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Thomas Sedgwick Steele
was born at Hartford, CT June 11 1845, and died at
Swampscott, MA September 9, 1903. He attended Hartford High School, and
after high
school was in the jewelry business with his father as a partner. In his
youth, he
began drawing and painting.
In 1880 and 1882, he published two books on the woods of northern Maine,
entitled
"Canoe and Camera" and "Paddle and Portage." These books are lavishly
illustrated
with engravings and wood cuts (some depicting Steele's paintings, others
from the
photos taken on the trips described). His books were accompanied by an
important
early map of that region, which was published in at least three
different editions,
being one of the first maps ever created specifically for canoeists.
In 1887, he gave up jewelry for art full time. In 1890 Steele joined the
Boston Art
Club. His painting "Net Results" was much noted at the time.
Steele studied art in Paris with Marcius Simonds. Steele traveled to
other parts of
Europe and North Africa. His exploits in Norway are recounted in the
book "A Voyage
to Vikingland" (1896) again accompanied by a map and lavish
illustrations.
Steele was a member of the National Academy of Design, Salmagundi Club
of New York,
and numerous genealogical societies. His style was very realistic and
his subjects
were mostly recently hooked fish and still life scenes. While he dabbled
with
impressionism and luminism, he believed that these schools of art would
not have
significant staying power.
Steele was twice married, first to Annie Eliza Smith and second to Sarah
Cole Goff,
daughter of Rhode Island industrialist Lyman Goff. He apparently had no
descendants
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Robert
White
American, 1921
click painting for larger image
After several years of study under
Jacques Maroger, Technical Director of the
restoration laboratories at the Louvre in Paris, and author of "The
Secret Formulas
and Techniques of the Masters", Robert White acquired the formula for
reconstructing
the oil medium used by the Dutch and Italian masters of the sixteenth
and
seventeenth centuries.
Robert White has achieved recognition as a Trompe l' oeil and
representational still
life expert - a field in which very few artists can succeed, because of
its
technical and artistic demands. His paintings have been exhibited at the
Corcoran
Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C., The Peale Museum and the Baltimore
Museum of
Art in Maryland, the well known Grand Central Art Galleries and the
Wickersham
Gallery in New York City. His paintings hand in many private
collections, including
those of Mr. Charles White, Chairman of the Board of Republic Steel
Corporation, Mr.
Charles Bartlett, the well known Washington columnist, and in the
collection of
International Telephone and Telegraph to name a few.
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