The archives of the Philadelphia Sketch Club contain a wealth of information about individual artists and how they interacted at the Club. Important documents in our collection include exhibition catalogs, photographs, newspaper articles, minute books and financial records.
A key part of the archives is Seventy-Five Years of the Philadelphia Sketch Club, the club history of over 1,000 pages that was compiled in 1936 by Sidney Lomas. The Sketch Club archives also contain many individual artists files that contain information and documents gathered over the years.
Information for the Club’s archives is made available to other organizations and individuals after receipt of a written request identifying the specific information being sought.
Selected Member Biographies
Taken from the Catalogue of Thomas Eakins and His Fellow Artists at the Philadelphia Sketch Club
Anshutz, Thomas Pollack (1851-1912) –
Born and raised mostly in Kentucky, Anshutz and his family lived in West Virginia before moving to Philadelphia is 1871. In 1872 he went to New York City to study at the National Academy of Design. In 1876 he moved to Philadelphia where he enrolled in the Philadelphia Sketch Club’s life class. When the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts opened its new building that year, both Anshutz and his Sketch Club instructor, Thomas Eakins, signed a request for a life class to be held at the Academy’s evening school. The petition also requested that Eakins serve as an instructor. Anshutz studied under Eakins at the Academy in 1879 and 1880 and became his assistant and protege. He succeeded Eakins as Chief Demonstrator of Anatomy in 1881 and Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing in 1882. When Eakins was forced to resign from the Academy in 1886, Anshutz and four fellow teachers wrote the board of directors trying to deny their role in his dismissal. He was also part of the committee that recommended Eakins’ ouster from the Philadelphia Sketch Club. Anshutz took over the anatomy and life classes of the Academy in 1886 and taught there for over thirty years. He became Director of the School in 1909. Anshutz joined the Sketch Club in 1877 and remained a member until his death in 1912. He was President between 1910 and 1912. His forty-four oil portrait sketches of fellow members serve as a frieze in the Club’s library. Anshutz’s Sewing by the Hearth, c. 1884, is reminiscent of Eakins’ painting, In Grandmother’s Time, 1876. Anshutz’s greatest contribution may have been his instruction of the next generation of American artists. Artists such as John Sloan, Robert Henri and George Luks referred to Anshutz as their greatest art instructor.
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Bailly, Joseph Alexis (1825-1883) – Born in Paris, Bailly was the son of a manufacturer of cabinet furniture. He studied at the French Institute and worked in his father’s factory as a turner and carver. Conscripted against his will in the revolution of 1848 and guilty of firing on his own captain, he escaped to England, where the studied briefly with the sculptor Edward Hodges Baily. He came to the United States and after short stays in New Orleans, New York, and Buenos Aires, he arrived in Philadelphia in 1850 and started a woodcarving business. Bailly enjoyed success with commissions from local patrons for decorative projects and prizes in exhibitions. In 1854 he opened a sculpture studio and worked in stone and bronze as well as wood. When the Academy of Music was built in 1855-57, Bailly carved it ornamental sculpture. In 1860 he was elected an Academician by the Pennsylvania Academy. He was professor of modeling at the Pennsylvania Academy in 1876 and 1877 and exhibited there frequently from 1851 to 1880. Among his students were Howard Roberts, Alexander Milne Calder, and John J. Boyle. Bailly was a member of the Sketch Club from 1865 until his death in 1883.
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Bensell, Edmund Birckhead (1842-1894) – The brother of George F. Bensell, Edmund was a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and one of the original six founders of the Philadelphia Sketch Club. He also served as the Club’s President from 1869 to 1871. Although he was a painter in his early career, his later work was done as an illustrator. The Bensell brothers fostered the enthusiastic feeling at the Club for the anti-slavery cause. With other members, they painted a transparency and banners for the Negro Headquarters. A Sketch Club contingent was also formed in the Republican Invincibles of the Union Army. Edmund Bensell and fellow member Frederick B. Schell helped illustrate William Still’s book The Underground Rail Road. Still’s historic home is located near the Sketch Club on 12th Street.
Bensell, George Frederick (1837-1879) – Born in Philadelphia, Bensell studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and with John L. Lambdin (this name is recorded in the Sketch Club’s history although some sources indicate it was James Reid Lambdin). He became a portrait, poetical genre, landscape and historical painter. It was in his studio at 125 South 11th Street on November 20, 1860, that the Philadelphia Sketch Club was formed. He served as the club’s first President and held that position twice afterwards. He remained a member until his untimely death in 1879. During his career he was also an instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy, where he was named an Academician. His twenty-two page poem The Artist’s Dream, which was written with Samuel Diffield in 1867 and illustrated by his brother, Edmund, is in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Bredin, Rae Sloan (1881-1933) – Born in Butler, Pennsylvania, Bredin graduated from the Pratt Institute in New York in 1898. He attended the New York School of Art from 1900 to 1903 where his instructors included William Merritt Chase and Frank Vincent DuMond. Catalogs on his works published during Bredin’s lifetime indicate he studied with Thomas Eakins, although the time and place are not known. In 1914 he moved to a house on the towpath in New Hope, Pennsylvania. Bredin became a noted portraitist and landscape painter. He taught at both the New York School of Fine Arts and the Philadelphia School of Design for Women. Bredin was a member of the Sketch Club from 1922 until his death in 1933.
Briscoe, Franklin Dullin (1844-1903) – Born in Baltimore, Briscoe spent most of his life in Philadelphia. He studied with Edward Moran at the age of sixteen. Briscoe made many extended ocean voyages where he found the subjects for his paintings of the ocean and ships in all types of weather. He became a well known and successful marine painter of the last quarter of the 19th century. In 1885 he also painted a major historical mural, “The Battle of Gettysburg,” which was 13 feet tall and 230 feet long. Briscoe was a member of the Sketch Club from 1866 until his death in 1903.
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Burns, Charles Marquedant (1838-1922) – Represented in this exhibition in a portrait by John McLure Hamilton, and by a portrait in the Sketch Club’s collection by Thomas P. Anshutz, Burns was at home in both artistic and architectural circles. Born in Philadelphia, he attended the University of Pennsylvania but left at the end of his junior year. He entered the Civil War in 1862 and served with Admiral Farragut in the battles of New Orleans and Mobile. He returned to Philadelphia and began his architectural practice in which he concentrated on the ecclesiastical design, particularly of Protestant Episcopal churches. In 1876 he entered the Pennsylvania Academy and studied under Thomas Eakins. In 1879 he was a member of the faculty of the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art where he taught drawing and design. One of his students was Joseph Pennell who he helped enter the Pennsylvania Academy. Burns was one of the first architects proposed for membership in the Philadelphia Chapter of the AIA, and later served as its treasurer. He enjoyed a reputation as a portrait painter and exhibited a watercolor at the Centennial Exposition. Burns joined the Sketch Club in 1880 and was a member until his death in 1922.
