John Wood Dodge

John Wood Dodge
Born November 4, 1807
New York, New York
Died December 7, 1893
Pomona, Tennessee
Nationality American
Occupation Painter

John Wood Dodge (1807-1893) was an American painter. He is best known for his portrait miniatures of Southerners.

Biography

Early life

John Wood Dodge was born on November 4, 1807 in New York City.[1][2][3][4][5] His parents and grandparents were all from New York state, and the family home was near Poughkeepsie, New York.[4] At the age of sixteen, he was apprenticed to a sign painter, where he painted tinned can of food.[5] He then taught himself how to paint by copying borrowed paintings.[5] He then practised drawings at the National Academy Museum and School in New York City from 1826 to 1827.[2][5]

Career

Varina Howell Davis by John Wood Dodge, 1849; National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Kate Roselie Dodge by John Wood Dodge, 1854; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

He focused on paiting miniatures on ivory.[5] From 1830 to 1838, his work was exhibited at the National Academy Museum and School in New York City.[2] He was also elected an associated of this academy in 1832.[5]

In 1838, he moved to Alabama, finally settling down in Nashville, Tennessee, where he lived and worked for twenty-one years.[2] In 1840, he published an article entitled 'Painting and Daguerreotype' in which he criticized the invention of the photography, as it made miniature paintings less popular.[2] Still, in 1842, he did a portrait of Andrew Jackson (1767–1845), whose reproduction as a miniature was widely popular nationally.[2] In 1849, he did a portrait of Varina Howell Davis (1826–1906), the second wife of Confederate President Jefferson Davis (1808–1889).[1] However, by the 1850s, he began to take pictures.[2]

In 1861, he left Tennessee and returned to New York City, as he supported the Union.[2] In 1865, his new portrait of Andrew Jackson was widely popular again, and widely reproduced.[2] From 1870 to 1888, he moved to Chicago, where he served as Vice President of the (now-defunct) Chicago Academy of Design from 1874 to 1875.[2] In 1888, he returned to his farm in Tennessee, where he continued to paint until 1893.[2]

Some of his paintings are exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. as well as the Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art in Nashville, Tennessee.[1][6]

Death

In 1845, he purchased land in the Cumberland Mountains near Nashville, which he developed into a homestead together with a log house and an apple orchard.[2]

He died on December 7, 1893 in Pomona, Tennessee.[1][2][4]

Selected paintings

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 The Metropolitan Museum of Art: John Wood Dodge
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Smithsonian American Art Museum: John Wood Dodge
  3. ↑ Archives of American Art: John Wood Dodge
  4. 1 2 3 DEATH OF JOHN WOOD DODGE.; An Artist Who Years Ago Gained fame and a Painter of Miniatures., The New York Times
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tennessee Portrait Project
  6. ↑ Tennessee Portrait Project: Unknown Gentleman
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