It was formed for the purpose of “advancing the knowledge and love of art through education.” The Club achieves its mission through exhibitions, lectures, hands-on demonstrations, sketch and painting group work sessions, monthly critique sessions, maintenance of an art library and awarding of student scholarships.[2]
History
Frank Duveneck's presidency starting in 1896 is credited with attracting a large number of members to the club.
In the latter part of the 1800s a strong colony of working artists had established a small 'Montmartre' on the upper end of Vine Street in Cincinnati.[3] One group of artists gathered informally as the Cincinnati Sketch Club and had its origins in the studio of John Rettig in 1883. The loose collection of artists became the Cincinnati Art Club on 15 March 1890.[4] Its first president was John Rettig and consisted of 14 members (which included a pet dog so the membership number wasn't an unlucky 13).[5] The founding members were: Rettig, Clarence D. Bartlett,[6] James McLaughlin, Edward S. Butler, Matthew A. Daly, Albert O. Elzner, Edward Johnson, Remmington Lane, Leon van Loo, Lewis C. Lutz, William A. McCord, Perry Morris and Joseph Henry Sharp.[7]
The club grew rapidly and within a year of its founding growing to 32 active members and 36 associate members.[1]
Initially the club was bohemian in nature and did not have a fixed abode and met in the homes or studios of members. The host of the meeting would become the owner of all sketches made.[4] In 1907, the club moved to a new home in the Harrison building and was considered the most attractive home to artists in the Middle West.[8] A club house was eventually purchased in 1923 on Third Street.[9]
A regular constitution was adopted in 1892 “to advance the knowledge and love of art through exhibitions of works of art, lectures on subjects pertaining to art, and to promote social intercourse amongst its members.”[5]
The club became an advocate for artists and in 1908, the CAC President John Ritter submitted a letter which was presented at a congressional hearing on the arts tariff in Washington DC before the Ways and Means Committee.[10]
The club was restricted to males until 1979 when women were allowed to become members.[11][12]
Notable members
Wilbur G. Adam, club president - 1965–67, portraiture and landscapes painter.
Frank Duveneck, club president - 1896–98. Cincinnati's best-known artist in the late 1800s and early 1900s, was appointed the club's critic.[7]
Henry Farny, club president - 1892–94, creator of the club's trademark, the dragonfly.[9] A famed painter of American Indians.
John Hauser, one of the club's earliest members. Painter best known for his portraits of American Indians and Indigenous peoples of the Americas.
John Henry Twachtman was an American painter best known for his impressionist landscapes, though his painting style varied widely through his career. Art historians consider Twachtman's style of American Impressionism to be among the more personal and experimental of his generation. He was a member of "The Ten," a loosely-allied group of American artists dissatisfied with professional art organizations, who banded together in 1898 to exhibit their works as a stylistically unified group.
William Merritt Chase was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later would become Parsons School of Design.
Joseph Rodefer DeCamp was an American painter and educator.
Alexander Helwig Wyant was an American landscape painter. His early works belonged to the Hudson River School, with its direct pastoral narrative, but evolved into the more moody and shadowy Tonalism. After a stroke which paralysed his right arm, he taught himself to paint with his left.
The year 1887 in art involved some significant events.
Frank Duveneck was an American figure and portrait painter.
The Taft Museum of Art is a fine art collection in Cincinnati, Ohio. It occupies the 200-year-old historic house at 316 Pike Street. The house – the oldest domestic wooden structure in downtown Cincinnati – was built about 1820 and housed several prominent Cincinnatians, including Martin Baum, Nicholas Longworth, David Sinton, Anna Sinton Taft and Charles Phelps Taft. It is on the National Register of Historic Places listings, and is a contributing property to the Lytle Park Historic District.
The Art Academy of Cincinnati is a private college of art and design in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded as the McMicken School of Design in 1869, and was a department of the University of Cincinnati, and later in 1887, became the Art Academy of Cincinnati, the museum school of the Cincinnati Art Museum. The college is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design.
Lewis Henry Meakin was an English-American Impressionist landscape artist. Born in Newcastle, England, he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio with his family in 1863. After studying art in Europe he returned to Cincinnati where he taught at the Cincinnati Art Academy. Among his students were Frances Farrand Dodge, Edna Boies Hopkins, Maud Hunt Squire, and Ethel Mars. Artist George Bellows called him “one of the best landscape painters in America."
Edward Charles Volkert (1871–1935) was an American Impressionist artist best known for his colorful and richly painted impressionist landscapes. His trademark subject was that of cattle and plowmen. His style is noted for its impressionist use of light, applied in small dots of paint, while maintaining an interest in the true forms and colors of his subject matter. He has been referred to as America's cattle painter extraordinaire".
Dixie Selden was an American artist. She studied with Frank Duveneck, who was a mentor and significant influence, and William Merritt Chase, who introduced her to Impressionism. Selden painted portraits of Americans and made genre paintings, landscapes and seascapes from her travels within the country and to Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Mexico. She helped found and was twice the president of the Women's Art Club of Cincinnati. Her works have been exhibited in the United States. She was one of the Daughters of the American Revolution and on the Social Register.
Henry François Farny was an American painter and illustrator. His work was centered on the life of Native Americans in the 19th-century United States.
John Ellsworth Weis (1892–1962) was an American painter.
Fernand Lungren (1857–1932) was an American painter and illustrator. He was mostly known for his paintings of American South Western landscapes and scenes as well as for New York and European city street scenes.
Albert Robert Valentien (1862–1925) was an American painter, botanical artist, and ceramic artist. He is best known for his work as the chief ceramics decorator at Rookwood Pottery, and for his watercolor paintings of botanical subjects. In 1908, he accepted a commission from philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps to illustrate the botanical diversity of California. Over the next ten years, he produced approximately 1200 watercolor "plant portraits" of native California wildflowers, grasses, ferns, and trees.
Wilbur G. Adam was an American painter and illustrator who divided his career between Cincinnati and Chicago. He was known for his portraiture and landscapes of western United States. In the latter part of his career he focused on Biblical illustrations.
Paul Chidlaw was an American painter and art instructor who spent most of his career in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Manuel Rosenberg was an American illustrator, cartoonist, writer, lecturer, teacher, editor, and publisher. From 1917 to 1930, he was the chief artist for the Scripps-Howard chain of newspapers and the art editor of the Cincinnati Post.
Joseph Henry Gest was an American artist and art administrator who served as the director of the Cincinnati Art Museum (1902–1929) and president of the Rookwood Pottery Company (1914–1934).
References
1 2 van Gelner, Pat (March 1990). "Sharing information, support, and fun. (Cincinnati Art Club celebrates its centennial)". American Artist. 54: 48–51.
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