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Cariss, Henry T.(1850-1903) – Cariss was born in Philadelphia and studied with Peter Moran and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Thomas Eakins. After an early career as a scene painter in several Philadelphia theaters, Cariss’ oil paintings gained him recognition. He was a prominent figure in Philadelphia art circles and his work as a painter and etcher dealt largely with figural subjects and historical scenes. The Club’s history from the 1880s reveals that “Cariss, in his early 30s, was a most popular member of the Club, with a good singing voice, which he was always willing to inflict on social gatherings. He was a painter of some reputation, with a fondness for historical subjects. He was first elected President on January 4, 1883, and served the members faithfully and well in that office for five consecutive years.” Prior to that, Cariss had been Vice-President from 1881 to 1883. Besides his important positions at the Sketch Club, some of Cariss’ noteworthy distinctions include being a member of the Philadelphia Society of Etchers, a founder of the Philadelphia Art Club, a Juror at the Academy in 1885, and a member of the Philadelphia Society of Artists.
His most famous work, Oath of Allegiance at Valley Forge, was both painted and etched. Recently, his painting entitled Contentment sold at William Doyle Gallery in New York for $36,000. Cariss was also a stained glass designer from 1884 to 1893 and for a period of time ran the Centuries Stained Glass Co. in Philadelphia. He was a member of the Sketch Club from 1878 until his death in 1903. Cariss was President of the Club in 1886 when Eakins’ membership was brought up for revocation.
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Chandler, Jr., Theophilus Parsons (1845-1928) – Born in Boston, Chandler studied at Harvard before working as an architect for several firms in that city. Around 1872 he came to Philadelphia expecting a building boom to arise as a result of the coming Centennial Exhibition. Although the boom did not materialize, Chandler received many interesting and important commissions to include the bear pits for the Philadelphia Zoological Society, the Swedenborgian Church at Chestnut and Twenty-second streets, and the John Wanamaker residence at Twentieth and Walnut Streets. His designs, for both architecture and furniture, were ordered and sophisticated and closer to historical precedent than his contemporaries. Tastes evolved toward Chandler’s position, making him successful into the twentieth century. Chandler was an officer at the Pennsylvania Academy during Eakins’ tenure as an instructor. He was a member of the Sketch Club from 1874 until his death in 1928. Chandler also championed the cause of a full-fledged school of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. He served as its head in 1890, its first full year of existence.
Clark, Jr., William J. (1839-1889) – The oldest son of a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Clark’s early education was through his father who was the principal of a seminary in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C. At the outbreak of the Civil War he entered the naval service as an Assistant Engineer. Clark served throughout the war, mostly on the Government Cruiser Pawnee, and was on almost continuous duty in the South Atlantic blockading squadron. After the end of the war, he became a dramatic and art critic and editorial writer for the Sunday Dispatch in Philadelphia. In 1868 Clark accepted the position of general editorial writer and art and dramatic critic on the Evening Telegraph, which he held until his death. Clark had studied in the antique class at the Pennsylvania Academy and under Eakins in 1876. He later served the Academy as a director for several years. His obituary indicates he “was an accomplished amateur, some of his work in oil and water colors showing artistic skill and technical knowledge of a high order.” As a critic, Clark was a champion of Eakins’ unconventional art. He was one of the original members of the Penn Club. Clark joined the Sketch Club in 1865 and remained a member until his death. He served as President from 1877 to 1883. Clark’s leadership helped the Sketch Club become a preeminent artistic institution. In 1874, Clark was appointed manager of the Sketch Club’s life class and played a major role in its success and having Eakins serve as an instructor.
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Cooper, Colin Campbell (1856-1937) – Born in Philadelphia to an upper class family where the father was a surgeon, Cooper was encouraged by his educated family to pursue art. He was also inspired by the art he saw at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and was a student of Thomas Eakins in 1880 and 1881. He also studied in Paris at the Academies Julian, Vitti, and Delecluse. During that time, he traveled throughout Europe and painted picturesque architectural scenes, which gained him widespread recognition. Sadly many of these paintings were lost in a fire of 1896. In 1886, Cooper was one of the instructors at the Pennsylvania Academy who wrote the board of directors denying any role in Eakins’ forced resignation. From 1895 to 1898, he was instructor of watercolor at the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia and then moved to New York City from where he and his artist wife Emma Lampert traveled throughout the world in search of subject matter. They first went to California in 1915, spending the winter in Los Angeles and in 1921, settled in Santa Barbara, where he served as dean of painting at the Santa Barbara Community School of Arts. Cooper became a distinguished impressionist painter of both the East and West Coasts, earning an international reputation with his landscapes, florals, portraits, gardens, interiors and figures. He was especially noted for street scenes and skyscrapers of New York and Philadelphia, and his impressionist palette was inspired by Childe Hassam whom he met in New York beginning in the 1890s. In the later part of his life, he focused on West Coast subject matter and espoused “The California Style” of watercolor painting, a bold, aggressive new oil-painting look to a medium that had traditionally been used more modestly. He was a member of the Sketch Club from 1878 to 1889. He was a member of numerous other associations including the California Art Club, Salmagundi Club, and the National Academy of Design. His work is in many museums including the Cincinnati Art Museum, the St. Louis Museum, and the Oakland Museum. He died in Santa Barbara.
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Craig, Thomas Bigelow (1849-1924) – Born in Philadelphia, Craig was largely self-taught but some sources indicate he may have studied at the Pennsylvania Academy. It is also said that he studied with Thomas Eakins and his membership in the Sketch Club from 1873 to 1876 supports this belief. Craig moved from Philadelphia to New York in 1889, and finally settled in Rutherford, New Jersey. He also maintained a summer studio in Woodland Valley near Phoenicia, New York. Craig was a successful painter best known for his summer landscapes with cows grazing or wading through a stream.
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Cresson, William Emlen (1843-1868) – Cresson entered the Pennsylvania Academy in 1860. He died eight years later at the age of twenty-five. In 1901 his parents gave the bulk of their fortune to endow a travel scholarship at the Pennsylvania Academy in memory of their artist son. Cresson joined the Sketch Club in 1861, shortly after its founding and remained a member until his death. He served the Club as Secretary in 1863 and 1864. The Sketch Club history describes Cesson as “young, high-strung,…warm hearted, brimming over with ideas; a musician, singer and amateur actor of ability. A good painter, preferring poetical subjects and forever sketching. He could not write a letter without an arabesque margin of the most pointed and fantastic illustrations.”
