Charles Bird King
Charles Bird King (born September 26, 1785 in Newport , Rhode Island , † March 18, 1862 in Washington, DC ) was an American portrait painter who specialized primarily in depicting the indigenous people of North America .
Life
Charles Bird King was (born Bird) on 26 September 1785 the only child of Deborah King and Zebulon King, a veteran and captain of the Revolutionary War , was born in Newport. The family initially moved west after the Revolution, but when Charles was just four years old, his father, Zebulon, near Marietta , Ohio , was killed and scalped by Native Americans. Charles' mother Deborah then returned home with her son to their parents in Newport.
When Charles Bird King was 15 years old, he moved to New York City to study with the portrait painter Edward Savage . After five years, King moved on to London , where he studied with Benjamin West at the Royal Academy of Arts . Seven years later, in 1812, King returned home to the United States because of the British-American War . Before settling in growing Washington DC for economic reasons, King lived and worked in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , Baltimore , Maryland, and Richmond , Virginia .
In Washington DC, King succeeded in building a reputation for himself as a portrait painter among local politicians, using his ability to hook up with famous personalities of his time to the benefit. King's sponsors included men like John Quincy Adams , Henry Clay , James Monroe , John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster . King earned well enough to be able to afford his own studio and gallery. Of particular note are the portraits King made of Native Americans visiting Washington DC. These were later reproduced as hand-colored lithographs . King made over 140 Native American paintings to help Thomas L. McKenney preserve Native American culture, all the more remarkable given King's father died at the hands of Native Americans.
King, who never married or had children, lived in Washington DC until his death on March 18, 1862. He left his private collection of paintings, books, and prints to the Redwood Library and Athenaeum .
plant
The fact that King primarily painted portraits may not have been because these were his preferred motifs, but rather because they were the best paid and were basically the only chance for an artist of his time to earn enough to live on. Still life , genre painting and pictures for literary works belong to King’s work . King clearly understood these genres better than portraits and probably preferred painting them, but could not afford to specialize in these genres. It is believed that King's love of genre painting and still life was aroused during his time in London, where he was influenced by European artists, especially Dutch and Flemish . The paintings of the 16th and 17th centuries in particular were in great demand in higher circles of the European art scene. One can recognize the stylistic influence of these paintings in King's still lifes and genre paintings.
The traditional painting techniques that King had copied from Dutch and Flemish masters, he also made use of in his numerous portraits, which have a clearly recognizable traditional touch. In Washington DC, King mainly painted portraits as commissioned pictures, which can be divided into three categories: portraits of US politicians of his time, private portraits for people of high class and the paintings of Native Americans for which King is so famous. Most of these were commissioned by Thomas L. McKenney, head of the Georgetown Indian affairs department , whose goal was to preserve the Native American culture for posterity. Today the fifteen-year portraits of Native Americans are in the Smithsonian .
The portraits of Kings mostly show the entire upper body of the person portrayed. Paintings with oil on canvas and color lithographs by Kings differ mainly in the background. While the oil paintings have a dark gray background, the background of the color lithographs is mostly white. In terms of color, King's pictures are quite intense and often of a rather unusual luminosity for their time.
Web links
- harles Bird King on the Smithsonian Institute website
- Biography of Charles Bird King on the Medicine Man Gallery pages
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | King, Charles Bird |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American portrait painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 26, 1785 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Newport , Rhode Island |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 18, 1862 |
| Place of death | Washington, DC |