Edwin Austin Abbey
Edwin Austin Abbey
American , 1852 – 1911
Once considered to be not only “ the greatest English-speaking illustrator , but [ also ] the greatest living illustrator ” by the artist and writer Joseph Pennell , Edwin Austin Abbey is equally well-known for his murals and paintings such as The Coronation of Edward VII — one of his most important works ( Lucas , 224 ). Born in Philadelphia , Abbey took drawing lessons from Isaac Williams as a teenager . By 1869 he was working for the engravers Van Ingen & Snyder while taking evening classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts ( PAFA ). Two years later , he moved to New York to join the staff at Harper & Brothers . In 1878 , he traveled to Stratford-upon-Avon to do a series of illustrations for an article and for the book Selections from the Poetry of Robert Herrick . Struck by the country ’ s rich history , he made England his new home while continuing to illustrate many successful publications for Harper ’ s including She Stoops to Conquer ( 1887 ) and The Comedies of Shakespeare ( 1896 ).
In 1890 , Abbey married Mary Gertrude Mead , sister of William Rutherford Mead — a partner in the architectural firm of McKim , Mead and White . Also in 1890 , the Boston Public Library commissioned Abbey to paint a series of murals , which he titled Quest of the Holy Grail . Around 1908 , Abbey began a commission for the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg . He completed several lunettes and allegorical medallions for the dome as well as several monumental works titled The Apotheosis of Pennsylvania , Penn ’ s Treaty , The Hours , The Camp of the American Army at Valley Forge , and the Reading of the Declaration of Independence . Due to Abbey ’ s failing health , the latter was completed by his studio assistant Ernest Board and John Singer Sargent . Of Abbey ’ s long career , Tile Club member F . Hopkinson Smith said : “ Abbey , in his art really has done what Wagner has done in music , Tennyson and the poets in verse . He has taken the old , retouched it , and made it new , giving us something infinitely better than the thing he found ” ( Lucas , 226 ).
John Singer Sargent ( American , b . Italy , 1856 – 1925 ), Portrait of Edwin Austin Abbey , ca . 1889 , black chalk / charcoal on paper , 14 x 10 1 / 16 in ., Edwin Austin Abbey Memorial Collection , Yale University Art Gallery , 1937.4157
REFERENCES :
Dearinger , David Bernard , ed . Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design . Volume 1 , 1826 – 1925 . New York : Hudson Hills Press , 2004 . “ Edwin Austin Abbey .” The Outlook 98 , no . 15 ( August 12 ,
1911 ): 810 . Foster , Kathleen A , and Michael Quick . Edwin Austin Abbey ( 1852 – 1911 ). New Haven : Yale University Art Gallery , 1973 .
Irwin , Grace . Trail-Blazers of American Art . New York : Harper & Brothers , 1930 .
Lucas , E . V . Edwin Austin Abbey , Royal Academician : The Record of His Life and Work . Vol . 1 , 1852 – 1893 and Vol . 2 , 1894 – 1911 . New York : Charles Scribner ’ s Sons , 1921 . Mather Jr ., Frank Jewett . Estimates in Art . Series II . Sixteen
Essays on American Painters of the Nineteenth Century .
48 THE TILE CLUB : Camaraderie and American Plein-Air Painting