Dana, Charles Edmund (1843-1924) – Born in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, Dana studied at the Pennsylvania Academy where he was a student of Thomas Eakins. He also studied at the Royal Academy in Dresden, the Royal Academy in Munich, and with Evariste Vital Luminais in Paris. Dana was a trustee of the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art and a teacher at the University of Pennsylvania. He was also the subject of an Eakins portrait. Dana was a member of the Sketch Club from 1867 until his death.
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Dull, John J. (1859-1949) – Born in Philadelphia, Dull studied under Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy in 1879. He became a well-known watercolorist, as well as an architect and architectural design instructor. From 1885 to 1891, Dull worked for Wilson Bros. He started his own firm in 1893. He was joined by Robert E. Peterson and in 1898 by H. Crawford Coates, who was also a Sketch Club member. When Peterson withdrew in 1899, Dull & Coates continued until 1904. Dull designed several churches and began working with Charles W. Bolton, a notable church designer. They continued until 1916 when Dull returned to independent practice. Dull and Arthur Truscott began the Beaux-Arts style atelier architectural department at Drexel Institute. Dull served as an architectural design instructor there for many years. He was a member of the Sketch Club from 1895 until his death in 1949.
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Dunk, Walter M. (1855-?) – A complete history of Dunk is not available as he left his native Philadelphia in the early 1900s to further pursue his career in New York. He studied under Eakins from 1876 to 1881. He joined the Sketch Club in 1877 and remained a member until 1903. He served as its Vice President form 1886 to 1888 and as its President from 1888 to 1890. Dunk was part of the committee appointed by the Sketch Club in 1886 to investigate charges against Eakins. The committee warranted and sustained the charges “that Eakins has used his position as an artist and his authority as a teacher to commit certain trespasses on common decency and good morals.” Dunk’s stationary, which recorded some of the actions of the committee, indicates he was a “Designer and Illustrator.”
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Eakins, Thomas Cowperthwaite (1844-1916) – Individuals seeking detailed information on the life and works of Thomas Eakins are encouraged to see the exhibition Thomas Eakins: American Realist currently at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and its book, Thomas Eakins, organized by Darrel Sewell. Eakins was one of America’s greatest realist painters of portraits and figurative works. His working method involved a close, at times scientific, study of the mechanics of nature. In 1874 Eakins attended life classes at the Sketch Club and agreed to provide criticism, without pay, to the students. This was his first teaching position. As an instructor at the Sketch club and Pennsylvania Academy, he emphasized anatomy and advocated the study of the nude in order to understand figural construction. Eakins taught art classes at the Sketch Club, Pennsylvania Academy, Philadelphia Society of Artists, Brooklyn Art Guild, Philadelphia Art Students’ League, New York Art Students’ League and Drexel Institute. He was also a photographer and used the medium to aid in his painting as well as creating works of art in themselves. Eakins also developed several devices for taking motion photographs and collaborated his work with Eadweard Muybridge at the University of Pennsylvania. Eakins was an honorary member of the Sketch Club from 1879 to 1886, an honor no doubt bestowed due to his reputation as a painter and instructor as well as the work he had done in running the Sketch Club’s life classes. In 1886, in concert with the charges he was facing at the Pennsylvania Academy, Eakins was charged at the Sketch Club with “conduct unworthy of a gentleman and discreditable to this organization” by Thomas Anshutz, Frank Stephens and Charles Stephens. Although Eakins never formerly resigned from the Sketch Club, the Sketch Club members in 1984 voted to reinstate him in the Club’s records.
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English, Frank F. (1854-1922) – Born in Louisville, Kentucky, English lived in Mt. Holly, New Jersey, and Claymont, Delaware, before settling in Point Pleasant, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. In the early 1880s he studied for five years in the evening classes of the Pennsylvania Academy. His instructors included Thomas Eakins as well as James P. Kelly and Thomas Anshutz. Exhibition records indicate he resided in Claymont from 1889 to 1902 where he illustrated for local newspapers, magazines and books. He also produced landscapes in watercolor which became his specialty. English moved to Bucks County in 1910 and resided there until his death. He joined the Sketch Club in 1888 and was its Vice President when he died in 1922.
Faber, Hermann (1832-1913) – A native of Germany, Faber came to the U.S. in 1854. During the Civil War he served as an artist on the Surgeon General’s staff of the Union Army and illustrated the medical records of the war. Faber’s military position also allowed him to make two drawings of Lincoln’s deathbed scene before the room was cleared. Also a portrait painter, many of his painting and etching subjects included animal subjects and historical adventure scenes. Faber was a member of the Sketch Club from 1870 to 1874 and was Eakins’ student in 1876. He was also a member of the Philadelphia Society of Etchers and served as its Secretary for two years. Faber’s etchings were also used to illustrate books on classic poems such as Goethe’s Hermann and Dorothea and Walsh’s Faust.
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Faber, Ludwig Ernest (1855-1913) – The son of Hermann Faber, Ludwig studied at the Academy under Thomas Eakins from 1877 to 1879. He also studied with Benjamin-Constant, Lefebvre, and Robert-Fleury in Paris and at the Munich Academy. After an early career as a wood engraver, he became a successful portrait painter and an instructor at the School of Industrial Art. He also produced works as an etcher and miniature painter. L. Faber was President of the Sketch Club from 1897 to 1904, the longest tenure on record. He was a member of the Sketch Club from 1883 until his death in 1913. He was also Vice President of the Philadelphia Society of Miniature Painters, a member of the Paris Art Association, and a member of the Philadelphia Society of Etchers.
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Ferris, Stephen James (1835-1915) – Born in Plattsburg, NY, Ferris came to Philadelphia at the age of twenty-one after spending the previous twelve years in Illinois. Primarily a portrait painter, he had studied for two years with Samuel B. Waugh. He joined the Sketch Club in 1860 within one month of its founding. In 1866 John Sartain, the veteran engraver and mezzotinter, demonstrated the process of etching for Thomas Moran and Ferris. Both became prolific and important etchers. In 1875 Ferris collaborated with Peter Moran and produced the etching The Chariot Race in the Circus Maximus, which was heralded as “the most important etching yet produced in America.” Sketch Club records indicate that Ferris frequently demonstrated the technique of etching for the members. A visit to Ferris’ studio by Joseph Pennell started his career as an etcher. Ferris was also an instructor at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women and an engraver for various publishers. There appears to have been a friendship between Eakins’ instructor, Jean Leon Gerome, and Ferris. Stephen Ferris’ son, also an artist, was christened Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, and records indicate that Gerome accepted an honorary membership in the Philadelphia Society of Etchers, an organization in which Ferris and Peter Moran were very active.
