Amon Carter Museum of American Art

This is the official Tumblr of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. In addition to artworks, the museum's collections include photographic negatives, historical ephemera, library books, and archive materials—hundreds of thousands of individual items—all of which are cataloged and stored for long-term preservation. The images posted here draw from the vast body of material, usually hidden from view. Open Vaults is curated by the museum's Media Production Manger, Steve Watson.

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All artworks are products of their time and culture. Political and satirical subjects are particularly loaded with references to their time, place, and circumstances. This political cartoon from 1783 by English caricaturist and printmaker James Gillray needs to be unpacked to get its gist.

The print shows John Bull, a personification of England, throwing up his arms in despair as a ragged, bat-winged devil flies away with a map labeled America. To the left are figures representing France, Spain, and Holland. In the background is a battle scene at Gibraltar and a broken anchor lies next to John Bull. This cartoon is about the Treaty of Paris, as well as the Great Siege of Gibraltar, in which Spain and France tried unsuccessfully to capture Gibraltar from the British at the time of the American Revolution.

The Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States of America on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War. Britain acknowledged the United States to be sovereign and independent. This treaty, along with the separate peace treaties between Great Britain and the nations that supported the American cause—France, Spain, and the Dutch Republic—are known collectively as the Peace of Paris.

From right to left in this picture, the flatulent devil flies away with America while expelling a cloud that says, "Poor John Bull! Ha! Ha! Ha!" Clearly upset, John Bull exclaims, “’Tis lost! Irrecoverably lost!" The exaggeratedly lean Frenchman offers him snuff and says, “Ah. Ah. me Lord Angla, volez vous une pince de Snuff, for de Diable will not give you back de Amerique.”

The Spaniard, gesturing to the naval battle and the Rock of Gibraltar, says, “See Gibraltar! See Don Langara! by St Anthony you have made me the Laughing Stock of Europe.” In the treaty, Spain gave up Gibraltar, but regained Florida. The stout Dutchman on the left says, “De Donder take you Monseiur [sic] I think I have paid the Piper.” The Dutch negotiations continued into 1784, so their terms were unresolved when this cartoon was published.

Images: James Gillray (1756-1815), The TIMES, Anno. 1783, Published April 14th 1783 by W. Humphrey, No. 227 Strand. [London], Etching

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Painter Thomas Anshutz completed this nude study around 1874-1882. In the interest of propriety, or to protect her anonymity, he painted a small shroud over the model’s face.

Anschutz enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1876, the same year that Thomas Eakins began teaching there. Within two years Anshutz became Eakins' assistant, eventually succeeding Eakins as Chief Demonstrator of Anatomy when Eakins was promoted to Professor of Drawing and Painting.

Eakins was forced to resign from the Academy as a result of a scandal in 1886. The infamous “Loincloth Incident” was sparked by Eakins’ use of a fully nude male model in front of either an all-female or a mixed-male-and-female class. Anshutz did not defend his mentor, in fact, he turned against him. Anshutz co-signed a letter to the Philadelphia Sketch Club: "We hereby charge Mr. Thoms Eakins with conduct unworthy of a gentleman & discreditable to this organization & ask his expulsion from the club."

Anshutz was later promoted to Eakins' former position at the Pennsylvania Academy and had a long teaching career. Many of his students went on to distinguished careers of their own, including Charles Demuth, William Glackens, Robert Henri, George Luks, John Marin, Charles Sheeler, Everett Shinn, and John Sloan.

Images: Thomas Anshutz (1851-1912), Nude Study, ca. 1874-1882, Oil on canvas mounted on panel, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Sherman E. Lee

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Favrile was the name coined by Louis Comfort Tiffany for an iridescent glass his company patented in 1894. Favrile was derived from an Old English word, febrile, meaning hand-wrought or hand crafted. Tiffany changed the word slightly and used it as a trade name for his factory-made glass.

Favrile glass was made by treating molten glass was with metallic oxides in specific combinations to create its deep color and iridescent luster. Most of the formulas for making Tiffany art glass were created by Arthur J. Nash, who managed the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company in Queens, New York. The company started producing Favrile objects in 1896. This bowl is an example of the color marketed as “Mazarin Blue.”

