reflection || becoming an art teacher c. 1800

National Art Education Association

Becoming an Art Teacher c. 1800Author(s): Diana KorzenikSource: Art Education, Vol. 52, No. 2, Reflection (Mar., 1999), pp. 6-13Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3193757 .

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SPECIAL

Editor's Note: This paper was pres

as the National Art Education

Association 1998 Lowenfeld Lec

given April 4, 1998, in Chicago,

Illinois. Material presented in this

paper is part of a forthcoming book by

Diana Korzenik. The Mr. Smith

referred to in this paper is not Walter

Smith (1836-1886).

BY DIANA KORZENIK

I rt

n this talk I will situate inter-generationally one Newport, Rhode Island artist-teacher with whom you can identify. She is Eloise Richards Payne, who came to maturity around 1800. She was raised by a family of educators 200 years ago. As

you learn about her, consider how her experiences seem familiar to your life today, and also, how they are not.

Four questions chart this lecture: 1. What child might have become interested in

teaching art in 1800? 2. How was art part of that child's early educa-

tion? 3. After schooling, where could one receive ideas

about art? 4. Practically, what did someone need in order to

become a teacher?

WHAT CHILD MIGHT HAVE BECOME INTERESTED IN TEACHING ART IN 1800?

Imagine yourself-an art teacher to be-coming to maturity around 1800. You would have been born soon after the Revolutionary War. In your early years, the new Declaration of Independence helped

ART EDUCATION / MARCH 1999

Becomin g An A



_er

citizens chart a course for the emerging republic. You would have been one of those visually attentive children who thought about patterns on fabrics, shapes on officers' metal buttons, carvings of gravestone skulls and angel heads, and engravings on printed paper. From pictures, you also might have learned your alphabet. And if your family could barter or pay, they might have sent you to learn reading at a Dame School in the local teacher's home.

Later, those of your generation whose family's finances and values fit, might have been sent to an academy further from home. Some future art teachers left families that had fortified them with ideas of "beauty" and texts from London, Berlin, or Paris.

When you were in your adoles- cence, a new self-confident, growing, white, affluent class craved "culture" and good taste, a proof of education. Art

was seen to "improve" a person and advance one's social position. To at least a segment of the young in the new nation, instruction in "good taste" promised a shared set of values for a white American culture.

You-the art teacher to be-began acquiring art skills in a new multicultur- al nation populated by native Americans, Africans mostly brought here as slaves, and recent settlers from Great Britain, Holland, Spain, Germany, France, Sweden, China, and elsewhere from throughout the world. Whatever your forebears' traditions, your parents passed on to you art abilities of their ancestors. They also con- veyed to you feelings of grief for loss of their family's homeland and the death of friends and relatives in the Revolutionary War. This grief was intensified in 1799 by the death of the nation's first and beloved president. Around 1800, this theme was

expressed in school children's "mourning art": repeated formulaic elements consisting of a slightly off-center gravestone surrounded by weeping young mourners, sheltered under an overar- ching weeping willow tree. Art materi- als used for coloring the heavens, hills, leaves, and mourners were watercolor or stitched silk.

HOW WAS ART A PART OF THAT CHILD'S EARLY EDUCATION? HOW DID ART ENTER BOSTON EDUCATION?

Cows grazed on the Boston Common in the shadow of the 1798 gold-domed Charles Bullfinch- designed Massachusetts State House, yet the country-raised people saw Boston in 1800 as an urban metropolis. At the beginning of the 19th century, Boston architecture was an art, and building was booming. "Shipping News" was a popular feature in newspa-

MARCH 1999 / ART EDUCATION



pers. Daily, it announced the new products that were available in the growing number of Boston shops. Consumers came to Boston to buy carpets, silver, curtain fabrics and fine imported painting supplies and artists' watermarked laid papers.

Boston's imports-people as well as products-also were transforming the culture and helping to generate wealth.

Parents who heard about and admired this unevenly prosperous, hip, ambitious, and artistic "new scene"-and who had the funds to pay the school tuition-considered Boston "the place" where their children should be "improved."