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Frost, Arthur Burdett (1851-1928) – Born in Philadelphia, Frost worked for a wood engraver and then a lithographer while sketching in the evenings. It was here in Philadelphia he launched his long career as an illustrator, beginning in 1874 as one of the contributors to Max Adeler’s book, Out of the Old Hurly-Burly or, Life in An Odd Corner, a satire on American village life. The book sold over a million copies. By 1876, he was working as a staff illustrator for Harper’s Magazine. His pen illustrations were also shown in magazines such as Century, Scribner’s, Cosmopolitan and Colliers. He also illustrated stories and books by authors such as Charles Dickens and Mark Twain. One of the great illustrators of the “Golden Age of American Illustration,” Frost was best known for his humorous drawings, generally of homely farm and country types and animals. Through it all, Frost wanted to be a painter. He attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and studied under Eakins from 1879 to 1881. In 1891, he began studying with impressionist painter William Merritt Chase, and became a successful painter of still lifes and landscapes. He was a member of the Sketch Club from 1873 to 1883. He resigned when he married Emily Phillips and moved to Long Island. His artwork was recently commemorated on a stamp, an illustration of Br’er Rabbit for the Uncle Remus tales by Joel Chandler Harris, probably the art work for which Frost is most famous. Frost was also the subject of one of Eakins’ portraits.
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Fussell, Charles Lewis (1840-1909) – The oldest child in a large Quaker family, Fussell was born in West Vincent, Chester County, Pennsylvania. After living with his mother’s relatives in Indiana for a few years, the family moved to Philadelphia. Fussell attended Central High School and was a classmate of Thomas Eakins and William Sartain. Fussell joined the Sketch Club in 1861 and remained a member until 1863. In 1864, he enrolled in classes at the Pennsylvania Academy and was the pupil of Peter F. Rothermel. Fussell’s friendship with Eakins continued at the Pennsylvania Academy and he corresponded with Eakins while he studied in France. Fussell’s family moved to Townset’s Inlet, New Jersey, in 1868 in an effort to restore his father’s health. Fussell was forced to devote most of this time to farming. In 1870, he went to Greeley, Colorado, in search of a therapeutic climate and a scenic landscape. Fussell found neither and returned to Philadelphia. He returned to the Pennsylvania Academy and studied under Eakins. In 1871 his family moved to Media, Pennsylvania, and he traveled through Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York painting landscape subjects. Fussell settled in Brooklyn in 1889 and remained there until 1897. He returned to Media and remained there the rest of his life. Eakins occasionally visited Media to ice skate with his old friend and painted Fussell’s portrait.
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Grafly, Charles (1862-1929) – The youngest of eight children, Grafly was born in Philadelphia where his father owned a shop to sell produce raised on a farm he owned in Sellersville, Pennsylvania. At the age of seventeen, Grafly was apprenticed to Struther’s Stoneyard, where he helped carve the sculptural ornamentation designed by Alexander Milne Calder for the new Philadelphia City Hall. He attended evening drawing classes at Spring Garden Institute and in 1884 he enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy where he studied with Thomas Eakins. Grafly continued his studies with Thomas Anshutz who became a close friend. In 1888 Grafly joined Robert Henri on an extended trip to Paris. At the Academie Julian in Paris he studied with Henri-Michel Chapu. Later in Paris he shared a studio with Alexander Sterling Calder. In 1891 he returned to Philadelphia to teach at Drexel Institute. In 1892 he joined the faculty of the Pennsylvania Academy where continued teaching until his death in 1929. Grafly was a member of the Sketch Club from 1913 to 1929. In this exhibition he is represented by his “Bust of Edwin S. Clymer,” who was also a member of the Sketch Club. Grafly’s “Posthumous Bust of Thomas P. Anshutz” is in the Sketch Club’s permanent collection.
Grayson, Clifford Prevost (1857-1951) – Born in Philadelphia, Grayson studied under Thomas Eakins in 1876. He also studied at the Academie Julian and Ecole des Beaux-Arts under Gerome and Bonnat. Grayson was a member of the Sketch Club in 1877 and 1878. He was in charge of the art program at Drexel Institute when Eakins was dismissed for taking the loin cloth off a model. He was also Chairman of the Jury at the Pennsylvania Academy in 1891 when Eakins’ Agnew Clinic was rejected under a technicality that it had been displayed there before.
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Hamilton, John McLure (1853-1936) – Born in Philadelphia, Hamilton was the son of a well-known physician. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy with Schussele in 1870 and later with Thomas Eakins in 1878. Hamilton was also the subject of one of Eakins’ portraits. Hamilton also studied at the Royal Academy in Belgium, at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, with Gerome in the 1880s, and with Joseph Pennell during their long association. He was known for his portraits, figural paintings and illustrations. Hamilton lived abroad for fifty-eight years mostly in London but also in Glasgow and later in Jamaica. He made frequent visits to the U. S., where he maintained a Philadelphia address. Hamilton was official painter to England’s Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone. He also painted portraits of other prominent British leaders. Hamilton joined the Sketch Club in 1876 and retained his membership during his many years abroad.
Harker, Herbert (1860-1937) – Harker was born in Guisborough, Yorkshire, England. He was educated in England at the Ackworth School. He came to the United States in 1873 and studied under Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy from 1879 to 1882. In addition to being a painter in oils and watercolors, Harker was a photographer and a number of his photographs are in the Sketch Club’s collection. He was a member of the Sketch Club from 1889 until his death in 1937.
Heaton, Augustus Goodyear (1844-1931) – Born in Philadelphia, Heaton studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1863 with Cabanel and his obituary claims he was the first American to enter that school. Heaton also studied under Peter Rothermel at the Pennsylvania Academy and with Leon Bonnat in 1879. Heaton taught at the School of Design for Women in Philadelphia and was also a writer. Many of his paintings are of historical scenes. Some of his works were reproduced on stamps and paper money, and he was President of the American Numismatic Association in 1888. In his later years, he spent time in Washington, D.C., New Orleans and Florida. Heaton joined the Sketch Club in 1862 and remained a member until his death in 1930. He was President of the Sketch Club from 1867 to 1868 and again from 1871 to 1873.
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James, Frederick (1845-1907) – James studied with Thomas Eakins at the Sketch Club in 1876 and at the Pennsylvania Academy. He later studied in Paris with Jean-Leon Gerome. Like many other nineteenth-century American artists, James traveled to Brittany and Normandy to participate in artist colonies such as Pont-Aven and Giverny on the Normandy coast. The location of the scene in the painting in this exhibition, Mont Saint Michel, is a well known rocky precipice off the Normandy coast. James was a member of the Sketch Club from 1873 until his death in 1907, and was its Vice President in 1885 and 1886. He moved to New York in 1886 and was honored at a dinner at the Sketch Club. The Sketch Club history records “Fred James was the fat man of the Club and acquired his prominence in the organization by the superiority of his work and the wealth which gave him leisure and immunity from the necessity of hurried efforts. He was not only a distinguished artist himself, but was always the friend and patron of promising, struggling and ambitious confreres. He painted many historical pictures of great merit, and three portraits from his brush hang in the Masonic Temple. They are of Washington, Franklin and Lafayette.”
