Martin Johnson Heade papers, 1853-1904

Collection Information

Size: 0.4 Linear feet

Summary: The scattered papers of painter Martin Johnson Heade measure 0.4 linear feet and date from 1853 to 1904. The bulk of the collection consists of letters from his friend and fellow artist, Frederic Edwin Church between 1866-1899. Within the papers is an annotated sketchbook, circa 1853-1877, and a detailed handwritten notebook about hummingbirds dating from circa 1864 and circa 1881. Also found are a few letters and notes from others, deeds, and an 1865 exhibition catalog.

Biographical/Historical Note

Martin Johnson Heade was born in Lumberville, Pennsylvania, in 1819. He studied art under painter Edward Hicks, and began his career as a portrait painter. After traveling abroad and living in Rome for two years, he made his artistic debut in 1841 at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Heade began exhibiting regularly in 1848, after another trip to Europe, and became an itinerant artist until he settled in New York in 1859. In the early 1860s he turned to painting landscapes and seascapes, in which he could explore spatial structure and the effects of light. During this period he became friends with fellow landscape painter, Frederic Edwin Church, one of his few friends in the art world, and with whom he exchanged letters for over thirty years. Besides landscapes, Heade painted many still-lifes of flowers. After trips to South and Central America in 1863-1864, 1866, and 1870, he began painting hummingbirds and orchids in tropical settings. Heade was never fully accepted by the New York art establishment and for a period of time resumed his itinerant lifestyle. In 1883 he settled in Saint Augustine, Florida and married. He also found a patron, Henry Morrison Flagler, to commission his work, and continued to paint still-lifes, swamp scenes, and hummingbirds, until his death in 1904.

Provenance

The collection was donated in 1955 by Robert McIntyre, art historian and director of the Macbeth Gallery.

Related Materials

Related material found in the Archives includes a Martin Johnson Heade letter to Frederic Edwin Church, 1868, and the microfilm of a loan of Martin Johnson Heade papers housed at the Bucks County Historical Society containing biographical material about Heade, available on reel 4408. Originals are located at Bucks County Historical Society.

Language Note

English .

Digitization Note

The papers of Martin Johnson Heade in the Archives of American Art were digitized in 2007. The papers have been scanned in their entirety, and total 214 images.

Funding Note

Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.