Thomas H. Willis | |
---|---|
Born | Thomas H. Willis January 1, 1845 |
Died | June 1, 1925 80) | (aged
Nationality | Danish-born American |
Known for | Marine art, folk art, needlework |
Style | Realism |
Spouse | Mary McDonald |
Children | 6 |
Thomas H. Willis (1845-June 1, 1925) was a Danish-born American artist who combined marine art, folk art, and needlework in his portraits of American and European sailing ships, steamers, pilot boats and yachts. His works are represented in maritime museums including the Mystic Seaport Maritime Museum, The Peabody Museum of Salem in Massachusetts and The Mariners' Museum and Park in Newport News, Virginia. He died in New York City in 1925.
Willis was born in Denmark as was his father. He migrated to New York and by 1870 was living in Brooklyn, New York. [1]
In 1870, Willis worked in New York City for a manufacturer of silk embroidery threadmaker. His works featured oil painted backgrounds with vessels constructed of silk, velvet, and embroidery floss. He specialized in marine art, folk art, and needlework in his portraits of American and European sailing ships, steamers, pilot boats and yachts. He advertised himself as the "inventor and sole maker of silkware pictures." He received commissions from sea captains, ship companies and members of the New York Yacht Club. [2]
He collaborated with Danish-born American maritime artist Antonio Jacobsen, who was said to have painted sections of water in some of Willis' paintings. His understanding of ships' rigging is reflected in his paintings. His works are usually signed with a cipher consisting of the initial "T" over a larger letter "W", giving the idea of a stylized anchor. [2] [3]
His works are represented in maritime museums including the Mystic Seaport Maritime Museum, The Peabody Museum of Salem in Massachusetts and the Mariners' Museum and Park in Newport News, Virginia. [3]
Willis died on June 1, 1925, in New York City. [4]
A maritime museum is a museum specializing in the display of objects relating to ships and travel on large bodies of water. A subcategory of maritime museums are naval museums, which focus on navies and the military use of the sea.
Mystic Seaport Museum or Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Sea in Mystic, Connecticut is the largest maritime museum in the United States. It is notable for its collection of sailing ships and boats and for the re-creation of the crafts and fabric of an entire 19th-century seafaring village. It consists of more than 60 historic buildings, most of them rare commercial structures moved to the 19-acre (0.077 km2) site and meticulously restored.
Mary "May" Morris was an English artisan, embroidery designer, jeweller, socialist, and editor. She was the younger daughter of the Pre-Raphaelite artist and designer William Morris and his wife and artists' model, Jane Morris.
Antonio Nicolo Gasparo Jacobsen was a Danish-born American maritime artist known as the "Audubon of Steam Vessels".
John Faunce Leavitt (1905–1974) was a well-known shipbuilder, writer on maritime subjects, painter of marine canvases, and curator of Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut.
Ange-Joseph Antoine Roux, "Antoine Roux" (1765–1835) was a French fine art painter who specialised in maritime painting, sometimes referred to as marine art.
Clement Drew (1806–1889) was an artist and "dealer in picture-frames" in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 19th century. He specialized in marine paintings. He kept a studio on Court Street (ca.1840s-1860s), Tremont Street, Copeland Street (ca.1888), and Tremont Temple (1889). He married Elizabeth Teal in 1829; they had two children.
Yngve Edward Soderberg was an American artist whose career was centered on Mystic, Connecticut. He is credited with being a painter, etcher, writer, teacher, designer, and lithographer. He is best known for his etchings, America's Cup paintings and maritime watercolors.
Richard "Dick" Brown was a 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot. Brown was captain for the 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot boat Mary Taylor. At the time of his death he was the oldest of the Sandy Hook pilots having served for 50 years. He was the captain of the racing yacht America, which won the inaugural America's Cup in 1851.
The Joseph F. Loubat was a 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot boat built in 1880 at the Jacob S. Ellis shipyard in Tottenville, Staten Island. She was the largest of the pilot-boats in the Sandy Hook service. In 1896 she was one of the last pilot-boats that were sold in an age of steam and electricity.