Images: Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), made by Tiffany Glass and Decorating Co., [Blue iridescent bowl], ca. 1896-1918, Gift of Ruth Carter Stevenson

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The Lick Observatory, on the 4,200-foot summit of Mount Hamilton just east of San Jose, California, is named for its benefactor, James Lick (1796-1876). Lick was an American carpenter, piano builder, land baron, and patron of the sciences. At the time of his death, he was the wealthiest man in California, and left the majority of his estate to social and scientific causes. Lick’s interest in astronomy and telescopes began in the 1860s and shortly before his death in 1876, he designated a large bequest to build an observatory and a telescope “superior to and more powerful” than any yet made.

It would take Lick’s board of trust several years to construct the world’s first mountaintop observatory to house the world’s largest refracting telescope at that time. With a 36-inch (91-centimeter) diameter lens, The Great Lick Refractor was first used in January 1888. The dome housing the telescope is 60 feet (18 meters) in diameter.

In 1887, during construction of the observatory, James Lick’s body was moved to Mount Hamilton and entombed in the foundation supporting the great telescope, according to his wishes. His will stipulates that fresh flowers are to be on his grave, always.

Images: Unknown photographer, Lick Observatory, Distant General View, East Side Mount Hamilton California, ca. 1890, Albumen silver print

Unknown photographer, The Great 36 inch Telescope of the Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton California, ca. 1890, Albumen silver print

Unknown photographer, The Great 36-inch Telescope (end view) Lick Observatory, near San Jose, Cal., ca. 1890, Albumen silver print

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In honor of National Bike Month, occurring every May here in the U.S., here are two studio photographs of cyclists posing with their machines. The penny-farthing, or high-wheeler, bicycle was popular from around 1870 through the early 1890s. The name penny-farthing comes from the British penny and farthing coins, one much larger than the other, so that the side view of the bicycle resembles a penny leading a farthing. Since they were directly driven with pedals attached to the axle, the large front wheel allowed faster speeds. With solid tires, the larger wheel also gave a smoother ride on rough roads and cobblestones, but hitting a rock or a rut or hard braking could pitch the rider forward over the handlebars. High-wheelers were ridden almost exclusively by daring young men.  

The safety bicycle, introduced in the 1880s, was made possible by innovations in technology, such as chain drive, gearing, and pneumatic tires. The seats and frames of safety bicycles often had spring suspension to smooth the ride over unpaved roads. With its lower center of gravity and relative ease of operation, the safety bicycle supplanted the high-wheeler and made cycling a popular activity for women and children as well as men and started the bicycle craze of the 1890s.    

Images: L. R. Phillips (active 1888-1897), George Norris, 1888, Albumen silver print

Johnson of Salt Lake City, [Portrait of young M.W. Trester with bicycle], ca. 1880-1900, Albumen silver print

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Wishing #StarWars fans a happy #StarWarsDay from the Amon Carter! #MayThe4thBeWithYou

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Unknown photographer (possibly E. W. Kelley), published by Berry, Kelley & Chadwick, Maypole Among the Daisies, ca. 1906, Albumen silver print

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Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) had a lifelong passion for reading and writing. He authored his first book, The Naval War of 1812, at the age of 23 and earned a reputation as a serious historian. The book later became required reading at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Over the course of his lifetime, Roosevelt authored 38 books on a variety of topics including history, public affairs, the military, hunting, and exploring the outdoors.

After the death of his first wife in 1884, Roosevelt set off to the frontier, eventually settling a ranch in the Dakota Territory with business partners. He met the unique characters of the Bad Lands--mountain men, degenerate buffalo hunters, Indians, and cowboys--and observed the changes to the West as it became more populated.  

This book, Ranch Life and the Hunting-Trail, is a collection of essays that was first serialized in The Century magazine. Frederic Remington (1861-1909), then a 26-year old artist working as an illustrator, received the commission to provide 83 illustrations for the stories. The assignment was important to Remington's early career and forged a lifelong connection with Roosevelt.

Remington’s engraved illustrations portray Roosevelt’s subjects in situations and compositions that Remington would return to thematically throughout his career. 

