Gideon Fairman

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Gideon Fairman (born June 26, 1774 in Newtown , Colony of Connecticut , † March 18, 1827 in Philadelphia ) was an American engraver, maker of banknotes and academician of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts .

Fairman was the son of Richard Fairman (* 1751; † before 1840) and Anna Botsford (* 1753; † 1833). Like his brothers David Fairman (* 1782; † 1825) and Richard Fairman (* 1787; † 1821) he became an engraver. Fairman married Delight Austin (born February 6, 1767) in 1798 in Albany , New York. The couple had the children Charles Gideon (born January 1, 1803 - July 1803), George Walter (* May 30, 1806 - May 4, 1858) and Caroline Augusta (* July 22, 1809), who later became the mother of Fairman Rogers became.

In 1810, Fairman settled in Philadelphia. George Murray and another partner, he operated under the name Murray, Draper, Fairman & Co . The company specialized in banknotes. Around 1812 Fairman was the teacher of Charles Toppan, after whom the Charles Toppan Prize of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts would later be named.

In March 1812, Fairman was named one of 40 academicians from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (alongside William Rush , Charles Willson Peale , Rembrandt Peale , and others) . In the British-American War he was initially a captain and was promoted to colonel .

From 1819 to 1822 Fairman stayed in London , where he traded with Jacob Perkins as Perkins & Fairman . The company used a special process in which soft steel plates were engraved, which were then hardened. The company manufactured £ 1 banknotes for various English banks that at the time had the right to issue such banknotes.

He worked as an engraver in Philadelphia until his death. Edgar F. Smith named Rogers Fairman in his memoir of Fairman as the inventor ( a noted inventor ). Horace H. Furness named him the inventor of the guilloche ( engine-turning ), which has since been used to print American banknotes. Today he is known for his work as an engraver. Of particular note is the frontispiece of the Vicar of Wakefield by Goldsmith in the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco .

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Linda Bantel, Richard J. Boyle et al .: William Rush, American Sculptor. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia (Pennsylvania / USA) 1982, ISBN 0-943836-00-X , p. 18
  2. ^ Edgar F. Smith, Biographical Memoir of Fairman Rogers , 1906
  3. ^ Horace H. Furness: FR 1833-1900 . Private print, Philadelphia 1903
  4. ↑ Illustration of the frontispiece of the Vicar of Wakefield by Goldsmith
personal data
SURNAME Fairman, Gideon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American engraver
DATE OF BIRTH June 26, 1774
PLACE OF BIRTH Newtown , Connecticut
DATE OF DEATH March 18, 1827
Place of death Philadelphia