to the
J. William Fosdick (1858–1937)
Salon No. 3

In 1890, Fosdick married Gertrude Christian (1861–1961), the daughter of Virginia Supreme Court Judge Joseph Christian from Richmond, Virginia. According to Prof. Donna Campbell, the couple met in Paris, no doubt because they both spent time studying there at the Académie Julian.

Gertrude was a sculptor and also a writer, as well as a translator. Of particular note regarding her expertise as a translator is her important first English translation among a team of translators of the novels of Honoré de Balzac in a 53-volume set published in 1897.

Inscription on Heirloom Silver Baby Cup given to Elizabeth Christian Fosdick, at the time of her birth on Easter, 10 April 1898	1840's Baby Cup is made by Henry Haddock of Boston Diameter of Cup is 3 inches; Cup is 3-3/8 in. tall The handle is decorated with raised beads over a stippled texture.

Thanks to genealogical researcher Bev Wright, who discovered the above little silver baby cup on eBay, we know a little more about the Fosdick family. From the inscription, it appears the little silver heirloom cup was a gift from the newborn baby's paternal grandmother.

According to one Who's Who account, the Fosdicks had one daughter, named Elizabeth Christian, who was born in 1898. As yet, no photograph has been found for their daughter, and little is known of her. However, according to one family account, she was not well, and there were no descendants. She died in 1967 in New York.

Notes on the Art Works Exhibited in This Salon

The colors in J. William Fosdick's first work exhibited here—the reredos St. John at Patmos shown in three black-and-white photos above—we can only know through the original descriptive caption that accompanied the first image, which is from a 1908 publication, The American Review of Reviews, edited by Albert Shaw:

"The reredos is in rich Venetian reds, blues and greens, much gold being used on candle-sticks, [sic] aureoles, eagle, and "Christus Rex" over the center."

Following that is the explanation of the unusual portrayal in the composition, which was inspired by the book of Revelations:

"St. John sits writing, balanced by his vision of Christ [Revelations]: Christ enthroned with seven candlesticks, holding in his hand the seven stars. In the center is the tree of life, and beyond the AEgean Sea, over which decorative clouds float."

Of historical note is that this work was presented to the
St. John's Episcopal Church at Montclair, New Jersey
by William T. Evans, the same person who in 1910 gave the triptych of the Glorification of Joan of Arc to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., where it is displayed today in the renovated American Art Museum that reopened in July of 2006.

Unfortunately, the story of this lovely reredos does not have the same happy ending. According to oral accounts, the reredos has not survived because, for some unknown reason, it was removed from the church in the 1960's and stored improperly (against the warden's garage) thus allowing it to be ruined.

The Kennard Family's Heraldic Shield (shown in three views above) was auctioned on the 4th of November 2007 through Thomaston Galleries in Thomaston, Maine. It is now in the private collection of Douglas Schneible of Charlotte, Vermont. The motto on the heraldic shield is not only that of the Kennard family but also of Hope & Co., their prominent early Dutch company in New York and the subject of a 724-page book by M. G. Buist with their motto for its title: At Spes Non Fracta. Hope and Co., 1770–1815: Merchant Bankers and Diplomats at Work.

J. William Fosdick's Jousting Knights panel exhibited above came to light as the result of a query—directed to the Knoxville, Tennessee News Sentinel—from a reader with the initials L. M., who owns this panel and wanted to know more about it.
L. M.'s query and Joe Rosson's reply to it were featured in his column on July 20, 2007, with the title "Rosson: If an original, work could be significant piece of U.S. art."

The pair of panels for a chimney decoration entitled Marriage in the Middle Ages and the untitled decorative portrait displayed above were found as catalogue illustrations for the Architectural League of New York City in some of their Victorian publications. The untitled decorative portrait later became known as Lady Gainsborough and is displayed in its own salon here in the E-Museum with additional details of its history.

Done when J. William Fosdick was only a young man of 21, is the 1879 oil painting, Still Life with Violin, which went up for auction in May 2009 at the Carlens Gallery of Greenville, New York. It can be viewed in more detail in a very nice presentation at the link here.

A signed but undated oil painting by Fosdick of a Dancing Nymph in the meadow, is owned by Mike Perrin, who acquired it in Manhattan more than 30 years ago and is now considering selling it. Contact him at either the link here (to the title) or in the caption for the "Dancing Nymph" above. This work is believed to date from about 1877 or 1878, when Fosdick was studying in Boston under Grundmann. (It is similar in theme and style to a work shown at ArtNet entitled "Nymphs by the Waterfall.")

Another work by Fosdick—a pastel on paper entitled "Seated Nude Lady"—appeared at a significantly later date. The date is significant because this work is not from his earlier days as a student in Boston, but a year after his return to the United States following completion of his studies in France. By that time, Fosdick was working (almost, apparently) exclusively in pyrography. The owner, Robert E. Olsen of Virginia, describes the subject as a "very modern nude." He believes that this pastel work by Fosdick "...looks like a study for another piece. In any case," he adds, "the casual pose, the short hair style, and the model's proportions resemble works of other artists from much later periods."