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Jordan, David Wilson (1859-1935) – Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Jordan studied at the Pennsylvania Academy under Christian Schussele and Thomas Eakins. In 1880 when Eakins was promoted to the Professorship of Drawing and Painting, Jordan was named as one of his assistants. Jordan remained a friend of Eakins and in 1899 Eakins painted his portrait. Jordan was primarily a landscape painter. He joined the Sketch Club in 1879 and remained a member until his death in 1935.
Kelly, James Philip (1854-1893) – Born in Philadelphia, Kelly studied under Thomas Eakins at the Sketch Club life class and at the Pennsylvania Academy. When Eakins stopped teaching dissection at the Academy, he delegated that responsibility to Kelly, who in 1881 became Eakins’ chief demonstrator of anatomy. When Eakins was forced to resign, Kelly was hired to teach painting and drawing. He was one of the five instructors who wrote the Academy’s board of directors denying any role in Eakins’ dismissal. In 1887, modeling was added to his teaching load. His teaching career lasted until 1892 when he resigned to travel and study abroad. He died an untimely death while traveling in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 1893. Kelly was a member of the Sketch Club from 1880 to 1886.
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Kelly, J. Henderson (?-?) – J. H. Kelly studied at the Pennsylvania Academy under Thomas Eakins from 1879 to 1882. He was a member of the Sketch Club from 1882 to 1884. Little is known of Kelly’s life and works.
Knight, Daniel Ridgway (1839-1924) – Born in Philadelphia, Knight studied at the Pennsylvania Academy and was a classmate of Thomas Eakins. In 1861 he went to Paris to study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and with Gleyre. He returned to Philadelphia in 1863 to serve in the Union Army. He joined the Sketch Club in 1862 and remained a member for the rest of his life. Her served as the Club’s Vice President in 1865. In 1872 he returned to France and studied with Meissonier. From 1896, he maintained a studio outside of Paris in Rolleboise, and took his subjects from the surrounding countryside and local people. Knight spent most of his career in France, but exhibited frequently in America. He was best known for his paintings of idealized young peasant women placed beside a cottage, garden or river in a sunlit landscape, rendered in a crisp academic style. During the First World War, Knight worked for the French government as a pictorial propagandist.
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Laché, Albert R. (1863-1910) – Laché studied under Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy in 1882 and 1885. He also studied at the National Academy of Design and in Munich. He was a teacher at the Fawcett Drawing School in Newark, New Jersey, for seven years and was its director from 1906 to 1910. Laché was a member of the Sketch Club from 1890 to 1894.
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Lansdale, William Moylan (1842-1926) – Lansdale joined the Sketch Club in 1864 when he was a young law student studying in the office of Eli Kirk Price. He was an amateur artist and took a great interest in the Club’s affairs. He served as Secretary from 1886 to 1878 and as President from 1891 to 1897. His experience as a successful businessman was a aid to the Club’s development and progress. When he died at his estate “The Stance” in Moylan, PA, on November 20, 1926 (the Club’s 66th anniversary), he had been a member for 62 years. He is responsible for recording the Club’s history for its first twenty-five years.
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Lippincott, William Henry (1849-1920) – Born in Philadelphia, Lippincott received his first art instruction at the Pennsylvania Academy. He was a member of the Sketch Club from 1873 to 1903. In 1874 he went to Paris to study with genre and portrait painter Leon Bonnat. There he shared studio space with his countrymen Charles Sprague Pearce and Edwin Howland Blashfield. He traveled extensively in France painting in Pont-Aven, Brittany, Barbizon, and the coast of Normandy. During his French years, Lippincott specialized in small-scale genre scenes that often depicted children’s activities. In 1881 he returned permanently to the United States and established a studio in New York. He became a member of the National Academy of Design and was an instructor there for three years. Lippincott was also the subject of one of Eakins’ portraits.
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Moran, Edward (1829-1901) – Born in the Lancashire town of Bolton-le-Moor in England, Moran learned his family’s trade of weaving. After traveling with his family in 1844 to Maryland, he began as a weaver tending a power loom, a position he held for seven years. By 1857 he was established as an artist in Philadelphia, along with his bother Thomas. In Philadelphia he studied with Paul Weber and James Hamilton. In 1861, Edward and Thomas traveled to London where they were impressed by Turner’s paintings. Edward Moran joined the Sketch Club in 1861 and remained a member until 1865. He served as the Club’s Vice President in 1865. He moved from Philadelphia to New York City in 1872 and spent the rest of his career there, except for a visit to Paris in 1879 to 1880. He was best known for his marine and shore scenes, which often include fishermen at work on their boats. During the last decade of his life, he dedicated himself to thirteen paintings of important events in U. S. marine history.
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Moran, Peter (1841-1914) – Peter Moran was born in Bolton-le Moor, Lancashire, England. His parents and their twelve children emigrated to America in 1844 and settled in Baltimore. Within one year, they moved to Philadelphia. Peter was apprenticed to the lithography firm of Herline & Hersel, following in his brother Edward’s footsteps. Peter disliked the lithographic trade and was able to have his indenture cancelled. He moved in with his brother Edward, and received instruction in painting from his brothers, Edward and Thomas. In 1875 he began etching. His paintings and etchings are primarily of landscapes and animals, although some relate to his trips to the Southwest. Peter was one of the founders of the Philadelphia Society of Etchers and served as its President from its founding in 1880 until it became inactive in 1903. He was a member of the Sketch Club from 1889 to 1896 and held various positions at the Art Club from 1887 until his death. Peter had a significant reputation as a teacher. From 1875 until 1896 he taught various classes at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women to include Landscape in Oil and Watercolor, Still Life, and Etching and Composition. Peter Moran’s thirty-seven etchings at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition earned him a medal and a one-man exhibition at the National Academy of Design. His oil painting, The Return of the Herd, also won a medal at the Centennial and was typical of the works preferred by the older artists on the selection committee. Peter Moran made several etched versions of The Return of the Herd.
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Neely, Jr., Josiah (1845-1902) – Neely was a bookkeeper with a wholesale hat business but was very active in Philadelphia art and music circles. His business background was a valuable asset to the art groups to which he belonged. He served as Secretary, Treasurer and Librarian of the Philadelphia Society of Etchers for several years and was Treasurer of the Sketch Club for fifteen years. Neely studied under Thomas Eakins at various times from 1879 to 1884. His expertise in etching is attested to by his appointment as etching instructor at the Sketch Club in 1883. Neely’s subjects encompassed landscapes, seaport scenes, and some figures. He was a member of the Sketch Club from 1880 until his death in 1902.
