New Hampshire Art History
with an emphasis on representational art
Introduction
This section of the Traditional Fine Arts Organization (TFAO) catalogue Topics in American Art is devoted to the topic "New Hampshire Art History." Articles and essays specific to this topic published in TFAO's Resource Library are listed at the beginning of the section. Clicking on titles takes readers directly to the articles and essays.
Following the links to Resource Library articles and essays are a listing of museums in the state which have provided materials to Resource Library for this or any other topic.
Listed after museums are links to online resources outside the TFAO website. Following these resources is information about offline resources including DVDs, paper-printed books, journals and articles. Our goal is to present complete knowledge relating to this section of Topics in American Art.
We recommend that researchers always search within Resource Library for additional material. Please see TFAO's page How to research topics not listed for more information.
(above: John White Allen Scott, Wildcat Brook, Jackson, New Hampshire, n.d., oil on canvas, 12 x 20 inches. Vose Galleries. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons*)
Our 3 Resource Library articles and essays by named authors honoring the American experience through its art:
New Hampshire State House Art Collection, with text by Russell Bastedo, New Hampshire State Curator
The Dublin Colony by Barbara Ball Buff
Maritime Portsmouth, The Sawtelle Collection by Richard M. Candee
Our Resource Library article without named authors honoring the American experience through its art:
(above: Samuel Lancaster Gerry, Mount Washington from the Saco River, 1858, oil on canvas, 20 x 30 inches, White Mountain Art & Artists. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons*)
Eight American Museums and other non-profit sources of Resource Library articles and essays:
Please click on the name of each source to view articles and essays related to that source:
New Hampshire State House Art Collection
Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site
University of New Hampshire Art Gallery
Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery at Keene State College
(above: Winslow Homer, The Bridle Path, White Mountains, 1868, oil on canvas, 24.1 x 37.9 inches, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons*)
Other online information:
Artists from New Hampshire in Wikipedia. Accessed August, 2015.
Cornish artists' colony - from AskArt. Accessed August, 2015.
Cornish Art Colony by Lisa Mausolf, with list of artists - from Connecticut River Joint Commissions. Accessed August, 2015.
Cornish Art Colony (or Cornish Artists' Colony, or Cornish Colony) from Wikipedia. Accessed August, 2015.
A Life Made in Art: Maud Briggs Knowlton is a 2019 exhibit at the Monhegan Museum of Art & History which says: "This summer the Monhegan Museum of Art & History will celebrate the art and life of Maud Briggs Knowlton (1870-1956), one of the first women to direct a major American art museum and one of the few women to paint on Monhegan Island in the late 1890s." Also see 6/25/19 article in Antiques and the Arts and 5/18/19 article in ArtFix Daily Accessed 12/19
MacDowell Art Colony from AskArt. Accessed August, 2015.
Monadnock Art / Friends of the Dublin Art Colony website, including "Inspired by God: The Artists of Mount Monadnock, 1888-1950" by Edie Clark. Accessed August, 2015.
Mount Washington: The Crown of New England was a 2016-17 exhibit at the Currier Museum of Art which says: "The tremendous artistic potential of Mount Washington was fully realized in the early 1850s. New Hampshire-born artist Benjamin Champney (1817-1907) and New York painter John Kensett spent several weeks during the summer of 1850 sketching in and around North Conway. Their summer sketches were later worked up as oils for exhibition in New York and Boston, to strong critical acclaim. Kensett's Mount Washington from the Valley of Conway (1851), became well known through a popular engraving of the time. In turn, these works of art helped boost tourism in the region, especially among individuals seeking adventures away from the city." See a 10/4/16 New York Sun review "Mount Washington's Majesty On Exhibit at Currier In a Major New Show" by Seth Lipsky. Accessed 10/16
New Hampshire (sampling of artists and works connected to state) from askArt. Accessed August, 2015.
New Hampshire Art and Artists, February 11, 2010 - June 7, 2010, from Currier Museum of Art
North Conway Art Colony in White Mountain Art from Wikipedia. Accessed August, 2015.
Urban Landscapes: Manchester and the Modern American City was a 2016 exhibit at the Currier Museum of Art, which says: "The urban environment has been a constant source of inspiration for artists, particularly since the rise of the city during the Industrial Revolution and subsequent rapid modernization during the 20th century." See 6/18/16 article "Currier's 'Urban Landscapes' builds views of architecture, people, activism" in unionleader.com. Accessed 10/16
White Mountain Artists by Lonnie Dunbier and Teta Collins, from askArt. Accessed August, 2015.
