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Gathering funds by subscriptions, the Union purchased and then redistributed paintings and engravings, creating a structure that made high art accessible to the middle class. For a small membership fee, participants would receive an annual members' engraving as well as a chance at the lottery of paintings and prints purchased with AAU funds. Based in Manhattan, the American Art Union also kept an open gallery, which drew large numbers of visitors keen to see the paintings advertised. In addition to issuing annual subscription prints, the AAU commissioned three medals commemorating important American artists including Gilbert Stuart, John Trumbull, and Washington Allston. These and other goings-on of the organization were reported to members in the AAU Bulletin, published once or twice annually. With its gallery and thousands of subscribers, the AAU probably had more than any other force to do with the success of many of America's nineteenth century artists and the popularization of their work. The legacy of the American Art Union is immense, best exemplified today in the thirty-six engravings it published based on the paintings of some of the most luminous names in American art, including George Caleb Bingham, Thomas Cole, F.O.C. Darley, R.C. Woodville, Asher B. Durand, and William Sidney Mount.
A rare and exquisite historical mezzotint by John Sartain, one of the well-known Sartain family of engravers. The image was drawn by John Blake White and it shows the historic meeting between the "Swamp Fox" and a British officer. The British troops in South Carolina were hard pressed by Marion and were hoping for a 'regular' battle in the open rather than a continuation of Marion's favorite guerrilla tactics. The officer was captured by Marion and was quite surprised to be offered a civil and refined reception by Marion, whom the British had characterized as a rough and crude ruffian. White's image depicted some interesting details, including showing the handkerchief that was used to blindfold the officer and an illustration of the dinner of sweet potato that Marion was asking the officer to share. This classic American scene makes this an artistically and historically most desirable print. $3,200
William Sidney Mount. "Farmers Nooning." New York: Apollo Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in the U.S., 1843. Engraved by Alfred Jones. Printed by George S. Appleton. 12 5/8 x 16. Very good condition. $1,600
Francis William Edmonds. "Sparking." New York: American Art-Union, 1844. Engraved by Alfred Jones. 12 7/8 x 16 7/8. With hand color. $850
A second copy, uncolored. $850
Asher B. Durand. “The Capture of Major Andre.” New York: American Art Union, 1846. 13 x 17 3/4. Figures engraved by Alfred Jones; landscape engraved by James Smillie & Hinshelwood. Large margins. Very good condition. Ref.: Mann, p. 42.
By mid-nineteenth century the story of John Andre's arrest as a spy in the Benedict Arnold treason plot had reached mythic proportions along with the deification of Washington and Horatio Alger fiction. The plans for West Point were found in the British officer's boot. Andre had offered his captors a bribe, but as American patriots, the three irregulars refused and turned him in to the American army. Later debunkers of American history would say they were ruffians and Andre had not offered them enough, but at this time, 1846, the capture was a lesson in patriotism. $900
Another example, with later hand color. $900
George Caleb Bingham. "The Jolly Flat Boat Men." New York: American Art Union, 1847. 18 1/2 x 24. Engraving by T. Doney. Long repaired tear into sky from left and some minor repaired tears in margins. Otherwise, excellent condition and appearance. Good margins, with the entire AAU seal present.
One of George Caleb Bingham's most famous, genre works, and one of the most popular American images, the Jolly Flat Boat Men is a classic depicting music, dance and commerce of the nineteenth century. The print was engraved by T. Doney for the American Art Union and issued in 1847. The American Art Union (1839-1851) was an organization created to support contemporary American art and to develop a popular appreciation of it. The AAU is particularly well known today for its thirty-six engravings after some of the most luminous names in American art, including Bingham, Thomas Cole, F.O.C. Darley and William Sidney Mount. The Union lasted just over a decade before it ran into insurmountable financial problems, and it was dissolved in 1851. This is probably their most desirable print. $6,500
Felix Octavius Carr Darley. "Illustrations of Rip Van Winkle." New York: American Art-Union, 1848. Set of six etched plates. A few very light spots; overall very good condition.
