Gari Melchers

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Gari Melchers
Ecole des Beaux Arts, Académie Julian
,
Known forPainting
Spouse
Corinne Lawton Mackall
​
​
(m. 1903)​
Awards
Legion of Honor

Julius Garibaldi (Gari) Melchers (August 11, 1860 – November 30, 1932) was an American artist. He was one of the leading American proponents of

naturalism
. He won a 1932 Gold medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.[1]

Biography

The son of German-born American sculptor

Paris Salon; this first presentation by a young artist was well received.[4] In 1884, he founded an art colony at Egmond aan Zee in the Netherlands with American artist George Hitchcock.[5] His first important Dutch picture, The Sermon, brought him favorable attention at the Paris Salon of 1886.[4]

He became a member of the

World Columbian Exposition (1893) held in Chicago are now in the Library at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.[6]

In 1903, he married

Maryland Institute Practical School for the Mechanic Arts and at the Académie Colarossi.[5] Mackall, sister of historian Leonard Mackall,[7] was 20 years younger than her husband [8] and often modeled for her husband.[9]

In 1904, he was named an Officer in the French

Legion of Honor.[10] In 1909, he was appointed Professor of Art at the Grand Ducal Saxony School of Art in Weimar, Germany. In 1915, he returned to New York City to open a studio at Abraham Archibald Anderson's Bryant Park Studios building. From 1920 to 1928, he served as the president of the New Society of Artists. He was a member of the Virginia Fine Arts Commission and a trustee of the Corcoran Gallery of Art.[11] He served as chairman of the Art Committee of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.[12] He was an early member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.[13]

Throughout his career, whether abroad or in his commercial headquarters in New York City or his country retreat at Belmont in Falmouth, Virginia, the artist maintained a fascination with northern light.[14]

He spent his final years at

Belmont Estate in Falmouth, Virginia, near Fredericksburg
. He died there on November 30, 1932.[4]

Works

Besides portraits, his chief works are: The Supper at Emmaus, in the Krupp collection at Essen; The Family, National Gallery, Berlin; Mother and Child, Luxembourg; and the decoration, at the Library of Congress, Washington, Peace and War.[3] The artist was also commissioned by Charles Lang Freer to paint the portrait of President Theodore Roosevelt, one of the most notable public figures he painted during his prolific career.[15]

The panels Peace and War were commissioned for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago of 1893.[5]

He completed a set for three murals in 1921 for the Detroit Public Library, depicting the history of Detroit. Here's the story backstory of that project. He subsequently was commissioned to paint four murals of notable Missourians (Eugene Field, Mark Twain, Major James Rollins, and Susan Blow) for the Governor's office in the Missouri State Capitol.[16][17] His work was also part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics.[18]

His painting Winter was stolen in Germany by the Nazis in 1933 and discovered at the Arkell Museum in Canajoharie, New York in 2019.[19]

Gari Melchers Home & Studio holds the largest collection of Melchers’ art — 1,677 paintings and drawings. An amazingly prolific artist, Melchers’ paintings are also in museum collections worldwide.[20]

  • Selected works
  • Marriage, 1893
    Marriage, 1893
  • The Bride, ca. 1907
    The Bride, ca. 1907
  • Joan of Arc (unknown date)
    Joan of Arc (unknown date)
  • The Sermon, 1886
    The Sermon, 1886
  • Mural of War, 1896.
    Mural of War, 1896.
  • Mural of Peace, 1896
    Mural of Peace, 1896

Museum

The 18th-century Belmont estate was the country home and studio of prominent portraitist, muralist, and American Impressionist painter Gari Melchers (1860-1932). The house contains Gari and Corinne Melchers’ original furnishings and personal art collection, the studio houses over 1600 works by Melchers, and the 27-acre grounds feature restored formal gardens and miles of walking trails. The site, Gari Melchers Home & Studio, is now an American Association of Museums' Accredited museum and cultural center.[21]

The mission of Gari Melchers Home and Studio is to display to the public on a regular basis the art works and furnishings that make up the Belmont collections; to maintain and preserve the collections and physical facilities of the estate in order that they will be available to the public for use by this and future generations; and to interpret the collections in a manner that will serve local educational institutions and the general public as a resource for studying the full range of works of a major American artist together with the tools of his trade in the locale in which he worked. The purpose of Gari Melchers Home and Studio is also to serve as an art center for the people of the Fredericksburg area.[22]

Further reading/viewing

  • ISBN 0937311014
    .
  • Gari Melchers: American Master 1860-1932, by Joanna Catron, July 13, 2020
  • True and Clear, video, Gari Melchers Home & Studio
  • Gari Melchers Home and Studio's YouTube channel

Notes

  1. ^ "American Academy of Arts and Letters - Award Winners". Archived from the original on April 15, 2012. Retrieved December 24, 2011.
  2. ^ Baulch, Vivian M. (January 31, 1998).Detroit is fertile ground for art Archived January 2, 2013, at archive.today. Michigan History, The Detroit News. Retrieved on June 6, 2008.
  3. ^ a b c Chisholm 1911.
  4. ^
    New York Times
    . December 1, 1932. Retrieved June 29, 2008.
  5. ^ a b c Catron, Joanna D. The Story of Gari Melchers. Fredericksburg, VA: Belmont, the Gari Melchers Estate & Memorial Gallery, 2002. Print.
  6. ^ Columbia Encyclopedia Sixth Edition (2008).Melchers, Gari. Retrieved on June 14, 2008.
  7. ISSN 0016-8297
    .
  8. ^ Theobald, Mary Miley (November 5, 2015). "A Man in Two Worlds". Virginia Living. Cape Fear Publishing. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  9. ^ Crow-Dolby, Michelle (September 23, 2020). "Wife & Model". www.GariMelchers.org.
  10. ^ American art annual, Volume 5
  11. ^ "Gari Melchers Dies Suddenly". Washington, D.C. November 30, 1932 – via The Sunday Star.
  12. ^ Mechlin, Leila. "Gari Melchers Memorial Exhibition Opens at the Corcoran Gallery of Art-- Representative Group of Artist's Work." The Sunday Star (Washington D.C.) October 22, 1933: 12.
  13. ^ "American Academy of Arts and Letters". World Almanac and Encyclopedia 1919. New York: The Press Publishing Co. (The New York World). May 22, 2024. p. 216.
  14. ^ Crow-Dolby, Michelle (June 24, 2020). "An Artist's Fascination with Light". www.GariMelchers.org.
  15. ^ Crow-Dolby, Michelle (May 9, 2014). "Painting a President". www.garimelchers.org.
  16. ^ Crow-Dolby, Michelle (April 25, 2022). "Missouri State Capitol Murals: The Backstory". www.garimelchers.org.
  17. ^ Murals by Gari Melchers. Belmont, The Gari Melchers Memorial Gallery, Fredericksburg, VA. Nov 9 – December 12, 1979.
  18. ^ "Gari Melchers". Olympedia. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  19. ^ "Jewish family's painting looted by Nazis in 1933 is returned". AP News. October 15, 2020. Retrieved December 2, 2024.
  20. ^ Crow-Dolby, Michelle (May 27, 2014). "Where is Gari Melchers' Art?".
  21. ^ "Belmont Estate".
  22. ^ "Gari Melchers Home & Studio".

References

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