The
First Hundred Years










SAMUEL F. B. MORSE, the first president of the
Niational Academy of Design, a portrait painter of
except ioinial ability who afterwOards became fam ous as
the inventor of the telegraph.




The

First Hundred

Years

National Academy of Design
New York




A/I

HE artists of this country have a
)friend who believes that there are
thousands of men and women in America
who would be interested in the very human
story of the birth and growth of the nation's
oldest art organization, composed exclusively of artists.
This friend, Harrison S. Morris, of
Philadelphia, has accordingly contributed
all expenses incident to the printing and
distribution of this booklet as a Centennial
gift to the National Academy of Design.




The First Hundred Years
ON A crisp autumn morning one hundred years ago,
two eager young artists raced up the steps of an
Sugly wooden building in Chambers Street, New York
City. They found the door at the head of the steps
Slocked, and their enthusiasm turned to disappoint' ment.
S  Past experience had taught them that to rattle the
door or knock upon it would be futile. The cranky old
janitor of the building, which housed the only art
collection then existent in America, had no sympathy
with the ambitions of young artists. Their desire to
draw from some plaster casts in the collection meant
nothing whatsoever in his crotchetty life. He was, if
you please, a veteran of George Washington's army.
His war record had gotten him his job. Why should he
get up at six o'clock in the morning just to satisfy the
whims of a lot of crazy young fools who wanted to
draw pictures?
The building over which he exercised his grumbling
guardianship had originally been the city almshouse
and it retained much of its old atmosphere after it was
taken over by the American Academy of the Fine Arts
and converted into that Institution's headquarters.
At least that was the way the artists and art students
[31




of that generation felt about it, for they were given no
part in its management. The Gallery of Statues, or
Saloon of the Antique, as the collection of plaster
casts was termed by the Directors, had been declared
open to students "between the hours of six and nine in
the morning." Permission to draw from the casts
represented the Institution's sole concession to the desire of the city's youth for an art education.
Between the casts and the students stood the unsympathetic janitor, secure in his war record, so the
spectacle of disappointed young men shivering of
mornings in front of the former almshouse was a
familiar one.
On the particular morning that young Thomas S.
Cummings and Frederick S. Agate raced each other
up the steps, however, history was made, for as they
were turning away, William Dunlap, one of the city's
leading painters arrived. He sensed the situition and
was touched by the disappointment of the boys.
"Why don't you make a protest to the Directors?"
he demanded.
They told him that this had been done repeatedly
and without result.
Dunlap then took the matter personally to Col. John
Trumbull, President of the Academy. The Colonel,
who, in addition to being a painter, was also a veteran of George Washington's army, said brusquely:
"When I commenced my study of painting, there
were no casts to be found in this country. These young
141




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THE old City Alm.shouse, which early in the nineteenth
century became the headquarters of the American Academy of
Fine Arts. It was the unsympathetic attitude of the officers of
this institution toward the art students of that day that resulted in the founding of the National Academy of Design.




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gentlemen should remember that the Directors have
gone to great expense in importing casts and that the
students have no property in them. They must remember that beggars cannot be choosers."
In these words Colonel Trumbull unwittingly pronounced the death sentence of the nation's first art
organization. The news of his declaration had an
electric effect among the long suffering students.
Within one month from that day, the "beggars"
had formed their own association and obtained a
room where they could study. Under these circumstances was born the National Academy of Design.
T   HE National Academy of Design is the oldest
organization in the United States composed exclusively of artists. It occupies the same position here
as the Royal Academy in Great Britain. Its chief
objective is to develop real artists and its Members
and Associates are elected on the basis of their standing as painters, sculptors, architects and engravers.
In addition to staging annual exhibitions which are
open to all artists who care to submit entries of original work, the Academy fosters the work of the young
artist through its free schools and prize contests.
The growth of the Academy during the first hundred years of its existence is the story of the art
growth of a nation.
151




To visualize that growth and incidentally to place
the Academy on a new basis of service to the people,
the celebration this year of the hundredth anniversary of its founding will be projected on a nationwide
scale.
The Centennial Exhibition on which the celebration will be based will stand as the greatest art exhibit
ever conceived in this country.
It will be representative of American painting,
sculpture, engraving and architecture for the last century and will include not only the best works of the
nation's modern artists, but those of Academicians of
earlier generations.
H-istorically the National Academy is associated
with almost every important event in American life.
Its first president was Samuel F. B. Morse, a portrait
painter of exceptional ability who afterwards became
famous as the inventor of the telegraph.
Just as it is news to most people that the inventor
of the telegraph and the first president of the National
Academy of Design were one and the same person, so,
too, it may be news that many other Academicians
have made contributions of the most practical form
to the nation's progress. Peter Maverick, the foremost engraver of banknotes, was one of the Academy's founders. Government officials contended that
his lettering, "especially his round hand," defied the
best efforts of counterfeiters.
[6]




