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Beckwith, J. Carroll (James Carroll) (b. 1852 d. 1917)

Portrait painter
New York, , N.Y.,

Diaries, 1871-1917 38 v.

Diaries in which Beckwith describes his work and daily activities in Chicago before the Great Fire of 1871, in Hannibal, Mo., in New York City, and during his annual travels through Europe, 1871-1917. He documents his studies at the Beaux Arts in Paris in 1875, and his opinions of art and artists in Paris, Italy, Switzerland, Britain, and Spain. Beckwith chronicles the financial difficulties and crippling bouts of rheumatic fever that plague him throughout his life. While painting in New York City he details pupils, sitters, the price of models, and dealings with collectors, patrons, galleries, and museums. He also travels within the United States, including California in 1916. He mentions teaching at the Art Students League in New York City, and attending the meetings of the National Academy of Design, in which he is a National Academician. He recounts numerous social and cultural events that he attends with his wife, Bertha Hall. He also mentions Henry Bacon, Howard Russell Butler, Frederick E. Church, Charles C. Curran, Charles Melville Dewey, Francis C. Jones, Charles Lamb, John Mitchell, Albert Pinkham Ryder, John Singer Sargent, Abbott Handerson Thayer, and J. Alden Weir. Included are sketches, accounts, newspaper clippings, prescriptions, maps, family trees, and lists of addresses and books.

Microfilm reel(s): Microfilm reel 4798, frame 4, microfilm reels 4799 4801 and microfilm reel 4802, frame 939.

Location of Originals: Originals owned by the National Academy of Design, New York, N.Y.

Forms Part of: James Carroll Beckwith papers (in the National Academy of Design)