No widespread system of free common schools yet had been advanced. Most schools were independent busi-

nesses. An educated woman or man hoped to use them to make a living. School-running required hard work and skill in marketing one's enterprise. A school lasted if it drew students and could prove itself profitable. Schools opened in the blink of an eye, and often closed just as fast. An educator who ini- tiated a school in one city but saw potential profit in another, might quick- ly close the first school and open the second. Reputation was crucial for attracting students. The curriculum reflected educators' astuteness in judg- ing parents' aspirations for their young.

Eloise Richards Payne's life can teach us about becoming a professional teacher around 1800. Her education began with her parents William and Susanna Payne. Their home doubled as the parents' business, known as the dis- tinguished Berry Street School. The Academy opened in 1799, soon after the Paynes moved to this location from Long Island, New York, seeking more affluent, intellectual, aesthetic and socially ambitious students.

The school's co-directors were an independent intellectual coupl .ii .. ..- was Unitarian. She, an ackdwged ed "Jewess," practiced Presbanism. They chose to locatetHes Ielves near an historic site, whe ?j 788 the Massachusetts Sta t ti nvention adq ed the Constitution oe United i States. Federal Street :was'i hb of artis-: tic activity. Here, Bostonians enjoyed the Federal Street Theatre. It was here that many wealthy sitters also came to be painted by Gilbert Stuart, including Eloise Payne's best friend and a Berry Street graduate Maria Theresa Gold. Here too, through Mr. Payne's efforts,

Art exercise drawn by Mary Eustis Parker, age 13.

(1799). Copying a yet-to-be- identified drawing manual. Korzenik Collection.

| ART EDUCATION / MARCH 1999



Framed "mourning picture" c. 1805 by Mary W.W.

Burroughs. From "American Needlework

Treasures"(1987)Samplers and Silk Embroideries from

the Collection of Betty Ring. E.P. Dutton, New York.

among others, William Ellery Channing was lured to be the local minister. His Federal Steet Church became the spiritual, artistic, literary, and philosophical Unitarian center.

William and Susanna Payne taught what they believed was most important for the students to know. In that ulti- mate test of value, the curriculum was also for their own four children, Eloise, Nancy (Ann), John Howard, and Lucy. The Payne elders taught what they knew of geography, arithmetic, elocution, writing, theatre, moral lessons, and the arts, including piano, guitar, elocution, drama, writing, and painting. Letters offer us glimpses of what thePaygne'sactually offered.

I4Geographyi Five years before$ ^r

citizens chart a course for the emerging

republic. You would have been one of

those visually attentive children who

thought about patterns on fabrics, shapes on officers' metal buttons, carvings of

gravestone skulls and angel heads, and

engravings on printed paper.

wor6ds(she added:flWithout local ideas hf iose places whiihLwe study,getg-'

raphy is of but little service.Ical ideas" were the appearances of landscape, terrain, vegetation, and beliefs of people in each place.

Outside examiners came to the Berry Street Academy. They promoted the school's visibility. Nearby Charlestown Academy's director Jedidiah Morse, the eminent geogra- pher-teacher of the day and father of Samuel F.B. Morse, was to "examine" Maria, Berry Street's most remarkable geography student. But sadly, Maria




wrote home that he failed to come and she never enjoyed that honor.

Writing: In 1804 the schoolmaster's son, John Howard Payne, recorded his father's delight in Maria's writing: "My father says that it is rare indeed to see such a female correspondence, and so much more rare to see it so uniformly supported. The sentiment, the diction, the penmanship are worthy of each other, and combine to form a brilliant model." Maria was a credit to the Berry StreetAcademy.