Born in Philadelphia, Felix Darley was one of America’s first well known illustrators. He worked in both Philadelphia and New York before eventually settling in Claymont, Delaware. There he worked for the next nineteen years producing drawings for prints, magazines, and more than 200 books. These included best-selling works by such prominent authors as Washington Irving, Charles Dickens, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Plate 1; Plate 2; Plate 3; Plate 4; Plate 5; Plate 6. $250
Felix Octavius Carr Darley. "Illustrations of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."New York: American Art-Union, 1849. Set of six etched plates. With original (though very worn) covers.
Plate 1; Plate 2; Plate 3; Plate 4; Plate 5; Plate 6. $200
"Ann Page, Slender and Shallow." New York: American Art-Union, 1850. Engraved by Charles Burt. Printed by James Dalton. 16 1/8 x 20 1/4. Three light spots in margin. Three tiny abrasions in image. Overall, very good condition. $650
Asher Durand. "Dover Plains." New York: American Art-Union, 1850. Engraved by John Smillie. 6 7/8 x 10 3/8. Very good condition. $750
Thomas Cole. "Dream of Arcadia." New York: American Art-Union, 1850. Engraved by James Smillie. Printed by W.E. Smith. 6 1/2 x 10 1/2. Paper lightly toned. Overall, very good condition. $750
F.W. Edmonds."The New Scholar." New York: American Art-Union, 1850. Engraved by Alfred Jones. 7 1/4 x 10 1/4. $750
Richard Caton Woodville. "Mexican News." New York: American Art Union, 1851. Engraved by Alfred Jones. 20 1/2 x 18 1/2. Strong image; text light. A fine copy.
One of the AAU's best-known engravings, "Mexican News" is a defining piece of American genre art that keenly reflects America during the eventful expansion of mid-nineteenth century. By 1834, white and enslaved Americans outnumbered the Spanish-speaking population in Stephen Austin's Texas colony by four to one. Their weak allegiance to Mexico led to separation (and eventual independence) when Mexican President Santa Anna declared a unified constitution in 1835. Ten years later, the United States opened the West to its own settlers by annexing Texas and acquiring California and Oregon, angering Mexico and inciting war. While neither legal nor moral, the war was very popular, alternately entrancing and inflaming Americans with battle news. In this print, all sorts of people gather at the aptly named "American Hotel," which is also marked as the post office. As a dapper-looking businessman reads aloud the newly-arrived newspaper, the small crowd around him reacts from their perches on the hotel's stoop. Buildings like this, located in the newly formed states along the Mississippi River, would have been the major hub for communication and socialization in a frontier town. All the states bordering the Mississippi River sent volunteers to the war, and this rural scene reflects that passionate interest. For Woodville to gather many types of Americans here to receive news of the war, then, is a telling picture of national sentiment and growth. An exquisite print. $3,200
Jasper F. Cropsey. "American Harvesting." New York: American Art-Union, 1851. Engraved by John Smillie. 6 7/8 x 10 1/8. Light hand color. Very good condition. $750
William Sidney Mount. "Bargaining for a Horse." New York: American Art-Union, 1851. Engraved by Charles Burt. 7 3/4 x 10. Very good condition. $1,200
William Ranney. "Marion Crossing the Pedee." New York: American Art-Union, 1851. Engraved by Charles Burt. 8 x 11 7/8. $1,200
John F. Kensett. "Mount Washington. From the Valley of Conway." New York: American Art-Union, 1851. Engraved by James Smillie. 7 x 10 3/8. Repaired tear (1 3/4 long in lower margin, to the left of the title.). Overall, very good condition. $750
A wonderful image after a painting by William Sidney Mount. Mount (1807-1868) was the first important American genre painter. He spent most of his life on Long Island, where he recorded his observations of local daily life in a large number of charming portraits, landscapes and genre scenes. In the mid-nineteenth century, a number of the better American artists, including Mount and George Caleb Bingham, had images made of their paintings to be sold as separate prints. An important source of support for native-born American artists, such prints were also key tools in the dissemination of 'fine art' to the general American public.