The Moses H. Grinnell was a 19th-century pilot boat built in 1850 for the New York maritime pilots. She was designed by the yacht designer George Steers. The Grinnell was the first pilot boat to feature a fully developed concave clipper-bow, which was to become the New York schooner-rigged pilot boat's trade mark. This new design was the basis for the celebrated yacht America.
The Widgeon was a 19th-century yacht and Sandy Hook pilot boat, built in 1855 by James R. & George Steers for Daniel Edgar of the New York Yacht Club and designed by George Steers. She came in 17th in an unsuccessful America’s Cup defense in 1870. Widgeon was sold in 1871 to a group of New York pilots to replace the John D. Jones, which sank in a collision with the steamer City of Washington. New York pilots condemned the Widgeon as unseaworthy in 1879, which sparked a fight for steam pilot-boat service. In 1883 a decision was affirmed by the Supreme Court and the Board of Commissioners of Pilots that pilot boats could be "propelled" by steam.
The Ariel Patterson was a 19th century Sandy Hook pilot boat built in 1864 for a group of New York Pilots. She was built by the shipbuilder Ariel Patterson. After nineteen years of service, she was struck and sank off Sea Bright, New Jersey by the steamer Commonwealth in 1883. She was raised and purchased by the Coast Wreaking Company.
The Abraham Leggett was a 19th-century New York pilot boat built by Daniel Westervelt at the Westervelt & Co. shipyard. She helped transport New York City maritime pilots between inbound or outbound ships coming into the New York Harbor. In 1866, Pilot Michael Murphy was on the Abraham Leggett when the bark Emilie ran into the pilot boat. In 1879, the Abraham Leggett was hit and sank by the steamship Naples from Liverpool. She was replaced by the pilot boat Alexander M. Lawrence.
Edmund Blunt was a 19th-century New York pilot boat built in 1858 by Edward F. Williams for the New York Pilots. She helped transport New York City maritime pilots between inbound or outbound ships coming into the New York Harbor. She survived the Great Blizzard of 1888. In the age of steam, the Blunt along with other pilot boats, were replaced with steamboats. She was built to replace the Jacob L. Westervelt, which sank in 1857.
The James Gordon Bennett was a 19th-century two-masted pilot boat, built in 1870 at the Lawrence & Foulks shipyard. She was named in honor of James Gordon Bennett, Jr., publisher of the New York Herald. She went ashore in 1893 and was rebuilt at the C. & R. Poillon shipyard. In 1897, the James Gordon Bennett was bought by Miller J. Morse of the Atlantic Yacht Club and made into a yacht. He changed her name to Hermit. The New Jersey pilots purchased her in 1901, to replace the David T. Leahy, that was run down by the steamship Alene. The Hermit sank in 1906, when the steamship Monterey ran into her.
Elisha Taylor Baker was an American marine artist from New York City. He was a ship portraitist, luminist and landscape painter. Baker painted full-rigged ships, yachts, steamboats and schooners. His works are in the art collections of the New Bedford Whaling Museum, the Mariners' Museum and Park, and the Mystic Seaport Museum.
The Thomas Howard was a 19th-century pilot boat built by the William Cramp & Sons in 1870 for the Philadelphia Pilots' Association. She was the finest and fastest pilot-boat belonging to the Philadelphia port. In 1886, the Pilots' Association for the State of Delaware declared that the Thomas Howard become a Delaware pilot boat.
The Thomas F. Bayard was a 19th-century Delaware River pilot schooner built by C. & R. Poillon shipyard in 1880. She spent sixteen years as a pilot boat before being sold during the Yukon Gold Rush in 1897. She was sold again in 1906 for Seal hunting, then purchased by the Department of Marine & Fisheries where she guided freighters into New Westminster, British Columbia for 43 years. She was then acquired by the Vancouver Maritime Museum in 1978. When she sank at her mooring in 2002, the International Yacht Restoration School, Mystic Seaport and the Vancouver Maritime Museum, removed the vessel in pieces for the archeological teams to study and document the remains of her hull. The Thomas F. Bayard Collection, at the Vancouver Maritime Museum, contains the documents, history and preservation efforts.