The Centennial Exhibition, which will open in
Washington in October, will include the finest examples available of the work of these men. Other former
Academicians, who will be represented, include Elihu
Vedder, George Inness, John LaFarge, Winslow
Homer, Edwin A. Abbey, Ralph Blakelock, William
Chase, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Charles F. McKim,
Kenyon Cox, Frank Duveneck, Francis D. Millett,
Homer Martin, Abbott H. Thayer, John W. Alexander, J. Q. A. Ward, J. Alden Weir, Alexander H.
Wyant, and George Bellows.
The Washington Exhibit will be housed in the Corcoran Gallery of Art and will be attended by art envoys and ambassadors from European and South
American countries as well as representatives from
every section of the United States.
From Washington, the great collection of canvasses,
sculpture and architectural models, will be moved
en masse to New York. At the conclusion of the New
York Exhibition, which will be held in the Grand Central Art Galleries, it is planned to carry the Centennial
Exhibit across the Continent, giving art lovers in
every large city from Boston to San Francisco the
opportunity to see the best in art the nation has produced since 1825. Preceding and supplementing the
Centennial period will be an educational campaign to
acquaint the public with the day by day activities of
the National Academy.
17]




T HE real story of the Academy cannot be told by
Exhibits alone. It is written in terms of service to
both the Community and the individual, service that
occasionally has been misunderstood and criticized
but that has held doggedly to the ideals of the Academy's founders. For the men who created the National
Academy wanted to do just a bit more than give embryo painters and sculptors a chance to study.
They wanted to help them become "real artists."
This meant the providing of the schools and instructors essential to a thorough art education.
After a century of effort, the schools which the
Academy developed and which it now maintains at
io9th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, New York
City, are able to take care of approximately o500
students a year. These students pay no tuition fees.
But the Academy demands of them an honest desire
to learn and the perseverance to stay with a task until
they have mastered it.
If you are a New Yorker or have ever visited in the
metropolis for any length of time you have probably
met some of these students, for many of them support themselves by their own labor outside of school
hours.
The young man who delivers your milk in the morning may be one of them-or the one who brings your
newspaper. They serve as clerks and waiters, too.
Some wash dishes in restaurants for their three meals
per day. These are the ones who have discovered it is
[ 8]




HALF-WAY up the steps of the Sub-Treasury Building
i. In all Street is the stattue of George Wtlashington, by John
Ouinc3, A.dams Ward, N.A. It is typical of the wzork wzith
7,which m7zembers of the National J4cademv of Design have
helped to beautify the m ietropolis.







a fallacy that genius can do its best work by starving
in a garret.
To meet halfrway this kind of earnestness on the
part of the students, the members of the Academy
make sacrifices themselves. They give generously of
their own precious daylight hours so that the students
may have the benefit of first-hand instruction from
men who know their craft and who appreciate the
value of this form of personal help.
As a feature of the Centennial Celebration this
year, the Academy is planning to extend the work of
its schools. More lectures., extra classes, better equipment and additional scholarships are necessary.
Funds, too, are needed for the aid of poor students of
real talent who cannot always attend the schools and
make their own living at the same time.
It is the purpose of the Academy to present these
things to the public so that individuals who appreciate the value to a nation of carefully developed
and trained talents, may have their chance to assist
struggling genius in a practical way.
No art collection in the country and scarcely a single city is without some obligation to the members of
the Academy.
New York City's debt to the Academy and its members is a particularly heavy one. The majority of the
City's finest works of art are products of the genius
the Academy has helped to develop.
1191




City Hall, the Appellate Court, the Board of Education Building, the County Courts, the Criminal
Courts and the Hall of Records, all contain splendid
portraits, murals, and sculptures, painted or modeled
by Academicians.
Brooklyn Borough Hall, Hall of Records and other
official centers also hold similar valuable art works.
Some hundred portraits, 25 murals and 75 pieces
of sculpture by Academy members are owned by the
City government. Most of New York's best architecture is also by Academicians.
One cannot tell the story of the Academy's first
hundred years in a thousand words. The purpose of
this little booklet is merely to acquaint the reader
with a few of the Academy's achievements and plans.
It will be supplemented from time to time with additional pamphlets, each designed to visualize some
specific phase of the Academy's work and to enlist
the reader's sympathy in the plan to develop it. For
the Academy wants to establish a new era of understanding between the artists and the public, so that
the activities of "the second hundred years" as well
as the results, may be shared in by all.
To help keep the public posted on the Centennial
program and on the plans for the expansion of the
Academy's Educational work, a Bureau of Information has been opened at Academy headquarters, 215
West 57th Street, New York City. All inquiries addressed there will receive prompt attention.
E Io1]