Visual Art Eloise Payne gained her aesthetic education at home. To her teacher-father, she kept exploring her love for art To her, art was about more than mere dexterity: "Persons of culti- vated understandings and refined taste must inevitably possess 'high and sub- lime ideas.' Aman [sic] who can paint for money exclusively and is willing that his [sic] talents should become subservient to circumstances, may style himself [sic] apainteror an artist but he [sic] deserves almost any title as much. A person who has knowledge of drawing sees things in a different light from one who takes everything at second hand and half the beauties and wonders of nature are unknown to the person who does not explore them with the interest of one who purposes to imitate them. I am an enthusiast"

But Elocution, Mr. Payne's passion and his students' most popular pro- gram, highlights a problem. The Berry StreetAcademy's own theatre rivaled the neighborhood's Federal St Theatre. To his daughter Lucy in 1803,% Mr. Payne wrote about his school's:! delights: "twelve young ladies ar working on an exhibition to display their mastery." Other studentswere preparing to perform a play, Ftimily Budget. Elocution taught student;hows to gesture before an audience and how to refine their speech. But for what pur-

ART EDUCATION / MARCH 1999



Teaching apparatus: books, globes, and portfolios of

detached engravings drawing cards were evidence of a

teacher's preparedness. Collections of British engravings, landscape portfolios, and "machines," like John Rubens

Smith's used for perspective drawing, promised student art of

which parents could be proud. The equipment also promised skills transferable from school to work, preparing young women and men for possible employment as engravers, lithog-

raphers, portrait painters and makers of household ornaments.

pose was this cultural education? What was its value?

The Paynes' son John shared his father's love of theatre. When John was young and his student, Mr. Payne delighted in and benefited from his son's talents. His acting celebrity enhanced the prestige of his school. But only three years later the elder Payne fretted: What can my son do with his talent? In 1806, the aging Mr. Payne wrote to his son: "I am freely willing to give s-. t your Genius

de.~. :"moderatio':d pru- ent" in adult d carri

are pr, wimt any special itens

On January 2,1806, the elder Mr.

Payne wrote: "If you must have theatri- cal Employment, ... devote yourself wholly to a Profession (i.e., law) and pick up some appendage to it in leisure seasons" (i.e., a hobby). Mr. Payne's friend William Coleman concurred: 'We have seen no instance in this country yet where an actor has been able to maintain a respectable life." ('The Law will be The Great Theatre," wrote William Coleman in a letter to William Payne, dated Jan 29,1806). That theatre l id;pepare a young man for the

.politfi or law made John H. depart th .United States and

become one of "gland's great actors (Overmyer, 19$7)

AFTER S OLING, WHERE COULD ON RECEIVE IDEAS ABO

' ?

W ""hn's sister Eloise Payne fin- i i n ool, she like other Berry ^rt-trained students, attentive to the

visual arts, took special note of one among Boston's many talent-imports: John Rubens Smith. Born in London on

January 1,1775 to Royal Academy painterJohn Raphael Smith and shop- keeper Ann (Darlow) Smith, he was the only male of their four children. His father's career became his model. Young Smith, a product of 18th-century London, was well-acquainted with Londoners' ambition to be adept and savvy about art By 1806, after Smith heard Americans had similar desires for art experts who could paint por- traits, produce engravings for the growing publishing industry, and teach art, he boarded a ship for Boston.

If you were of the social class with interest and access to news about art, you would have known of Smith's arrival. America's eminent painters- Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully, and Bass Otis-made him a celebrity. They pro- vided him with letters of introduction. His employment as a scene painter for the Boston theatre (perhaps Federal StreetTheatre?) oriented him with art people.




By May 1807, Eloise Payne was one of a group of prominent unmarried Boston "ladies," known as Miss. L. Davis, Miss. T. C. Amory, and Miss. E. G. Otis, who petitioned John Rubens Smith to open a Boston art academy to teach drawing and painting and offer lectures on perspective. In 1807 Smith fulfilled their request. His students, graduates from Federal-era academies, were ripe for more art instruction. In his first teaching year, 24 gentlemen and 107 ladies enrolled. He sorted them into groups of eight to ten per class, clustered by their demonstrated drawing abilities. The advanced level pre- sumably included Miss Eloise Payne, already an expert in drawing and calligraphy, Miss Louisa Davis (ater Mrs. Warren Minot) who later became an art teacher and lithographer, and Miss Eliza Pepperell Sanger, alumna of Susanna Rowson's top-notch academy, and Mrs. Rowson herself.