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Pennell, Joseph (1857-1926) – Born in Philadelphia, Pennell was the son of Quaker parents. He briefly attended the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art where he studied under Charles M. Burns. In 1879 he enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy where he studied under Thomas Eakins in both the antique and life classes. Pennell differentiated himself in the life class by working in pen and ink while everyone else painted. Although Pennell objected to Eakins’ criticism and would leave the room when Eakins arrived, he saw nothing wrong with the instructor allowing students to pose if they needed the funds. Individuals interested in learning more about Pennell are encouraged to read his autobiography, The Adventures of an Illustrator. In it Pennell relates that as a juror he later helped Eakins get a medal for his Gross portrait in an international exhibition. At this exhibition the two men spoke and parted as friends. Pennell joined the Sketch Club in 1880 and remained a member for the rest of his life. He became known worldwide as a painter, illustrator, etcher, lithographer, critic, author and teacher. When World War I drove him home from Europe in 1917 from a stay that started in 1884, Pennell returned to the Sketch Club and served as its President in 1921 and 1922.
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Poore, Henry Rankin (1850-1940) – A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Poore studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy under Eakins from 1876 to 1881. He also studied under Peter Moran in Philadelphia, at the National Academy of Design in New York, under Luminais and Bouguereau in Paris, and in London. While in London, he became interested in fox hunting, an artistic subject that brought him early success. Poore’s paintings and etchings subjects included portraits, animals, New England landscapes, and the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. His most popular painting, Mr. Winchester’s Hounds, was used as an advertisement for the Winchester Rifle Company. Poore was a member of the Sketch Club from 1879 to 1896. He became an instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy and wrote numerous books on art instruction and criticism.
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Ramsey, Milne (1846-1915) – A native Philadelphian, Ramsey enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy following nine months of service during the Civil War. This was probably in 1863 and close to the time that Eakins has been given a pass to draw form casts and attend lectures. Both men also studied under Leon Bonnat in Paris. Ramsey joined the Sketch Club in 1866 and remained a member until 1903, so it is certain they would have known each other. Ramsey was elected President of the Sketch Club in 1874, the same year Eakins began teaching life classes there. Ramsey’s tenure as President lasted only one year and may have been between long stays in Europe. He is said to have spent a decade in Europe, returning to Philadelphia circa 1881. Most of this time was spent in France. His son Charles Frederic Ramsey, an artist who later resided in New Hope, was born at the artists’ colony of Pont-Aven, Brittany. Upon Milne Ramsey’s return to the United States, he kept studios in Philadelphia, New York City, and a home in Atlantic City. He lived the last years of his life in Philadelphia. One of Ramsey’s sisters was married to Howard Roberts, a noted sculptor and Sketch Club member. Ramsey was a still life, landscape and figure painter but remains best known for his highly realistic still life paintings. He had particular skill in detailed arrangement and composition of objects with various textures and reflecting surfaces.
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Redfield, Edward Willis (1869-1965) – Redfield was one of the leading exponents of plein-air landscape painting in the Philadelphia area during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy where his teachers included Thomas Anshutz, James P. Kelly and Thomas Hovenden. Following Robert Henri’s example, Redfield went to Paris with the idea of becoming a portrait painter. He studied under Bouguereau and Robert-Fleury and later painted landscapes from nature in the forest of Fontainbleau. In 1898 he purchased land along the Delaware River in Center Bridge, Pennsylvania, where he had his home and studio for the rest of his life. Artists associated with Redfield in that area included Rae Sloan Bredin, John Fulton Folinsbee, Daniel Garber and William Langson Lathrop, and this group or painters became known as the “New Hope School” or “Pennsylvania Impressionists.” Redfield was the subject of an Eakins’ portrait in 1905. He was a member of the Sketch Club from 1903 to 1905.
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Reich, Jacques (1852-1923) – Born in Hungary, Reich trained in Budapest before coming to the United States in 1873. He then studied at the National Academy of Design and at the Pennsylvania Academy under Thomas Eakins in 1876. Although he was chiefly known for his etched and pen and ink portraits of prominent English and American authors, Reich was also a painter, engraver, and graphic artist. His pen portraits appeared in Scribner’s Cyclopedia of Painters and Painting and Appleton’s Cyclopedia of American Biography. Reich was a member of the Sketch Club in 1877 and 1878.
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Roberts, Howard (1843-1900) – Born in Philadelphia to a wealthy family, Roberts studied at the Pennsylvania Academy. He entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts with Thomas Eakins and Earl Shinn in 1866. He studied sculpture under Gumery and later, with Eakins, under Dumont. Roberts returned to Philadelphia in 1869 and established his own studio. During the 1870s he was considered the best contemporary American sculptor. Roberts was one of the first Americans to adopt the Parisian Beaux-Arts sculptural style. He joined the Sketch Club in 1861 and remained a member until his death. Roberts served the Club in several positions including four yearly terms as Treasurer in 1862/1866, Vice President 1871/1872, and three yearly terms as President in 1873/1874 and 1875/1877.
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Rothermel, Peter Frederick (1817-1895) – Born in Nescopeck, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, Rothermel originally trained as a land surveyor. He took lessons in drawing from John Rubens Smith in Philadelphia and also studied with Bass Otis. Although he started as a portraitist, Rothermel’s first widespread recognition followed the exhibition of his historical painting Discovery of the Mississippi by Hernando DeSoto at the Artists Fund Society in 1843. He was on the board of directors of the Pennsylvania Academy and was chairman of the committee on instruction. He urged the purchase of copies of Greek and Roman casts, the awarding of annual prizes to students, and improvements in the life school. After touring and exhibiting in Europe in the late 1850s, he returned to Philadelphia and became an instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy. After the Civil War, he was commissioned to paint The Battle of Gettysburg, which was 16 x 32 feet and shown at the Centennial Exhibition. Critics in his time hailed Rothermel as the greatest of all American painters.
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Schell, Frank Cresson (1857-1942) – Born in Philadelphia, F. Cresson Schell studied at the Pennsylvania Academy under Thomas Eakins and Thomas Anshutz. He became an illustrator for Harper’s and was art editor for Leslie’s North American from 1903 to 1925. Schell joined the Sketch Club in 1887 and remained a member until his death in 1942. He served as the Club’s Vice President from 1932 to 1934.