White Mountain Art & Artists has content and research by John J. Henderson and Roger E. Belson. It includes a section on the history of White Mountain art and numerous biographies. Note: on 9/17/13 TFAO sent an inquiry letter to Mr. Henderson asking about further resources for New Hampshire Art History. Accessed August, 2015.
White Mountain art from Wikipedia. Accessed August, 2015.
WPA
in NH: Philip Guston and Musa McKim is
a 2022 exhibit at the Currier Museum of Art which
says: "In 1941, the famed artist Philip Guston and the poet/painter
Musa McKim painted a pair of monumental murals for the Federal forestry
building in Laconia, New Hampshire. Each measuring 14 feet, the expansive
paintings depict sustainable logging and the restoration of New Hampshire
forests around the White Mountains." Accessed 11/22
(above: William Keith, White Mountains and Conway Meadows, 1881, oil on canvas, 30 x 50 inches, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons*)
Books, listed by year of publication, with most recently published book listed first:
Hands That Built New Hampshire - The Story Of Granite State Craftsmen Past And Present, by Francis P. Murphy. 336 pages. Publisher: Murphy Press (March 15, 2007). ISBN-10: 1406766577. ISBN-13: 978-1406766578
Consuming Views: Art and Tourism in the White Mountains, 1850-1900, by Donna Garvin (Editor). 112 pages. Publisher: NHHS (November 30, 2006). ISBN-10: 1584656131. ISBN-13: 978-1584656135. Product Description: "The White Mountains, solid and ageless peaks of granite, rise up across the landscape of northern New Hampshire. Their natural beauty has inspired visitors to the state for centuries. Generations of visitors to the mountains have found something new and meaningful for themselves and for the culture in which they live. By the middle of the nineteenth century the region's magnificent and varied scenery attracted tourists and artists from around the country as well as from Europe. More than four hundred artists are known to have painted White Mountain scenes before 1900. Artists who visited New Hampshire during the second half of the nineteenth century interpreted White Mountain scenery in ways designed to appeal to and attract tourists and to serve as souvenirs of their mountain visits. Hotel owners encouraged painters to work and to take up residence in the White Mountain hotels. Paintings enriched the tourists' sensibilities and enhanced an appreciation of the landscape, even as a growing middle class was gaining cultural as well as economic power. Merchants, bankers, and attorneys, along with their families, embraced gentility by acquiring, displaying, and contemplating paintings. For some these paintings remained mere symbols of their own rising economic status. For others these objects and images were of more spiritual than economic value. Each painting included in this book presents a compelling and unique perspective of a White Mountain locale. All thirty-seven paintings featured are reproduced in full color. The artworks are organized geographically, following routes nineteenth century travelers took while touring the White Mountains. The reader will be able to explore the key sites that attracted tourists and inspired artists, beginning and ending with a visit to North Conway, home of the earliest White Mountain artists' community. Thirty-three authors from many different disciplines have contributed to this publication. Approaching the subject from a variety of perspectives, they reveal the story and significance of White Mountain scenery, of the nineteenth-century artists who depicted it, and of the people (consumers) who acquired, owned, and cherished White Mountain art. (text courtesy of Amazon.com)
Gods in Granite: The Art of the White Mountains of New
Hampshire, By Robert L. McGrath. Published by Syracuse
University Press, 2000. ISBN 
081560663X,
9780815606635. 216 pages. "A survey of the topographic and metaphoric
landscape of New Hampshire's White Mountains through the artistic and tourist
life of the region as it appears in paintings and illustrations. Extending
from the late-18th to the late-20th century, it includes a large collection
of pictorial works." (text and front cover image courtesy of Google
Books)
Women Artists in the White Mountains, 1840-1940: Selected Works, By Frances Sheffield MacIntyre, Published by s.n.], 1990. 16 pages "Exhibition and catalogue arranged and written by Frances S. MacIntyre." (text courtesy of Google Books)
By Good Hands: New Hampshire Folk Art, by Robert M. Doty. 22 pages. Publisher: University Press of New England (August 1989). ISBN-10: 087451973X. ISBN-13: 978-0874519730
"A Sweet Foretaste of Heaven": Artists in the White Mountains 1830-1930, By Robert L. McGrath, Barbara J. MacAdam, Hood Museum of Art. Published by Distributed by University Press of New England, 1988. ISBN 0944722024, 9780944722022. 99 pages
The Cornish Colony: Expressions of Attachment to Place, 1885-1915, By Deborah Elizabeth Van Buren. Published by George Washington University, 1987. 255 pages
A Small Circle of Friends: Art Colonies of Cornish and Dublin. (Durham, NH: University Art Galleries, 1985).