The small circle of John Rubens

Smith devotees grew as Smith began to publish his own art education books. In chronological order, they are: The Juvenile Drawing Book, first self-published by the author in 1822 in New York. It appeared in subsequent edi- tions from Philadelphia in 1839 through 1857. Mr. Smith made students prac- tice lines and mathematical forms. These he applied to drawing windows, doors, and furniture. Students pro- gressed from line to tints and shade, using washes of India ink. Smith (1822) wrote: 'The book is predicated on the principle that drawing ought to form an integral part of liberal education .... It is not expected that everyone who learns to read will become a poet or writer... anymore than by learning to draw they must become an artist" (p. 147).

A Synopsis ofJ.R. Smith's Perspective Lectures was published in 1826 in Boston. This teaching relied not only on words but on his teaching

TIHE

RUDIMENTS OF THE ART,

SERIES OF EASY PROGRESSIVE LESSONS,

ix A aLLa .,

lj tabilfi^mCto for fbtbar l turlaton:

~.'' ' |,; -'* .ii

,-.r .' !~i THE THREE DEPARTMENTS OF THE ART, E ''. . * * x * tL?V,

i- 'K^," *E] ClcATED*N NIN NE BOOKS, OR THREE BOOKS TO EACH DEPARTMi

,;,.'<^ . ?.'?: .1, IN SEvEYTY-TWO COPPERPI,TE EJXGIJI^ JfGS,

->'-[:~" :: . . . ' ' .COPIOUS LETTER-PRESS INSTRUCTIONS.

i'"~ :: . * /

a a. 0 >a

. ' '. .. 'A ?i/bflGNZD. EXECUTED, AN', PUBLISHED,

*.^l?^..^.& 4?'y mmvs ainraAH^ 8Sta%as? yaA<baii?a? irawoT^aasLo

ENT;

"machine." This appliance demonstrated the truth of "science" by an arrange- ment of miniature objects such as buildings and houses, with connecting chords representing the perspective lines. Easy Lessons in Perspective (1830) , dedicated to his artist-father, he first published in Boston for advanced students. On the subject of color, in 1839, in Philadelphia, Smith published Chromatology, or the Science of Colors Displayed.

A scandal surrounded nudes in his anatomy books from 1827: The Art of Drawing the Human Figure, a self-published PicturesqueAnatomy, and Compendium ofPicturesqueAnatomy, which renowned artist Washington Allston praised as of immediate and practical utility to all students of the sev- eral branches of the fine arts. Smith's A Key to the Art ofDrawing the Human Figure (Philadelphia, 1831) measuring 17" x 11" followed. It was illustrated with lithographs and cost $10.00.

Eloise Payne and her colleagues knew their teacher was a pioneer. His art procedures were practical. In the Art Crusade (1976) Peter Marzio cred- ited John R Smith, Rembrandt Peale, and John Gadsby Chapman, as pio- neers of how-to books, who started a trend which, between 1820 and the Civil War, yielded a circulation of some 145,000 drawing instruction manuals. Many of these products boasted the catch-all phrase: "for families and schools." Affluent families bought ele- gant large, leather-bound portfolios embossed with these words in gold. The less affluent bought letter-pressed more modest books that young people could fit in one hand. Small format packets of drawing cards also claimed benefits for "families." In all their vari-

John Rubens Smith. Title page from Juvenile Drawing

Book(1822). Collection of Boston Athenaeum.

_ ART EDUCATION / MARCH 1999

-,f-7" I - I i

1 ....- .,,

.

..-. ... -..

. . .

.,.....I....... .



ety, these promised the young access to art's mysteries and an appreciation of nature. Homes were a ready-made art education market.

