Samuel Isham

Samuel Isham (May 12, 1855 – June 12, 1914) was an American portrait and figure painter.[1]

Samuel Isham
Samuel Isham in costume,
Sherwood Studio Building (1889)
Born(1855-05-12)May 12, 1855
New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedJune 12, 1914(1914-06-12) (aged 59)
East Hampton, New York, U.S.
Burial placeWoodlawn Cemetery
Education
Occupation(s)Painter and writer
Known forHistory of American Painting (1905)
Parent
RelativesCharles Bradford Isham (brother)
Henry Osborn Taylor (brother-in-law)
Mamie Lincoln Isham (sister-in-law)
HonorsNational Academy of Design

Early life

Samuel Isham was born in New York City on May 12, 1855.[2] He was the son of William Bradley Isham (1827–1909) and Julia Burhans (1827–1907).[3] His father was a leather merchant who owned downtown factories and warehouses on Gold and Cliff Streets, and became vice-president of the Bank of the Metropolis and the president of the Bond and Mortgage Guarantee Company.[4] Among his siblings was Charles Bradford Isham, who married Mamie Lincoln (granddaughter of Abraham Lincoln); and Julia Isham,[5] who married historian Henry Osborn Taylor.[6][7]

After preparing at Phillips Academy, he studied at Yale,[8] where he was a member of the third editorial board of The Yale Record,[9] and graduated in 1875 with a B.F.A. degree.[10]

Career

After Yale, Isham traveled abroad for three years and then studied law at Columbia Law School, beginning in the fall of 1878, and was admitted to the bar. He began practicing in the office of Lord Day & Lord before forming a partnership with George E. Coney in 1881.[8]

Art career

A few years later, however, Isham opted out of a career in law and turned to art. He again went abroad, studying painting in Paris at the Académie Julian from 1885 to 1887 under Gustave Boulanger and Jules Joseph Lefebvre.[10]

He exhibited at both Paris salons and at the larger American exhibitions. He was a member of the Art Jury at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York in 1901, and became a member of the National Academy in 1906. At the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, he won the silver medal. He was also a director of the Fine Arts Society and a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, both in New York City.[10]

His most important achievement, however, was his History of American Painting in 1905,[11] the best work on the subject. It deserves high praise for its adequate treatment, sympathetic usually just appreciations, and pleasing style.[12]

Personal life

Isham, who did not marry and lived at 471 Park Avenue in Manhattan, was a member of the Maidstone Club (in East Hampton, New York), Ardsley Club (in Irvington, New York), the Metropolitan Club, the Players' Club, and the University Club of New York.[10]

On June 12, 1914, Isham suffered from an aneurysm of the arteries and died on the Maidstone Club golf course in East Hampton.[10] He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. After his death, his estate presented 236 Japanese color prints from his personal collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[13]

  • Portrait of an "Old Sea Captain", c. 1890 – c. 1899
    Portrait of an "Old Sea Captain", c. 1890 – c. 1899
  • Girl in White with Hat
    Girl in White with Hat
  • The Lilac Kimono, c. 1895 – c. 1900
    The Lilac Kimono, c. 1895 – c. 1900
  • Wooded Landscape, c. 1890 – c. 1899
    Wooded Landscape, c. 1890 – c. 1899
  • Portrait of John Goddard Stearns Jr. c. 1895
    Portrait of John Goddard Stearns Jr. c. 1895

References
  1. "Samuel Isham". americanart.si.edu. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  2. American Ancestry: Embracing lineages from the whole of the United States. 1888-1898. Ed. by Frank Munsell. J. Munsell's Sons. 1888. pp. 28-29. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  3. "WILLIAM B. ISHAM". New-York Tribune. 24 Mar 1909. p. 7. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  4. "History of Inwood's Ishham Park" My Inwood
  5. "MRS. H.O. TAYLOR, CITY'S BENEFACTOR; Wife of Historian and Donor of Isham Park in Upper Manhattan Dies at 73 SHE AIDED MANY CAUSES Gave Prints to Metropolitan Museum--Had Been Generous to Harvard University" (PDF). The New York Times. 7 March 1939. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  6. "WILL OF MRS. TAYLOR AIDS TWO COLLEGES; Harvard and Smith Get Residue After $100,000 Bequests" (PDF). The New York Times. 12 March 1939. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  7. "Harvard Given $642,000 in Will of Julia Taylor". The Boston Globe. May 31, 1940. p. 11. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  8. Yale University (1915). Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University. Yale University. p. 798. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  9. "Record Editors". The Yale Banner. New Haven: Thomas Penney and G. D. Pettee. 1877. p. 182.
  10. "ARTIST DIES ON GOLF LINKS.; Samuel Isham Bursts an Artery at Maidstone Club -- His Career" (PDF). The New York Times. 13 June 1914. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  11. "The History of American Painting / by Samuel Isham with twelve full-page photogravures and one hundred and twenty-one illustrations in the text". www.loc.gov. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  12. Morse, Samuel F. B. (2014). American Jupiter: Letters and Journals of Samuel F.B. Morse (Vol. I & II). BIG BYTE BOOKS. p. 302. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  13. "Art Museum Gets Two New Pictures;" (PDF). The New York Times. 12 July 1915. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
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