Elihu Vedder

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Elihu Vedder, 1870
Vedder as a schoolboy 1847 ( Daguerreotype )

Elihu Vedder (born February 26, 1836 in New York , † January 29, 1923 in Rome ) was an American artist of symbolism , book illustrator and poet.

He became known for his 55 illustrations for Edward FitzGerald's first English translation of the Rubaiyats by Omar Chajjam .

Life

Elihu Vedder was the son of Dr. Elihu Vedder Senior and Elizabeth Vedder. His parents were cousin and cousin. His father, a dentist, decided to seek his fortune in Cuba, after which Vedder spent the rest of his childhood in the house of his maternal grandfather Alexander Vedder in Schenectady and in a boarding school. His mother supported his goal of becoming an artist, while his father, convinced that his son should choose a different career path, reluctantly agreed.

Vedder learned his trade in New York with Tompkins H. Matteson , then in Paris with François-Édouard Picot . He completed his studies in Italy, where he was significantly influenced by works of the Italian Renaissance as well as the modern Macchiaioli artists and the Italian landscape. During his first stay in Italy between 1858 and 1860, he developed a close emotional bond with his artist colleague Giovanni Costa . Their idyllic travels through Italy came to an end when Vedder's father ended his financial support.

Vedder returned to the United States impoverished during the Civil War and made a living doing commercial illustrations. He joined a group of writers and artists who met at Pfaff's, a bar near Broadway, and painted some of his best-known pictures according to their perception of nature and romance, and often with oriental influences. Pictures from this time are for example "The Roc's Egg", "The Fisherman and the Genii" and one of his most famous works "Lair of the Sea Serpent".

He became friends with Walt Whitman , Herman Melville and William Morris Hunt . Vedder was elected a member ( NA ) of the National Academy of Design in New York in 1865 and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1898 .

At the end of the war, Vedder left America to live in Italy again. He married Caroline Rosekrans on July 13, 1869 in Glen Falls. Vedder and his wife had four children, two of whom died early. His daughter Anita Herriman Vedder took over the management of her father's business. Vedder's son Enoch Rosekrans Vedder was a promising architect who married jewelry designer Angela Reston. Enoch died on April 2, 1916 while visiting his parents in Italy. Vedder owned a house in Rome and one on Capri .

Vedder visited England several times, where he was influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites and made friends with Simeon Solomon . He was also influenced by Irish mystics such as William Blake and William Butler Yeats . In 1890 Vedder helped found the In Arte Libertas group in Italy.

Tiffany commissioned Vedder to design glassware, mosaics and statuettes. His allegorical murals in the lobby of the Washington Library of Congress reading room can still be seen there.

Vedder returned occasionally to the United States, but lived in Italy from 1906 until his death in 1923. He is buried in the Protestant cemetery in Rome.

Exhibitions

The Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington organized an exhibition of Vedder's Rubaiyat illustrations in 2008, which was also shown in other museums, including the Phoenix Art Museum .

Works

  • Corrupt Legislation (Library of Congress, 1896)

  • Government (Library of Congress, 1896)

  • Peace and Prosperity (Library of Congress, 1896)

  • Minerva (mosaic, Library of Congress, 1896)

  • Minerva, (preliminary study, 1896)

  • The Questioner of the Sphinx (1863)

  • The ninth study for The miller, his son and the donkey (1867/1868)

  • The Sun God (1882)

  • The Pleiades (1885)

  • Dancing Girl (Reynolda House Museum of American Art, oil on canvas, 1871.)

literature

Web links

Commons : Elihu Vedder  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.poetrybay.com/winter2004/whitman.html
  2. ↑ nationalacademy.org: Past Academicians "V" / Vedder, Elihu NA 1865 ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on July 18, 2015) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nationalacademy.org
  3. ↑ artsandletters.org: Deceased Members "V" / Elihu Vedder, elected 1898 ( Memento of the original from July 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on July 18, 2015)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.artsandletters.org
  4. ↑ Stevens, Revalee R. & Robert Kim: North American Records: The Protestant Cemetery of Rome. Oracle Press, 1981
  5. ↑ http://www.phxart.org/exhibition/exhibitionelihu.aspx
personal data
SURNAME Vedder, Elihu
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American artist
DATE OF BIRTH February 26, 1836
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH January 29, 1923
Place of death Rome