David Gilmour Blythe
Encyclopedia
David Gilmour Blythe was a self-taught American artist best known for paintings which satirically portrayed political and social situations.
, Ohio
on May 9, 1815 to poor parents of Scottish and Irish ancestry. After a childhood in a log cabin by the Ohio River
, at the age of 16, Blythe moved to Pittsburgh
, Pennsylvania
. There he apprenticed himself to woodcarver Joseph Woodwell. In his subsequent work as an itinerant portrait painter, Blythe traveled widely from Baltimore to Philadelphia
and perhaps as far as New Orleans
. Other than his stint with Woodwell, Blythe had no known artistic education or training.
In addition to painting, Blythe carved from poplar a large (8'2") statue of Lafayette
for the Uniontown, Pennsylvania
courthouse
. He also invested a great deal of time and energy painting a panorama
— an early forerunner to motion pictures.
His social awkwardness and general bellicosity were intensified when Blythe drank, which was often. After another statue project in nearby Green County
fell through, the Uniontown newspapers published Blythe poems in which he referred to Greene County as "a sow grown fat with buttermilk and meal." A Greene County newspaper then published a retort by a local poet in which Blythe was named too much of a drunk to be worth anyone's attention. Blythe's impudent response was a letter in which he called the poet "the son of an insolvent rat."
Between 1850 and 1852, Blythe suffered several profound losses. Both his father and his wife, the former Julia Ann Keffer, died. His panorama venture failed financially. After these tribulations, his work became increasingly and bitingly satirical. He turned away from portraiture and instead concentrated on canvases depicting hot-button social and political issues. He opposed the expansion of both slavery
and immigration
and made visual points regarding both issues in a number of paintings.
in the center of the canvas, straining forward to crush rebellion (depicted as an alligator or crocodile) while in the background, a huge fire rages.
Blythe did not serve in the military
during the Civil War
. He did follow a regiment in hopes of making sketches to use later as studies for paintings of battle. Although Blythe did not personally witness combat, he gained enough of a sense of the cruelties of war that he was emboldened to paint several powerful pieces. Of these, the most famous is "Libby Prison
," which Blythe painted in 1863. It depicts Union soldiers suffering intensely in captivity. It is generally considered to be one of the most gruesome of all American paintings of Civil War scenes.
; the pretensions of the burgeoning American middle class
; and the daily activities of street urchins he encountered in Pittsburgh
.
His paintings of children are particularly notable for their distinct lack of sentimentality. Blythe's children generally exhibit a sharp intelligence and rather adult, cynical expressions. They are shown to be canny participants in the city's hustle-and-bustle: playing marbles
for money, setting off firecrackers, picking pockets, smoking cigar
s, stealing eggs, and indulging in other forms of hanky-panky.
On May 15, 1865, Blythe died of complications of alcoholism
.
; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
; the Smithsonian American Art Museum
; the De Young Museum and the Butler Institute of American Art
, among others.
Early years
Blythe was born in East LiverpoolEast Liverpool, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 13,089 people, 5,261 households, and 3,424 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,010.3 people per square mile . There were 5,743 housing units at an average density of 1,320.8 per square mile...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
on May 9, 1815 to poor parents of Scottish and Irish ancestry. After a childhood in a log cabin by the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
, at the age of 16, Blythe moved to Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. There he apprenticed himself to woodcarver Joseph Woodwell. In his subsequent work as an itinerant portrait painter, Blythe traveled widely from Baltimore to Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
and perhaps as far as New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
. Other than his stint with Woodwell, Blythe had no known artistic education or training.
Adulthood
Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette , often known as simply Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France...
for the Uniontown, Pennsylvania
Uniontown, Pennsylvania
Uniontown is a city in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh and part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. Population in 1900, 7,344; in 1910, 13,344; in 1920, 15,692; and in 1940, 21,819. The population was 10,372 at the 2010 census...
courthouse
Courthouse
A courthouse is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English speaking countries, buildings which house courts of law are simply...
