La Farge family

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A biographical sketch of the life of John La Farge follows. For additional biographical information consult the Dictionary of American Biography, the official biography by Royal Cortissoz entitled John La Farge: a Memoir and a Study, and a collection of Russell Sturgis scrapbooks (3 vols.) in the Columbia University Library. Supplementary manuscript material may be found in the papers of Royal Cortissoz in the Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

John La Farge was born in New York City on March 31, 1835, of French parents, John Frederic and Louisa La Farge. As a child, La Farge received instruction in drawing from his maternal grandfather, Binsse de Saint Victor. Upon completion of his college education, La Farge went to France in 1856 and studied for a short time under Couture in Paris. After having copied some of the old masters in the Louvre, La Farge visited museums in Germany, Denmark, and Belgium. He traveled to England, where he saw the Manchester Exhibition of 1857 and became acquainted with the work of the pre-Raphaelites.

After his return to New York in 1858, La Farge worked for a time in a law office, then went to Newport, RI, to study painting with William Morris Hunt. In 1860, La Farge married Margaret M. Perry, of Newport, who had nine children by him.

In this early period La Farge painted religious subjects, still life, and landscapes. Intrigued with principles of light and color, La Farge sought to capture in his nature studies the exact time of day and condition of light, thus anticipating preoccupations of the Impressionists. A severe illness interrupted his work in 1866; during a long convalescence, La Farge produced a series of illustrations for books and magazines.

Following a visit to Europe in 1873, La Farge became increasingly interested in mural decoration and the art of stained glass. In 1876, he was engaged to decorate the interior of Trinity Church, Boston, by its architect, H.H. Richardson. The following year, La Farge was commissioned to decorate St. Thomas' Church in New York City. Commissions for other churches followed, among them the Brick Church (1882), the Church of the Incarnation (1885), and the Church of the Ascension (1887), in New York City. His murals and glass appeared in numerous secular buildings as well. La Farge executed mural paintings for the supreme court room in the capitol of Minnesota, created the "Battle Window" at Harvard University, and received commissions to decorate private residences, including the houses of White-law Reid and Cornelius Vanderbilt. In his later years, La Farge made greater use of assistants in executing his commissions. This was owing in part to his poor health and in part to the growing demand for his work.

John La Farge was an innovator in the art of stained glass, pioneering the use of new materials and techniques. He developed his own opalescent glass, which he combined with ordinary stained glass, streaked glass, and semi-precious stones to create a richer, more varied effect. La Farge experimented with molded glass, with different methods of fusing glass without leads, and with the technique of plating several layers of glass to achieve more subtle tones. As a result of his work in stained glass, the French government awarded La Farge the decoration of the Legion of Honor.

La Farge left his New York studio in 1886 to visit Japan, and again in 1890 for an extended tour of Samoa, Tahiti, and Fiji in the company of his friend, Henry Adams. From this period emerged sketches of island life and landscape studies, mostly in watercolor, and two books by John La Farge, An Artist's Letters from Japan (1897) and Reminiscences of South Seas (1912). Among his other publications are The American Art of Glass, a pamphlet which appeared in 1893, Great Masters (1903), and Noteworthy Paintings in American Collections (1904), which he edited with A.F. Jaccaci. Published lectures by La Farge include Considerations on Painting (1895), The Higher Life in Art (1908), and Hokusai: A Talk About Hokusai (1897), a study of a Japanese artist that is indicative of La Farge's life-long interest in Oriental art.

La Farge received honorary degrees from Yale in 1896 and 1901, and from Princeton in 1904. One of the first members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, La Farge was also president of the Society of American Artists and of the Society of Mural Painters.

John La Farge died in Providence, R.I., on November 14, 1910, and was buried in New York City.

For a chronology of exhibitions of the work of John La Farge from 1862 to 1935, see the Index of Twentieth Century Artists, February, 1936, in these papers (Series V, box 8, folder 18). For the years after 1935, the following incomplete list of exhibitions may be helpful to the researcher:

"An Exhibition of the Work of John La Farge," Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1936 Mar 2-Apr 26

"John La Farge - Winslow Homer," Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 1936 Jun 25-Aug 16

Tercentenary Exhibition, Newport, R.I., Art Association, 1936 Jul 25-Aug 16

"John La Farge, 1835-1910," loan exhibition, Macbeth Gallery, New York City, 1948 Apr 26-May 15

"150 Years of American Drawing, 1780-1930, from the Collection of John Davis Hatch," Williams College Museum of Art, 1965 Oct 25-Nov 15

"John La Farge, 1835-1910," Graham Gallery, New York City, 1966 May 4-Jun 10

"John La Farge, Oils and Watercolors," Kennedy Galleries, Inc., New York City, 1968 Jan 24-Feb 14

"American Still Life Painting, 1860-1900," Adelson Galleries, Inc., Boston, 1968 Nov 4-30

"John La Farge, Drawings and Watercolors," Toledo Museum of Art, 1968 Winter

"Back Bay Boston; the City as a Work of Art," Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 1969 Nov

From the guide to the La Farge family papers, 1850-1990, (Manuscripts and Archives)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf La Farge family papers, 1850-1990 Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Adams, Henry Brooks, 1838-1918 person
associatedWith Hazard, Thomas Pierrepont, 1892-1968 person
associatedWith Jones, Mary Cadwalader Rawle, 1850-1935 person
associatedWith La Farge, Bancel, 1865-1938 person
associatedWith La Farge, Henry Adams, 1902- person
associatedWith La Farge, John, 1835-1910 person
associatedWith La Farge, Louis Bancel, 1900- person
associatedWith La Farge, Mabel Hooper, 1875- person
associatedWith La Farge, Margaret. person
associatedWith Lemordant, Jean Julien. person
associatedWith Seymour, George Dudley, 1859-1945 person
associatedWith Sturgis, Russell, 1836-1909 person
Place Name Admin Code Country
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Art treasures in war
Occupation
Artists
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