Images:  Ranch Life and the Hunting-Trail by Theodore Roosevelt, illustrated by Frederic Remington, New York : The Century Co., 1888

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When the U.S. Postal Service decided to issue a commemorative postage stamp in honor of the fine arts, they enlisted the Society of American Graphic Artists to sponsor a competition for its design. The winner was modernist painter Stuart Davis (1892-1964). The design is based on a color lithograph he made in 1957 entitled Detail Study for Cliché.

The first-class rate stamps were printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, D.C., on a Giori press, producing a total of 125,800,000 stamps. The Giori press—named for its inventor, Gualtiero Giori—permitted two-color or even three-color engraving from a single plate, in one pass through the press. The key technology was its rubber inking rollers. The surfaces were precisely cut, applying each ink selectively to parts of the same plate. Even so, the arrangement of the three colors on this stamp required the sheets to be run through the press twice.

Officially known as U.S. #1259, the stamp was issued to the public December 2, 1964, never having been seen by the artist, who died in June of 1964.

Image: United States Postal Service, U.S. #1259, 5-cent Fine Arts Commemorative stamp, 1964, block of four postage stamps

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Artist Maxfield Parrish was known for his illustration work in advertising, magazines, and posters, often depicting female figures in idyllic landscapes with distant mountains, classical stone architecture, and a vibrant color palette. Here we see a simplified, yet bold, poster design with areas of flat, subdued color.

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts held a poster show in April 1896 and used Parrish's image both as the cover of the exhibition catalogue and to advertise the show throughout Philadelphia. In response to the growing interest in collecting posters, the Academy marketed a limited number of posters, such as this one, which included Parrish's signature in pencil beneath the image.

Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Poster, 1896, Lithograph

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The St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway began as a line connecting St. Louis and Iron Mountain, Missouri, to deliver iron ore. Later, it extended southwest to Texarkana and connected with the International & Great Northern and Texas & Pacific Railways operating in Texas, promoted on this map as the “Great Short Line Between Texas and St. Louis and the North and East.” The back of the map lists routes and timetables.

This map shows Fort Worth as the end of the line for the Texas & Pacific. By 1883, the T&P would extend west to El Paso. An important route to the north, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, is not shown on this map. The M-K-T, known as the” Katy,” built a line south from Kansas through Indian Territory connecting to the Houston & Central Texas Railway at Denison, Texas, in 1874. The Iron Mountain and the Katy were vital links from Texas to the expanding nationwide system of railroads.

The St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern was acquired by railroad magnate Jay Gould in 1883. It was merged into the Missouri Pacific in 1917, which became a part of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1983. Images: A Geographically Correct County Map of States Traversed by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway and Its Connections. 1877. Chromolithograph, published by St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway.

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Last month, I shared two postcards of studio prop automobiles in Colorado.  Fake ballooning was also popular in postcard photography. These three cards show young women “flying high in Ft. Worth.” All three balloonists are gazing down at a contemporary view of Fort Worth, hovering downtown above 9th Street and Throckmorton. The Carnegie Library is clearly visible and to the right is Fort Worth’s own Flatiron Building. The Library is now gone, but the Flatiron is still there. It was the tallest building in north Texas when it was completed in 1907. Images:  Unknown photographer, [Woman riding in hot air balloon above Fort Worth], ca. 1910-1920, Gelatin silver print postcards, Gift of Mrs. W. Albert Schmidt

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Following the historic visits of Commodore Matthew C. Perry in the mid-1850s, Japan opened its ports to foreign trade after having been secluded for two and a half centuries. The Japanese were soon captivated by an unfamiliar and exotic culture. Color woodblock prints made in Japan recounted the local activities of westerners, as well as events that transpired abroad. Such prints were popular between 1859 and the 1870s.

This artwork is comprised of three joined sheets, each printed on a separate woodblock. The image is based on an earlier woodcut of a balloon launch in Philadelphia in 1860 that was witnessed by the first Japanese dignitaries to visit the United States.

The artist Utagawa Yoshitora was a designer of ukiyo-e Japanese woodblock prints and an illustrator of books and newspapers who was active from about 1850 to about 1880. His birth and death dates are not known. He was a pupil of Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861), an influential master of the ukiyo-e  style of woodblock printmaking. It was customary for successful apprentices to take the names of their masters. Although Utagawa Yoshitora made several prints of foreign scenes, he may never have visited the places he depicted.

