Martin Johnson Heade papers
name: label: Creator
content: Heade, Martin Johnson, 1819-1904
label: Names
content: Church, Frederic Edwin, 1826-1900
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- Florida
label: Topic
content: Hummingbirds
label: Topic
content: Painting -- United States
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The collection was donated in 1955 by Robert McIntyre, art historian and director of the Macbeth Gallery.
creator: label: Creator
content: Heade, Martin Johnson, 1819-1904
setName: label: See more items in
content: Martin Johnson Heade papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: 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.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: 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.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 0.4 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1853-1904
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.headmart
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sketchbooks
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Due to the small size of this collection, items are arranged by type of material into folders. Within each folder, items are arranged chronologically.
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The Martin Johnson Heade papers received a preliminary level of processing at some point after donation. Material was microfilmed in the order that it was donated on reel D5. The notebook and sketchbook were professionally conserved in 2004. The collection was fully processed by Erin Corley in 2006 with funding provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art, and was scanned in 2007 with funding from the Terra Foundation for American Art.
altformavail: label: Alternative Forms Available
content: The papers of Martin Johnson Heade in the Archives of American Art were digitized in 2007, and total 214 images.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sketchbooks
scopecontent: label: Scope and Content Note
content: 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.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Material
content: 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.