Dictionary of Art Historians

Tuckerman, Henry Theodore

Full Name
Tuckerman, Henry Theodore
Gender
male
Date Born
1813
Date Died
1871
Place Born
Boston, MA, USA
Place Died
New York, NY, USA
Home Country
United States
Subject Area
Neoclassical
Overview

Literati; advocate of neoclassicism. In 1867 Tuckerman published his American Artist Life, an account of American art, sometimes scholarly although filled the typical Victorian sentiment (Rowland). Tuckerman was not particularly discriminating. He praised all good artists and honored the rest mostly for being American. In contrast to the work of James Jackson Jarves, his works lacks the acumen and perhaps the intellectual honesty of later writers.

Selected Bibliography
Book of the Artists: American Artist Life Comprising Biographical and Critical Sketches of American Artists. 1st ed. , 1867. Reprint ed. New York: J. F. Carr, 1966.; A Memorial of Horatio Greenough, Consisting of a Memoir, Selections from His Writings, and Tributes to His Genius. 1st ed. 1853. Reprint. New York: B. Blom, 1968.
Sources
ACAB, VI:177; Bazin, Germain. Histoire de l'histoire de l'art: de Vasari à nos jours. Paris: Albin Michel, 1986, p. 539 ; Flexner, James Thomas. "Tuckerman's Book of the Artists." The American Art Journal 1 no. 2 (Fall 1969): 53-7; mentioned, Rowland, Jr. Benjamin. "Introduction." Jarves, James Jackson. The Art-idea. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1960, p. xxvi.