F. Alexander Wust

American landscape painter, known for epic landscapes of the Northeastern United States

By Eve Perry

The Dutch-born Ferdinand Alexander Wust painted majestic landscapes of scenes throughout the Northeastern United States including the Catskills, the Adirondacks, the Green Mountains, the Mohawk Valley, Mount Desert Island and the White Mountains, as well as Norwegian mountain scenes.

I. Biography

Ferdinand Alexander Wust was born in Dordrecht, Holland in 1837. He learned to paint from his father Chistoffel Wust who specialized in portrait and genre scenes. In the 1850s, Wust immigrated to the United States and eventually became an American citizen. Not long after arriving in the United States Wust set up a studio in New York City which he maintained until at least 1869. Wust painted numerous landscapes of scenes throughout New York and New England, employing a style comparable to revered American landscape painters Albert Bierstadt and John F. Kensett. He became an Associate of the National Academy of Design in 1861 where he exhibited his work for over two decades. Also during this period, the Brooklyn Art association and the Pennsylvania Academy of Design held exhibitions of his work. Wust, also known for his “vigorous Norway mountain scenery,” was exhibiting his work in Norway by 1872. The artist returned to Europe in 1874 where he remained until his death in 1876.

II. Chronology

• 1837 Born on December 13 in Dordrecht, Holland
• 1858 Began working in New York City studio (through c. 1869)
• 1859 Began exhibiting at National Academy of Design (through 1881), Brooklyn Art
• Association and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
• 1881 Elected associate member of National Academy of Design
• 1866 Awarded gold medal at the universal art exhibition in Brussels and The Hague
• 1873 Awarded medal at the Vienna world exposition; Sunrise in an American Forest sold
• for 8000 francs in Paris
• 1874 Moved to Europe
• 1876 Died in Antwerp, Belgium

III. Collections

• Adirondack Museum, NY
• Museum of Fine Arts, MA
• New York Historical Society, NY
• New York Public Library, NY
• Newark Museum, NJ
• Vassar College, NY

IV. Exhibitions

• 1861 Brooklyn Art Association; National Academy of Design (through 1862);
• Boston Atheneum
• 1867 National Academy of Design
• 1881 National Academy of Design
• 1858 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art (through 1869)
• 1867 Brooklyn Art Association (through 1875); Fine Art Gallery, New York
• 1877 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art

V. Memberships

• National Academy of Design

VI. Notes

Henry T. Tuckerman, Book of the artists: American artist life, comprising biographical and
critical sketches of American artists: preceded by an historical account of the rise and progress of art in America. 2nd ed. (New York: G. P. Putnam & sons, 1867), p. 566.

VII. Suggested Resources

• Campbell, Catherine. New Hampshire Scenery. Canaan, New Hampshire: Phoenix
• Publishing, 1985.
• Falk, Peter Hastings, Ed. Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975. Madison, CT :
• Sound View Press, 1999.
• Groce, George and David Wallace. The New York Historical Society’s Dictionary of Artists in
• America, 1564-1860. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1957.
• Henry T. Tuckerman, Book of the artists: American artist life, comprising biographical and critical
• sketches of American artists: preceded by an historical account of the rise and progress of art in America. 2nd ed. New York: G. P. Putnam & sons, 1867.
• Karolik, M. & M. Collection of American Water Colors and Drawings, 1800-1875.
• Vol. 2. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1962.
• Koke, Richard J. American Landscape and Genre Paintings in the New York Historical
• Society. Boston: G K Hall, 1982.
• Mallett, Daniel Trowbridge. Index of artists, international-biographical; including painters,
• sculptors, illustrators, engravers and etchers of the past and the present. New York: P. Smith, 1948.
• McGrath, Robert and Barbara J. MacAdam. A Sweet Foretaste of Heaven: Artists in the White
• Mountains,1830-1930. Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 1988.