Full Name: Isham, Samuel
Other Names:
- Samuel Isham
Gender: male
Date Born: 12 May 1855
Date Died: 12 June 1914
Place Born: New York, NY, USA
Place Died: East Hampton, Suffolk, NY, USANew York, NY, USA [Maidstone Club, East Hampton]
Home Country/ies: United States
Subject Area(s): American (North American)
Career(s): art historians, artists (visual artists), and authors
Institution(s): Yale University
Overview
First art historian to write a complete history of American art; art critic, lawyer, painter. Samuel Isham, born in New York in 1855, was the son of William B. Isham, a leather merchant and banker, and Julia Burhans (Isham). After preparing at Phillips Academy, Massachusetts, he went to Yale and Graduated with a B.A. degree in 1875. While at Yale, Isham studied drawing under John H. Niemeyer (1839-1932), a former student of Louis Jacquesson de la Chevreuse (1839-1903). After graduation, Isham started a three-year sojourn in Europe and learned drawing after Chevreuse. Upon his return to the States, he entered Columbia Law School and then began a law career in New York. A few years later, his partial deafness led him to give up his career.
In 1885, he went to Paris again to pursue what he had left behind and focus on seeing and drawing. After learning painting at the Académie Julian under Gustave Boulanger (1824-1888) and Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1836-1911), he returned to New York to work as an artist in 1887. Isham was elected to the Society of American Artists in 1889, and he became an associate member of the National Academy of Design in 1900. These two organizations merged later at Isham’s instigation, and he became a full member in 1906. In 1901, he received a B.F.A at Yale. In the same year, he became a member of the Art Jury at the Pan-American Exposition in New York. In 1905, his most accomplished written work, The History of American Painting, was published. He became a full member of the National Academy. Caused by an aneurysm, Isham died on the Maidstone Club golf course in East Hampton, New York, in 1914. After his death, Isham’s sister Julia distributed his paintings and collections to museums, Yale University, and the National Academy of Design. Among the items, over 200 Japanese woodblock prints were donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Isham was not a prolific painter, partly due to his father’s wealth, which freed him from financial burdens and allowed him to pursue novice ideas. He created the avant-garde work The History of American Painting, the third volume in the History of American Art series. This work is notable for being the first comprehensive American art history that introduced painting with professional criticism. Upon its release, the Chicago Daily Tribune praised Isham as a “liberal-minded critic” who judged each painting on its merits, appreciating both sentiment and public appeal. Isham is one of three pioneers, alongside Lorado Taft and Sadakichi Hartmann, who authored the first significant American art histories.
In addition to painting and writing, Isham lectured on art history and criticism at the Academy Schools and Columbia University between 1900 and 1909. He served as a trustee of the Fine Arts Society and was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and the Society of American Artists. His active engagement with various art institutions and interactions with painters significantly contributed to his influential work on the history of American painting.
Selected Bibliography
The History of American Painting… with Twelve full-page Photogravures and One Hundred and twenty-one Illustrations in the Text. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1905.
Sources
- [obiturary]: “ARTIST DIES ON GOLF LINKS.: SAMUEL ISHAM BURSTS AN ARTERY AT MAIDSTONE CLUB — HIS CAREER.” New York Times, 1914 Jun 13, p.9.
- Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University. Yale University(2015). p.798-799. https://books.google.com/books?id=y2w_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA798#v=onepage&q&f=false
- Story of American Painting.: Samuel Isham Writes a Chronicle of the Art.” Chicago Daily Tribune, 1905 Dec 02, p.10.
- The Collector and Art Critic 4, no. 3 (1906): 86–86.
- “WILLIAM B. ISHAM,” New-York Tribune, March 24, 1909.
- Men and women of America: a biographical dictionary of contemporaries. New York City: L.R. Hamersly & Company, 1910. p.878.
- “Art Museum Gets Two New Pictures: “Ernesta,” by Cecelia Beaux, And “Cornelia,” by H. G. Dearth, Charming Works. A Rare Panel by Jacopi 236 Japanese Color Prints, The Late Samuel Isham Collection, Are Also On View.” New York Times (1857-1922), 1915 Jul 12, p.7.
- Earle, Helen L. Biographical sketches of American artists. compiled by Helen L. Earle. 5th ed. Charleston, S.C: Garnier, 1972. p.168-169.
- Bazin, Germain. Histoire de l’histoire de l’art : de Vasari à nos jours. A. Michel, 1986, p. 539
- “Century Archives – The Century Association Archives Foundation.” n.d. Accessed June 18, 2024. https://centuryarchives.org/caba/bio.php?PersonID=1505.
- “Samuel Isham.” n.d. Accessed June 18, 2024. https://nationalacademy.emuseum.com/people/810/samuel-isham.
Archives
Brooklyn Museum of Art Library Collections. Clark S. Marlor artist files.
Contributors: Yuhuan Zhang