The earliest known art work by J. William Fosdick to date is the 1876 pair of painted clay vases in the style of Grecian Urns (displayed above in three views) done when the artist was only 18 years old as a Christmas gift for "Georgie Fosdick"—most likely his sister Georgiana, who was 22 years old at that time. The provenance of the pair is most intriguing: a Mr. Goldberg of Lexington, Massachusetts said that the clay vases were found about 60 years ago inside of a wall during renovations to his boyhood home in Charlestown. (Those renovations occurred about a decade after the artist's death in 1937 and in the city of the artist's birth.) The vases remained in Mr. Goldberg's family ever since until recently when they were sold as "old handmade pottery" to the present owner, Scott Lovasco, who is offering them for sale. (To contact him, click on the link in this paragraph.)

Novels and Collaborative Works

Because of their many commonalities, it is not surprising that the Fosdicks collaborated on some projects, such as the novel that J. William Fosdick's wife Gertrude wrote (published in New York by George H. Richmond & Co., 236 pages, 1894). Below, from The American Magazine, 1894, p. 127, is what one critic of her time wrote about her book Out of Bohemia: A Student's Life in Paris:

"OUT OF BOHEMIA" is a woman's story of art-student life in Paris, written in a very pretty, naive style by Gertrude Christian Fosdick, and sympathetically illustrated by J. William Fosdick, the master of the art of burnt-wood or "fire etching," and whose illustrative as well as literary work is well known...."

In that same issue of The American Magazine—well worth a look—J. William Fosdick is cited once more on page 393 as a regular contributor to Frank Leslie's POPULAR MONTHLY. Reprinted there, from the October 1894 issue, pp. 385–396, is a wonderful historical article, Modern Magazine Making with great old photographs.

The Fosdicks' collaborative novel returned to the spotlight recently when Dr. Donna Campbell (Associate Professor of English at Washington State University) presented an invited paper, A Forgotten Daughter of Bohemia: Gertrude Christian Fosdick's
Out of Bohemia and the Artists' Novel of the 1890s, at the Society for the Study of American Women Writers (SSAWW) conference in Philadelphia, November 8–12, 2006. Note that this novel is in the collection of Harvard University's Houghton Library and can be obtained through interlibrary loan, and now on the internet, as well.

As of November 2007, Gertrude Christian Fosdick's novel
Out of Bohemia is available at this link—in its entirety—to read on the internet, thanks to Google Books. Navigate the internet book by clicking on the small arrows immediately above and to the right of the page image. Note that there are several blank pages in the front matter at the beginning; however, amidst them are some important ones not to be missed, including a handwritten dedication by Gertrude's father Joe Christian, dated 1894, and the lovely frontispiece illustration of the principal female character Beryl Carrington (the same one that was used for the book cover). Once past the front matter, the page numbers appear in the little box between the two arrows.

As a sculptor, Gertrude exhibited some of her works in shows, according to Prof. Campbell, who also noted that one of Gertrude Fosdick's works is a memorial tablet at the site of the Stacy Blvd. Memorial in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where it is located near the drawbridge on the Stacy Blvd. esplanade. A small bronze sculpture entitled Dancing Girl by Gertrude Christian Fosdick is in the collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia. Along with a larger image of her portrait, there are three paintings and two sculptures by her exhibited in the Gertrude Christian Fosdick Salon in the E-Museum at the link here.

* Update, June 2012: A 90th Anniversary Exhibition is planned at the The North Shore Arts Association at 11 Pirates Lane in Gloucester, Massachusetts, from August 16 to September 18, 2012. There will be a reception held there on Sunday, August 19, 2012, from two to four o'clock. Represented there among other artists' works will be works by Gertrude Christian Fosdick, who was one of their founding members. Follow the link to their site for additional information.

In 1902, J. William Fosdick likewise wrote a novel on the topic of student life in France entitled The Honor of the Braxtons (see image above). His novel has a pretty picture (also above) of the principal female character Alina Durlan on the frontispiece accompanying the title page, and there is conjecture that perhaps he used his wife's image there.* (The link here is to a May 1902 review of his novel in The Literary News.)
* Update, March 2012: A paperback reprint of Fosdick's novel The Honor of the Braxtons is now available through Barnes & Noble at the link here to the title.

Although there is no photograph yet to be found for her, there is a known portrait of Gertrude Christian Fosdick painted by Amanda Sewell in a private collection in Virginia, according to the American Painting and Sculpture database of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories.

* Update, July 2011: Thanks to Robert Hill of Virginia, we now have an image of Amanda Sewell's portrait of Gertrude Christian Fosdick at the link here to her name. It reveals that she did not look like the Alina Durlan character in her husband's book nor like the young woman in the little piece called "The Smile of Peace," (exhibited immediately following) which also looked a lot like the Alina Durlan character. Instead, it now appears that the likeness he illustrated was to her own character of Beryl Carrington that is the bookcover and frontispiece illustration to Gertrude's novel.

The Smile of Peace, Published in The New England Magazine, volume 12, issue 2, pp. 186–187 This is a little collaborative piece written by Gertrude Christian Fosdick and illustrated very nicely by her husband J. William Fosdick.

According to Prof. Donna Campbell, in her article published for Project Muse in 2008, Gertrude Christian Fosdick, in 1954, published her late husband's memoir, entitled, Happy Days at Julian's: How Two Young Americans Entered the Great French Academy. Thanks to Prof. Campbell, exhibited above along with their novels is the title page of Happy Days at Julian's.