Goupil, Vibert & Company was a very large print publisher and art dealer in Paris. In 1847, the firm sent William Schaus to New York to open an American branch and to set up an International Art Union which would compete with the American Art Union. Mount, who was displeased with the American Art Union, struck up a friendship with Schaus, and the printer eventually arranged issue of ten of Mount' paintings as large color lithographs: seven were published by Goupil and three by Schaus himself after he left Goupil. This print is a second version of Mount's earlier "Bargaining for a Horse." Both images exemplified a favorite American myth, the witty triumph of the hayseed over the city-slicker. The quality of this print, lithographed by the best craftsmen in Europe, is excellent -- one of the finest examples of American genre art. $7,500
Thomas Cole (1801-1848) is known as the founder of the Hudson River School of landscape painting and produced primarily realistic and imaginary landscapes. Samuel Ward commissioned Cole to paint a set of four allegorical paintings in 1839. These four prints, engraved after Cole's paintings, depict the stages of life from birth to death. Cole's inspiration may have come from a sermon by Reverend Reginald Heaver referring to "life [which] bears on us like the stream of a mighty river."
The series begins with Childhood, in which a small child and its "Spirit Guide" (guardian angel) emerge from a dark cavern in a boat whose figurehead holds an hour glass. The boat's sides depict more figures of the hours. The cavern represents man's earthly origin and mysterious past; the soft light of morning and the abundant flowers and plants growing alongside the "Stream of Life" are symbols of early life. The narrowness of the river banks and the limited scope of scene represent the limited experience of childhood. The Egyptian lotus, in the foreground, provides another symbol of human existence.
In Youth, the landscape widens and the foliage becomes diversified, with trees overshadowing the bank. Alone in the boat, the "Voyager" takes the helm himself. The "Spirit Guide" now stands on the bank. The Voyager points to the sky where the vision of an exotic dome appears to him, symbolizing the dreams and aspirations of youth.
As the Voyager enters Manhood the landscape shifts to a dramatically dark and stormy setting. The dreams of youth are replaced by the struggles of middle age. The current of the stream has become swift and the Voyager seems to have lost control of his boat. Ahead of him is a waterfall with sinister trees in the foreground. "Life's Passenger" looks toward heaven for guidance, but in the clouds lurk the demons of Suicide, Intemperance and Murder, which Cole thought were ever present in the life of man.
In the final scene, Old Age, the Voyager has navigated the Stream of Life, which has emptied into a tranquil but dark and lonely sea, lined with jagged rocks and cliffs. The boat, damaged from life's storms, reveals that time is nearly at an end for the Voyager. Only now is the Spirit Guide revealed to him, guiding him toward his final destination. Old and gray, the passenger assumes a pious pose and readies himself for his inevitable fate. A shaft of light parts the clouds, and angels descend to usher the Voyager to another life.
Rarely found together, these prints were beautifully engraved by James Smillie, who was born in New York on January 16, 1833, and trained by his father, James Smillie, as an engraver on steel. While his principal work was bank-note engraving, Smillie produced many engravings after the work of other artists. He was an excellent etcher and a founder, and later president, of the New York Etching Club. In 1849, Smillie engraved Youth for the American Art Union (1839-1851), an organization created to support and develop popular appreciation of American art by issuing prints engraved after paintings which the organization owned. The favorable reception of this print led Smillie to engrave the three other voyages and issue the four print set in 1855. The resulting prints are considerably rarer than the initial AAU print and are much sought-after. The set of four: $4,600
Thomas Cole. "Voyage of Life-Youth." New York: American Art Union, 1850. 15 1/2 x 22 3/4 (image). Engraving by John Smillie. Wide margins with light soiling in margins. Excellent impression. Overall, very good condition.
A single print from Cole's famous series. This image shows the man just beginning to depart from his angel, before he begins to deal with the difficult currents of manhood through appeal to God. $1,200
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