Images:  Utagawa Yoshitora (Japanese, active ca. 1850–80), The Country of America, 1867, Color woodblock prints

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Happy leap day, everyone. Today marks our quadrennial reminder that there is no way to perfectly fit a whole number of days into a year. Here we see what happens when people encounter two closely separated rocks.

Images: Fred Harvey Trading Co., Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, Scene near Bright Angel Cove, 1922,  Photolithograph postcard [top]

H. L. Christiance, Arched Rock near Light House, Point Loma, San Diego, Cal., ca. 1910s, Trichromatic halftone postcard [bottom]

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Photographer Doris Ulmann came from an affluent white New York City family. She took teacher training with photographer Lewis Hine at the Ethical Culture School and subsequently studied psychology and law at Columbia University. She also studied photography with Clarence H. White, a founding member of the Photo-Secession movement known for teaching the Pictorialist style.

Ulmann collaborated with novelist Julia Peterkin on a book project titled Roll, Jordan, Roll (New York: R.O. Ballou, 1933). The book focuses on the lives of former slaves and their descendants on a plantation in the Gullah coastal region of South Carolina. Peterkin, who won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel Scarlet Sister Mary (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1928), was born in South Carolina and raised by a black nursemaid who taught her the Gullah dialect. She married the heir to Lang Syne, a 2,000-acre cotton plantation, which became the setting for Roll, Jordan, Roll. Ulmann began photographing there in 1929.

Roll, Jordan, Roll is titled after the spiritual written by English Methodist leader Charles Wesley in the 18th century which became well-known among slaves in the United States during the 19th century. Appropriated as a coded message for escape, by the end of the American Civil War it had become known through much of the eastern United States. In the 20th century it helped inspire the blues, and it remains a staple in gospel music.

Roll, Jordan, Roll was illustrated with 90 photogravure plates made from Ulmann’s large-format negatives. Although they comprise an amazing ethnographic study, today Ulmann’s Pictorialist aesthetic seems a strange choice for making documentary images. The hazy, soft-focus photographs lend a sentimental, nostalgic impression that belies the underlying exploitative history of her subjects. All images from Roll, Jordan, Roll (New York: R.O. Ballou, 1933): Doris Ulmann (1884-1934), [People seated at church service], 1933, Photogravure Doris Ulmann (1884-1934), [Baptism], 1933, Photogravure Doris Ulmann (1884-1934), [Girl standing in doorway], 1933, Photogravure Doris Ulmann (1884-1934), [Two boys riding a mule], 1933, Photogravure

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Citicorp Center, now known as 601 Lexington Avenue, is a 59-floor skyscraper in New York City. Built in 1977, Eliot Porter photographed the building at street-level in 1979.

The office tower has a unique design, supported by massive columns in the center of each side. The corners of the building are cantilevered 115 feet above the street. Because of a design oversight and changes made during construction, the building was potentially vulnerable to structural failure in hurricane-force winds. The engineering flaw, the plan to fix it, and the execution of that plan were kept secret until 1995.

The story of how an undergraduate engineering student discovered the flaw and called it to the attention of the building’s structural engineer was told in an episode of Roman Mars’ brilliant podcast 99% Invisible, available here. @99percentinvisible

Images: Eliot Porter (1901-1990), New York City, 1979, 1979, Dye imbibition print, © 1990 Amon Carter Museum of American Art

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The automotive Brass Era lasted from about 1896 to 1915, and is named for the brass fittings, such as lights and radiators, used on early cars. “Brass Era automobiles” is a retronym; they were called “horseless carriages” in their time.

These two novelty postcards from Colorado show studio prop automobiles with big brass headlamps and painted backdrops. Both are remarkably similar but different, showing a “Half Way House” on a road some miles away from Denver. Maybe someone from Denver can enlighten me about what or where this scene references.

The prop cars have the steering wheel on the right side of the car, which was accurate. The 1908 Ford Model T was the first American car to have the steering wheel on the left side of the car, and some American manufacturers did not switch to left-hand drive until the early 1920s.

Image: United Photo Stores, [Driving to Denver], ca. 1910s, Photographic postcard (left)

Unknown photographer, [Felipe Lopez and man behind a prop car], 1909, Photographic postcard with attached calendar (right)