New Hampshire Scenery: A Dictionary of Nineteenth-century Artists of New Hampshire Mountain Landscapes, By Catherine H. Campbell, Marcia Schmidt Blaine, New Hampshire Historical Society. Photographs by Marcia Schmidt Blaine. Published by Published for the New Hampshire Historical Society by Phoenix Pub., 1985. ISBN 091465912X, 9780914659129. 249 pages
A Stern and Lovely Scene: A Visual History of the Isles of Shoals, By University of New Hampshire University Art Galleries. Published by University Art Galleries, University of New Hampshire, 1978. 143 pages
Sixty Years' Memories of Art and Artists, By Benjamin Champney. Published by Garland Pub., 1977. ISBN 0824022440, 9780824022440. 191 pages. "Reprint of the 1900 ed. published by The News Print., Wallace & Andrews, Woburn, Mass" (text courtesy of Google Books)
Nineteenth Century Landscape Painting of the White Mountains, Sept. 22 - Sept. 26, 1976 at the White Mountain School, Littleton, New Hampshire. Published by the White Mountain School,, 1976
The Grand Monadnock: A Literary, Artistic & Social History An Exhibition at the Louise E. Thorne Art Gallery, Keene State College, Keene, N.H. from June 23 to August 3, 1974, in Cooperation with the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, By Louise E. Thorne Art Gallery, Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, Louise E. Thorne Art Gallery. Published by Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, 1974. 48 pages
The Great Bay: A Visual History; April 10th-May 18th, 1970; Scudder Gallery, Paul Creative Arts Center, By New Hampshire University. Paul Creative Arts Center. Published by Scudder Gallery, Paul Creative Arts Center,, 1970, 39 pages
Painting in the White Mountains, 1820-1900: The Bicentennial of Tamworth, New Hampshire, 1766-1966., Published by s.n, 1966. 16 pages
A Century of Art in the White Mountains: Exhibition The North Conway Library Association, July 11 to 17, 1965, Published by North Conway Library Association, 1965. 31 pages
Artists in the White Mountains. An Exhibition Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Discovery of "The Old Man of the Mountains.", By Currier Gallery of Art, Published by Currier Gallery of Art., 1955. 16 pages. "Exhibition held July 15-September 15, 1955" .( text courtesy of Google Books)
Dublin Days, Old and New; New Hampshire Fact and Fancy, By Henry Darracott Allison. Published by Exposition Press, 1952. 156 pages
Chronicles of the White Mountains, By Frederick Wilkinson Kilbourne. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company, 1916. 433 pages. Google Books offers a Full View of this book.
Articles:
Maureen Ahern & Pam Russell, "The Life & TImes of the Dublin Art Colony" American Art Review, March-April 2008 (Volume XX, Number 2)
Roger E. Belson and John J. Henderson: " Art & Tourism in the White Mountains, 1850-1900" American Art Review March-April 2007 (Volume XIX, Number 2)
James L Farley, . "The Cornish Colony", Dartmouth College Library Bulletin, vol. XIV, no. 1, November 1973.
Barbara J. MacAdam: "Drawings & Watercolors from the Hood Museum of Art" American Art Review March-April 2005 (Volume XVII, Number 2)
Bob Mueller & Alma Gilbert-Smith: "Coming Home: The Cornish Art Colony" American Art Review July-August 2006 (Volume XVIII, Number 4)
(above: Thomas Cole, A View of the Mountain Pass Called the Notch of the White Mountains, 1839, oil on canvas, 40.1 x 61.3 inches, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, Andrew W. Mellon Fund. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons*)
(above: Benjamin Champney, Winter Scene, North Moat Mountain, New Hampshire, 1873, oil on canvas, 18 x 28 inches, New Hampshire Historical Society. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons*)
Return to Individual States Art History Project
TFAO's Distinguished Artists catalogue provides online access to biographical information for artists associated with this state. Also, Search Resource Library for online articles and essays concerning both individual artists associated with this state's history and the history of art centers and museums in this state. Resource Library articles and essays devoted to individual artists and institutions are not listed on this page.
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