Elihu Vedder | Questroyal

Elihu Vedder (1836–1923)

Born in lower Manhattan on February 26, 1836, Elihu Vedder spent the majority of his life abroad, living in Cuba, Paris, Florence, Rome, and Capri, for over sixty years. Predictive of Vedder’s itinerant lifestyle, his first painting sale, at age nineteen, depicted the ship, Adelaide, which sailed around the world. The artist’s lifelong passion for traveling and his reliance on artistic expression to convey his inner desires distinguishes his unique oeuvre from that of his contemporaries. His dedicated exploration of his own subconscious, illustrated in the nearly surreal imagery of his paintings and drawings, secured Vedder’s legacy as a brilliant and visionary artist.

Vedder spent his childhood in Cuba, where his father found success as a dentist, and at his grandparents’ farm in Brooklyn, New York. Vedder’s disjointed family created intimacy by sharing their subliminal thoughts through letters, and thus the dream world was a significant influence in Vedder’s childhood. Dreams and the subconscious continued to inspire to Vedder throughout his life, as evidenced in his artwork.

Interested in art from an early age, Vedder began his formal training in New York in 1855, under T. H. Matteson. One year later, he persuaded his father to sponsor his first trip to Europe, hoping to fulfill his late “Mother’s wish that [he] should be an artist.”[1] While in Paris, Vedder studied at Atelier Picot, with the artist, François-Édouard Picot. Though his education under the aging Picot was limited, Vedder gladly avoided tutelage in the “wretched conventional Beaux Arts style.”[2] The young artist soon moved to Florence, where he studied under Raffaello Bonaiuti. Likely more crucial than his formal training in Italy, however, was Vedder’s introduction to and association with a group of artists, the Machiaioli, who rebelled against academic methods and embraced plein air painting. The group was named the Machiaioli after their shared technique, which employed macchia or dashes of light and shadow. Also referred to as chiaroscuro, this dynamic compositional element was encouraged by Machiaioli member Serafino De Tivoli. Vedder, inspired by their innovative thinking, thrived in their company; a gathering of unique minds, the Machiaioli operated more as a likeminded union of individuals, rather than a defined “school” of artists[3]. Vedder ended this influential trip abroad in 1860, when he returned to New York via Cuba.

While back in New York, Vedder became associated with the Bohemian artists at Pfaff’s Coffee Shop. It was at this time that he began to merge the literary and the visual in his artistic thought-process; his paintings became inspired by Bohemian poems, such as “The Hashish Eater,” and stories, such as Arabian Nights. Vedder exhibited paintings created in Florence and New York at the National Academy of Design in 1863, 1864, and 1865. In 1864, he was named an Associate of the National Academy of Design, and later elected an Academician in 1865. Vedder also exhibited at The Metropolitan Fair of 1864, along with fellow artists, Frederic Edwin Church, Albert Bierstadt, Winslow Homer, Samuel Colman, and T. Worthington Whittredge. It was during this stay in New York that Vedder’s reputation developed as a leader of American Art.

Vedder returned to Europe at the end of the American Civil War, sailing for Paris in December of 1865, and eventually establishing a permanent residence in Italy. The painter met and fell in love with American ex-patriot Caroline Rosekrants, and the two were married on July 13, 1869. Vedder remained active, painting several commissioned works and exhibiting in Boston in 1880. A contemporary Boston Journal art critic commented, “There is a morbid and strange genius in the picture[s of Vedder] that fascinates… [W]e can admire his talent and confidently commend the study of it to all art lovers.”[4] In 1881, Vedder was commissioned to design a cover for Century Magazine, and soon after, illustrations for Harper’s, along with glasswork for Tiffany’s. Vedder experienced the culmination of his lifelong interest in literature and art when, in 1884, he illustrated and supervised the publication of the English translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The book was largely popular and was accompanied by exhibitions of his original drawings in both New York and Boston. Vedder was also able to paint and sell several works based on the Rubaiyat drawings. The artist’s contribution to the Rubaiyat has brought continued fame and recognition, and in 1998, The Museums at Stony Brook held an exhibition of Vedder’s accompanying illustrations and notes.

In 1892, Vedder was commissioned to paint a mural for the Walker Art Building at Bowdoin College, Maine, and in 1895, he created a mural for the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Vedder remained active into his later years, exhibiting at the Chicago Art Institute and in London in 1901. In the early 1900s, the artist built a villa on Capri, and spent the remainder of his life between Capri and Rome. During this period, Vedder did not undertake any large painting projects, but rather favored writing and illustrating books. His autobiography, The Digressions of V, was published in 1910, followed by Miscellaneous Verses and Other Moods in 1912, and Doubt and Other Things in 1922. Vedder passed away in Italy on January 29, 1923, at the age of 87. His first solo exhibition was held posthumously at the second Biennale Romana, in 1924.

In both the subject matter of his paintings and his methods, Vedder remains a prophetic outsider who escaped the confines of artistic trends, popularized by his contemporaries. Revealing the inspiration behind his creative process, Vedder explained, “I have tried to give my impression on first meeting these strange beings in my wanderings in the little world of my imagination. So I must use my painting as a mirror and only reflect without explaining. If the scene appears extraordinary, all I can say is that it would be stranger if it were not.”[5]

Vedder’s works can be found in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the American Academy of Arts & Letters, and Wellesley College.

[1] Regina Soria, Elihu Vedder: American Visionary Artist in Rome (1836–1923) (Canturbury, New Jersey: Associated University Presses, Inc., 1970), 19.
[2] Ibid., 24.
[3] Ibid., 27-28
[4] Ibid., 43.
[5] Regina Soria, Elihu Vedder e Altri Paesaggisti Americani Dell’Ottocento in Italia (San Gimignano: Comune di San Gimignano, 2002), 51.