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Seiss, Covington Few (?-1915) – “Fewy” Seiss joined the Sketch Club in 1879 and was elected Secretary in 1885. He remained in that position until his death in 1915. He was the son of a quite celebrated Lutheran minister. In 1888 Seiss was in charge of the life class at the Sketch Club. The Sketch Club history indicates he “certainly did enjoy the sprightly conversations he entertained with models, and on the advice of his physician, for the good of his health, he always carried a little something on his hip.” Seiss was a writer and painter who specialized in natural history subjects, such as insects. He was also a skillful amateur photographer.
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Shinn, Earl (1837-1886) – Shinn attended classes at the Pennsylvania Academy starting in 1862 and was a classmate of Thomas Eakins. When Eakins, Roberts and Shinn went to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1866, Shinn and Roberts traveled to Brittany before classes started where their old Academy and Sketch Club friend Robert Wylie had established himself at Pont-Aven. In Paris, Shinn studied under Gerome as did Eakins. While in France, he wrote wrote “penny-a-liners” for the Philadelphia Bulletin under the name L’Enfant Perdu to augment his income. Shinn returned to the United States in 1868 and painted at the Pennsylvania Academy with William Sartain and Daniel Ridgway Knight. He traveled to New York City and continued to paint while also acting as chief art writer and dramatic critic of The Nation. Suffering from weak eyes and color blindness, Shinn turned his full attention to art criticism and writing. He wrote under his own name, as well as the designations Edward Strahan, Sigma, and E. S. Shinn was a member of the Sketch Club from 1861 until his death in 1886 and served as its Secretary in 1862 and 1863.
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Simon, Hermann Gustav (1846-1897) – Born in Schlietz, Saxony, Germany, Simon was the son of a cloth manufacturer. His family moved to Philadelphia during the revolution of 1848. Educated in the public schools and by private tutors, Simon showed an early aptitude for art. He studied with Robert Wylie at the Pennsylvania Academy and later with George F. Bensell and Henry W. Bispham. Simon was a member of the Sketch Club from 1867 until his death in 1897. A contemporary of Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy, Simon specialized in animal, sporting and landscape scenes.
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Sims, Henry Augustus (1832-1875) – Born in Philadelphia, Sims trained as a civil engineer and went to Canada in 1851 to work on railroads. He switched to architecture in 1856 and opened a practice in Ottawa, Canada. He returned to Philadelphia in 1866 and in 1872 he was joined by his younger brother, James Peacock Sims. Many of Sim’s buildings show a fine interest in Gothic Revival. Sims was one of the organizers of the Philadelphia Chapter of the AIA. He was also a stockholder of The Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Henry Sims holds the distinction of being the first architect to join the Sketch Club. He joined in 1872 and remained a member until his death in 1875. His brother, James P., was also a member from 1873 until his death in 1882. Henry Sims was largely responsible for the Club moving in 1874 to new quarters at 10 North Merrick Street that were adjacent of the Philadelphia Chapter of the AIA. On social occasions the groups shared their spaces.
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Sloan, John French (1871-1951) – Born in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, Sloan and his family moved to Philadelphia in 1876. They lived with his grandmother in Germantown and then moved to 1921 Camac Street. In 1885, Sloan entered Central High School but left school in 1885 at the age of sixteen to help support his family. He took a job as assistant cashier at Porter & Coates, a leading dealer of book and prints in Philadelphia. It was here Sloan saw his first etching, a medium that would be as important to him as painting. Although he was never a member of the Sketch Club, Sloan’s career was helped by his close relationship with several of its members. In 1888 he taught himself to etch, but throughout his career he received advice from James Fincken, a commercial engraver and Sketch Club member, who Sloan indicated was a “fine man certainly and has always been so much help to me technically from his great knowledge of the mechanics of etching.” In 1890 and 1891, Sloan attended a freehand drawing class at the Spring Garden Institute. In 1891 Sloan established himself as a free-lance commercial artist and the next year he took a full time job with the art department of the Philadelphia Inquirer. In 1892, he enrolled in a night class under Thomas Anshutz at the Pennsylvania Academy. Anshutz’s teachings carried on the tradition of American realism as embodied in the works of Thomas Eakins. In 1904 Sloan was in New York City with Robert Henri, George Luks, Everitt Shinn, and William Glackens, all of whom were previously artist-reporters in Philadelphia. By 1904 they formed “The Eight” whose works generally became known as the “Ashcan School.” Sloan’s parents and sisters later moved to Fort Washington, where they lived within a few blocks of Sketch Club members Thomas Anshutz and Hugh Breckenridge. Sloan’s visits to his parents usually included visits to Breckenridge and Anshutz, his old instructor and mentor. Sloan also had an extensive teaching career at the Art Students’ League in New York. He also spent many summers painting in Santa Fe, New Mexico. After the death of his first wife, Sloan married artist Helen Farr in 1944. After his death, Helen Farr Sloan established the John Sloan Library at the Delaware Art Museum. Sloan’s diary of his New York years indicates his respect for Eakins and his work.
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Stephens, Charles Hallowell (1855-1931) – Stephens studied under Eakins from 1876 to 1882 and became an illustrator and teacher. He was the husband of illustrator Alice Barber Stephens who has also studied under Eakins. Charles Stephens was a member of the Sketch Club from 1874 until his death in 1931 and was its President from 1913 to 1917. Stephen’s specialty was the illustration of Native Americans. He also owned a collection of Native American art distinguished by the beauty and rarity of its specimens. This collection is now at the University of Pennsylvania Museum.
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Stephens, George Frank (1859-1935) – Frank Stephens was born in Rahway, New Jersey, and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy. After leaving art school, he worked for several years on the sculpture of the Philadelphia City Hall. He studied under Thomas Eakins at various times at the Academy in 1879, 1880, 1882, and 1885. He was also Eakins’ teaching assistant in 1880. He married Eakins’ sister, Caroline, and turned her against her brother so that she rarely spoke to him again. Frank Stephens was the instigator of Eakins’ ouster from the Pennsylvania Academy and the Sketch Club, although the reasons why are never really clear. He was an instructor in modeling at several art schools including Drexel Institute. In 1900, Stephens founded the community of Arden, Delaware, a single-tax community to create a utopian environment in which art, craft, labor, utility and leisure were seamlessly interwoven. Arden residents subscribed to economist Henry George’s “single tax” ideal: land was owned by the community and leased to individuals from whom rents were collected to serve as the community’s economic base. In a twist of fate, Stephens, whose attack on Eakins centered on moral issues, was later accused of being a proponent of “free love” as he lived unmarried with another woman for several years after his first wife’s death. Through all this, Frank Stephens remained a member of the Sketch Club from 1881 until his death in 1935.
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Storck, Carl or Karl – Little is known of the artist Carl Storck. He was a student of Eakins in 1876 and 1880. He exhibited sculpture at the Pennsylvania Academy in 1878 and 1879. Storck was a member of the Sketch Club from 1880 to 1882. For a brief period in 1880 he was a member of the Philadelphia Society of Etchers.