Schools were also eager for these products. Teachi p rtks books, globes, an jrtfolios ofeled eng ings drawing crwere evi- dee of a teacher'prp edness. Colections of Brig nravings, landscape portfolios,t machines," like of John Rubens.Siits used for persp tive drawi poTised student arm which pa ould be proud. T t equipenrtao promised skills ferabfsuch hool to work, prep youngwome n ian en for possible employment as engravers, lithogra- phers, portrait painters and makers of household ornaments.

PRACTICALLY, WHAT DID ELOISE NEED IN ORDER TO BECOME A TEACHER?

Eloise Richard Payne helps us to consider the matter of talent in women. Was such believed to exist? What were options in life for talented female adults? When Eloise's mother died and her aging father's energy and finances were failing, she already was an accom- plished writer, artist, calligrapher, and linguist. With assistance from one of her sisters she resolved to open her school in affluent Newport, Rhode Island. The teaching apparatus from the Berry Street Academy became theirs. On April 17,1809, William Channing, native of Newport and now Federal Street minister, wrote the school-keepers-to-be a letter instruct- ing them about how to act as teachers. On the bottom of his letter, Eloise noted that she reread his words daily, for months.

First, Channing warned them of propriety:

Be cheerful but not gay.... It is of the first importance that you impress the people amongst whom you are tAo l agonviction of your ness and bility of char- acte. . If once you considered thg ess, voiatie, injudicioti, ySapp rccespe oif nuccess is goun. Y r nnlo t will be of little bval

Dli,abcatebefore you decide :.d.-

Let8 oLet ynr spirits run awy you. B ant ss ing deli d admirati o not aim at sr much. YoEl"d be brillian gh withoutert.... Yo to the great circur ection.

Sa reiquid of young ladies wholfide"- alone, without parent, guardian or brother.... Learn to be happy in yourselves and at home.

About appropriate dress he reswrote: "You must avoid everything that approaches wildness. In your dress you cannot but discover taste but it will be better to fall below, than to rise above the common standard of fashion in the place where you live" (cultivate dowdi- ness!).

His letter to Eloise Richard Payne continued:

Now for your school. Endeavor to introduce the most perfect system at the beginning and be very slow to admit any changes .... Pay great attention to the order at your school and to the manners of the children and when they leave you see that they retire with silence .... Let the scripture be read daily in a reveren- tial manner by yourselves or some good reader, ... Be careful to teach every branch thoroughly. A school is lost when it gets the character of being showy and superficial.... Enter into the spirit of your occupa- tion. Learn to love it.... Let it not be your task but your delight. Feel that

providence is honoring you in com- mitting to you the charge of immor- tal minds. Study the characters of your pupils, and the best modes of exciting& improving them. Lift up your eyes with gratitude anc dence to vo.r father in hea he

belleletrist, fluent in e p sh and Latin, and master in calligraphy and drawing. What changed when she opened her Newport School, that she had to keep these as secrets? What IF teacher Eloise Payne had been encour- aged to be SHINING?

RESOURCES Dreppard, C. W. (1942). American pioneer arts

and artists. Watkins Glen, NY: Century House.

Smith, J. R (1822). Juvenile DrawingBook, Collection of Boston Athenaeum.

REFERENCES Marzio, P. C. (1976). The art crusade:An

analysis ofAmerican drawing manuals, 1820-1860. Annotated bibliography of art instruction manuals, pp. 71-78. Washington, DC: The Smithsonian Press.

Overmyer, G. (1957). America's first Hamlet. New York: New York University Press.

Schimmelman, J. G. (1990). American imprints on art through 1865: Books and pamphlets on drawing, painting, and sculp- ture, aesthetics, art criticism, and instruction. Boston: G. K Hall & Co.

E N D N 0 T E 'There is some doubt as to whether this book is actually by John Rubens Smith. In addition to Smith (Marzio, 1976), authorship has been variously attributed to Elizabeth Peabody (Schimmelman, 1990) and Louisa Davis Minot (The American

Antiquarian Society).




reflection || becoming an art teacher c. 1800

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