. He also invested a great deal of time and energy painting a panorama
Panorama
A panorama is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film/video, or a three-dimensional model....
— an early forerunner to motion pictures.
His social awkwardness and general bellicosity were intensified when Blythe drank, which was often. After another statue project in nearby Green County
Greene County, Pennsylvania
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 40,672 people, 15,060 households, and 10,587 families residing in the county. The population density was 71 people per square mile . There were 16,678 housing units at an average density of 29 per square mile...
fell through, the Uniontown newspapers published Blythe poems in which he referred to Greene County as "a sow grown fat with buttermilk and meal." A Greene County newspaper then published a retort by a local poet in which Blythe was named too much of a drunk to be worth anyone's attention. Blythe's impudent response was a letter in which he called the poet "the son of an insolvent rat."
Between 1850 and 1852, Blythe suffered several profound losses. Both his father and his wife, the former Julia Ann Keffer, died. His panorama venture failed financially. After these tribulations, his work became increasingly and bitingly satirical. He turned away from portraiture and instead concentrated on canvases depicting hot-button social and political issues. He opposed the expansion of both slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
and immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
and made visual points regarding both issues in a number of paintings.
Civil War
Blythe painted "Lincoln Crushing the Dragon of Rebellion" in 1862. This piece depicts a fiery Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
in the center of the canvas, straining forward to crush rebellion (depicted as an alligator or crocodile) while in the background, a huge fire rages.
Blythe did not serve in the military
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
during the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. He did follow a regiment in hopes of making sketches to use later as studies for paintings of battle. Although Blythe did not personally witness combat, he gained enough of a sense of the cruelties of war that he was emboldened to paint several powerful pieces. Of these, the most famous is "Libby Prison
Libby Prison
Libby Prison was a Confederate Prison at Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. It gained an infamous reputation for the harsh conditions under which prisoners from the Union Army were kept.- Overview :...
," which Blythe painted in 1863. It depicts Union soldiers suffering intensely in captivity. It is generally considered to be one of the most gruesome of all American paintings of Civil War scenes.
Later work
Many of Blythe's most accomplished paintings offer barbed commentary on the American judicial system; politicsPolitics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
; the pretensions of the burgeoning American middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
; and the daily activities of street urchins he encountered in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
.
His paintings of children are particularly notable for their distinct lack of sentimentality. Blythe's children generally exhibit a sharp intelligence and rather adult, cynical expressions. They are shown to be canny participants in the city's hustle-and-bustle: playing marbles
Marbles
A marble is a small spherical toy usually made from glass, clay, steel, or agate. These balls vary in size. Most commonly, they are about ½ inch in diameter, but they may range from less than ¼ inch to over 3 inches , while some art glass marbles fordisplay purposes are over 12 inches ...
for money, setting off firecrackers, picking pockets, smoking cigar
Cigar
A cigar is a tightly-rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco that is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, and the Eastern...
s, stealing eggs, and indulging in other forms of hanky-panky.
On May 15, 1865, Blythe died of complications of alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
.
Reputation
Although Blythe was well regarded in Pittsburgh during his final years, he did not enjoy a larger national reputation in his lifetime. From his death until the 1940s, his life and work were largely forgotten. Since the 1940s, however, his oeuvre has earned growing respect and prestige. His paintings are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of ArtMetropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
; the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is a museum in Washington, D.C. with an extensive collection of American art.Part of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum has a broad variety of American art that covers all regions and art movements found in the United States...
; the De Young Museum and the Butler Institute of American Art
Butler Institute of American Art
The Butler Institute of American Art, located on Wick Avenue in Youngstown, Ohio, United States, was the first museum dedicated exclusively to American art. Established by local industrialist and philanthropist Joseph G. Butler, Jr., the museum has been operating pro bono since 1919...
, among others.