve a political or pragmatic pur-

pose in order to benefit the nation or to be patronized. Cist asserted

that a nation's true strength lay in a culture grounded in the fine arts.

"The art of a country has thus become the type of its power, not less

than its refinement, and political economists in this country would do

well to learn that it is not alone in the encouragement of what are

called . . . the useful as compared with the fine arts, that the pros-

perity of a nation is advanced." Drake had proposed practical, imme-

diate steps toward a unified regional culture, but Cist in 1859 appreci-

ated the universal quality of fine art. "Beauty is immutable while

infinite, and the creations of a true artist endure to yield pleasure and

instruction to successive generations."⁸⁴

Despite their praise of American art, however, Cincinnati patrons

and promoters revealed an ambivalence toward the East and Eu-

 

 

81. Powers Papers, Cincinnati Historical Society. Powers wrote hundreds of letters

from Florence to Cincinnatians. His largest single correspondence was with Nicholas

Longworth.

82. Letters of Hiram Powers to Nicholas Longworth, Oct. 3, 1858, published in

Quarterly.

83. Strout, 70.

84. Cist, 1859, 136, 200-01.

• 25
 

32                                                OHIO HISTORY

 

rope. Osgood Mussey, a Cincinnati journalist, vehemently asserted

American superiority over Europe and West over East, but he proud-

ly wrote of local artists' "accomplishments"-usually defined as be-

ing known outside Cincinnati. Mussey's highest praise went to those

artists who excelled in the European schools of art.⁸⁵ The Western

Art Union also cited Hiram Powers, who never returned to Cincinna-

ti, as evidence of the city's artistic development. Europe persisted as

the cultural standard against which Cincinnati elite and publicists

measured Cincinnati art. Their ambivalence revealed a deeper fear of

provinciality.

The Cincinnati artists, in contrast, decried the lack of artistic taste

in the Queen City and denounced their "artistic law of primogeni-

ture" to the East.⁸⁶ Cist in 1859 published an alternative to the utili-

tarian outlook on art, but he offered no practical ways for artists to

achieve the immutable beauty in Cincinnati. Artists continued to

leave the city, as the Sketch Club lamented in 1861:

We are sorry to find that our artists find more encouragement in the East-

ern cities than they do here at home, we will instance Powell, Read, Sontagg

and a host of others, who are overloaded with commissions from elsewhere,

at good prices, while here our patronage seems so poor.⁸⁷

Cincinnati itself destroyed artists, even talented, European-trained

ones, wrote John Frankenstein in 1864. Of the Cincinnati artists who

studied in Europe, most who returned to the United States went to

New York. While New York grew as an American art center in the

1850s and 1860s, Cincinnati paled in comparison.

Cist's outlook had become global, drawing on the European cul-

tural tradition as the model for Cincinnati. This represented a rever-

sal of Drake's provincial view of the West as the savior of the nation.

In forty years, the conditions that generated Cist and Drake's view-

points had changed considerably. By 1859 Cincinnati was no longer

part of the West. As settlement extended past the Ohio Valley, Cin-

cinnati became the Central West, no longer on the edge of the nation.

While Drake compared Cincinnati to a "green and growing" sapling,

full of potential, Cist acknowledged "its remoteness from the great art

schools of the world.^"88 As the useful, technological arts grew, and

the fine arts declined, Cincinnati ironically realized Daniel Drake's

dream of a separate Western culture.

 

 

85. Mussey, 47.

86. Sketch Club, no. 1, p. 1.

87. Ibid., no. 3, p. 4.

88. Drake, Remarks, 26; Cist, 1859, 201.

• 26