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Sullivant, Thomas Starling (1854-1926) – Born in Columbus, Ohio, Sullivant studied under Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy in 1885. He also studied with Bensell and Moran. He was an illustrator for several children’s books, and was also a political cartoonist. He was a member of the Sketch Club from 1888 to 1904.
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Taylor, Frank Hamilton (1846-1927) – Taylor was a largely self-taught artist, journalist, and publisher who embodied the American Spirit of the nineteenth century in its fascination with industrial development, consumerism, tradition, and national heritage, as well as increased emphasis on leisure. Taylor recorded this dramatic story in illustrated newspapers, travel guides, and books. Born in Rochester, New York, he enlisted in 1863 to serve in the Civil War, but was mustered out after four months due to illness. In 1865 he moved to Philadelphia to begin an apprenticeship in a lithography firm. In 1873, Taylor opened a printing and publishing business, Taylor & Smith, with Ferdinand Smith. In 1874, Taylor’s son, F. Walter, was born. Walter went on to become a successful illustrator and a Sketch Club member. In 1874, Taylor used the new photo-lithographic process to publish the Sketch Club’s Portfolio, which reproduced several works by members for distribution on a monthly basis. Taylor became a Special Artist for the New York Daily Graphic, for various Philadelphia newspapers, and for both Harper’s Weekly and Harper’s Monthly. In 1893, he was appointed art director for the Philadelphia Public Ledger. Taylor also wrote historical books on the Civil War and Valley Forge. He was a member of the Sketch Club from 1869 to 1927 and served as its President from 1920 to 1921. Those interested in further information on Taylor should see the book The Special Artist in American Culture, A Biography of Frank Hamilton Taylor by Nancy L. Gustke.
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Uhle, Albrecht Bernhard (1847-1930) – Born in Chemnitz, Germany, Bernhard Uhle came to the Unite States in 1851. At the age of fifteen he entered the Pennsylvania Academy. Uhle worked as a photographer from 1867 to 1875. In 1875 he returned to Germany to study with the history painter Franz Xaver Barth and the genre artist Alexander Wagner. In 1877 Uhle returned to Philadelphia and set up a studio as a portrait painter and gained the reputation of being one of the city’s outstanding portraitists. Also an etcher, he joined the Philadelphia Society of Etchers in 1880. He was on the faculty at the Pennsylvania Academy from 1886 to 1890 and took over the portrait class once run by Thomas Eakins. Uhle was a member of the Sketch Club from 1889 to 1897.
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Wagner, Frederick R. (1864-1940) – Born in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Wagner received a scholarship to study art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Thomas Eakins beginning in 1878. In 1884 he was made Chief Demonstrator of Anatomy there. In 1885, Wagner left the Academy to make a painting tour of San Antonio, Texas, and then went on to Los Angeles, California, where he painted a number of landscapes and portraits. He returned to Philadelphia as an illustrator for the Philadelphia Press until 1902, and then moved to Norristown, Pennsylvania to paint full time. In 1912, Wagner opened a Philadelphia studio and taught classes in outdoor painting at Addingham, and later, at the Pennsylvania Academy’s summer school in Chester Springs. His reputation grew, and he took on additional classes at his studio in the Fuller Building. In 1913, Wagner exhibited in the now famous Armory Show in New York City. He exhibited frequently at the Pennsylvania Academy’s annual exhibitions, and in 1914, was awarded the Fellowship Prize. He was awarded Honorable Mentions from the Pittsburgh International, the Philadelphia Art Club, and the Carnegie Institute in 1922. His paintings are in the collections of the Cleveland Museum; St. Louis Museum, MO; Fort Wayne Museum, IN; Kalamazoo Museum, MI; Rochester Museum, NY; Worcester Art Museum, MA, and the Reading Museum, PA. Wagner was one of the most popular members of the Sketch Club and was a member from 1897 until his death in 1940.
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Waugh, Frederick Judd (1861-1940) – Born in Bordentown, New Jersey, Waugh was the son of the portrait painter Samuel Bell Waugh. Artists in his family also included his mother, a miniaturist, and his sister Ida, a painter. His son, Coulton Waugh, also became a painter. Eakins’ relationship to the Waugh family goes back to the 1860s when he was friends with Frederick’s older sisters, Ida and Amy. Waugh studied at the Pennsylvania Academy under Thomas Eakins from 1880 to1883, and also under Thomas Anshutz. He also studied at the Academie Julian in Paris with Bouguereau and T. Robert-Fleury. Returning to the United States in 1885 due to the death of his father, he filled the next few years with commercial work and portraits. In 1892 he returned to Europe and remained there for fifteen years. Waugh’s trips across the Atlantic gave him opportunities to study the movement of the ocean. After taking up residence on the island of Sark in the English Channel, Waugh turned to marine painting. He continued this theme later on England’s Cornwall coast and, after his return to the United States in 1907, along New England’s coast. Best known for his scenes of crashing waves on rocky coasts, Waugh wrote instructional books on how to paint the sea. He was a member of the Sketch Club from 1890 to 1903.
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Whiteside, Frank Reed (1866-1929) – Born in Philadelphia, Whiteside studied at the Pennsylvania Academy under Thomas Eakins from 1884 to 1886. He also studied at the Academie Julian in Paris under J. P. Laurens and Constant. Whiteside visited the Zuni Indians beginning in 1890 and continuing through 1920. He taught at Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia and at Germantown Academy. Whiteside was a member of the Sketch Club from 1905 until his death in 1929. He was mysteriously shot down at his home when he answered the door. His paintings include portraits, landscapes, and scenes relating to the Zuni Indians.
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Wright, George (?-?) – Biographical information on George Wright is difficult to determine because of several artists with that same name. The George Wright in this exhibition was a member of the Sketch Club from 1875 until his death. He served as Secretary of the Sketch Club from 1877 to 1885. He obviously was familiar with Thomas Eakins and his associates as evidenced by his pencil drawing of James P. Kelly in this exhibition.
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Wylie, Robert (1839-1897) – Born on the Isle of Man, England, Wylie was brought to America as a child. He attended the Pennsylvania Academy as a contemporary of Thomas Eakins and was student monitor of the life class. He was also appointed Academy Curator. Wylie was one of the six founding members of the Sketch Club in 1860 and was the Club’s first Secretary. Wylie resigned from the Sketch Club a couple of times but rejoined in 1861 and again in 1862, only to shortly thereafter travel to Europe where he spent the rest of his life. He established himself in the Breton village of Pont-Aven, where he helped found an artist colony. Wylie was known chiefly as a painter of Breton peasant scenes.