RARE ORIGINAL JAMES MADISON ALDEN WATERCOLOR C 1855 NR

DIMENSIONS

9” x 4 ½” sight size. 12 ½” x 8” overall.


DESCRIPTION
Scene shows three men and a rowboat on the shore of a placid lake or river with the mist from a waterfall partly hidden by an outcropping in the background. Faintly but clearly signed lower right “J. M. Alden.” Flush mounted, unglazed, and framed in a gilt wooden frame. According to several sources, Alden produced at least 679 watercolors in his life. He never sold any during his lifetime, and to the best of my knowledge, only two or three have ever come up for public auction. Best estimate for the age would be ca. 1855-1860. Alden is the subject of the book James Madison Alden: Yankee Artist of the Pacific Coast, 1854-1860, by Frank Stenzel, 1975. Many of his paintings are now owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the San Juan National Historic Park, the National Park Service, and numerous other agencies and institutions. For more examples of his work, see www.royalengineers.ca/aldenpics.html#pdpJMA or www.loc.gov/exhibits/lewisandclark/lewis-after.html.

From AskArt.com comes this abridged biography of Alden

James Madison Alden was born in Boxborough, Massachusetts on September 26, 1834….He was the seventh generation in the direct male line from John Alden of the Mayflower….Alden's uncle, James Alden, Jr., was a naval officer who had served in the U.S. Navy's first round-the-world cruise and had a distinguished record in the Mexican war. In the 1850's, he was attached to the U.S. Coastal Survey. When James Madison, Alden's father, died in 1853, the boys’ uncle proposed that young Alden join the Navy and serve with the Coastal Survey. Alden accepted but first underwent instruction in Washington in cartographic drawing. Although it was stressed that the results of his work would be for scientific rather than artistic use, works of artistic merit would also be needed because it was believed that Congress would publish the Coastal Surveys and would want pleasing pictorial accompaniment. It was the custom then to publish maps and charts with picturesque vignettes. In Washington he also studied with Thomas Seir Cummings, a founding member of the National Academy of Design….During 1854, Alden served on a ship which surveyed the Pacific Coast of the Oregon and Washington territories, and he painted scenes of such places as Astoria, Washington territory and Victoria, British Columbia… Early the next year he painted scenes around San Francisco Bay. Late in 1855, he visited Southern California and painted various coastal spots. In 1856, he painted scenes in the Santa Barbara Channel. Early in 1857 he again worked near San Francisco. Then he returned to the Pacific Northwest while awaiting an appointment, which came in October as official artist to the Northwestern Boundary Commission, which was to survey the 49th parallel previously agreed to by the United States and Great Britain as their boundary. In 1858 Alden painted various California scenes before departing on his northern cruise. After the cruise he again worked near San Francisco. In the spring of 1859 he made a private trip to the Yosemite Valley and did watercolors of many of its natural wonders. He resumed his boundary work in the summer. In 1860 he painted scenes along the 49th parallel from the Pacific coast to the Continental Divide in the Rockies. It was a very arduous trip, plagued by Indians and by food shortages….The Civil War prevented publication of either the West Coast survey or the surveys of the Northwestern Boundary Commission. Alden did enlist in Cassious Marcellias Clay's battalion for the defense of the capitol. Late in 1862, Alden joined the Navy as secretary to rear admiral David Porter, commander of the Mississippi squadron. He joined Porter at Cairo, Illinois and was at the siege of Vicksburg, where Porter shared the victory with Grant…. At wars end, Alden was given five months leave and was discharged at the end of 1865. But in July, 1866, Porter asked him to resume his duties as secretary with the rank of Lieutenant…. In 1875 Alden went to Europe and visited England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Switzerland and Italy. He produced many watercolors during this tour….After his return to Washington, Alden spent many hours painting in Rock Creek Park….Admiral Porter died in 1891, and Alden and his wife retired to Oak Knoll, near Orlando, Florida, where he cultivated orchards, and spent much time painting. In 1915, at age 81, he gave up painting due to poor eyesight. He died on May 10, 1922, at age 88….Alden left at least 676 finished watercolors of places in British Columbia, Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho, Europe and the East Coast of the United States from Maine to Florida. He painted near Fletcher, North Carolina, where some of his relatives lived. Although his oeuvre shows a wide range of colors, he preferred in any given painting to use many gradations of a few colors. He was in awe of nature, but even in Rocky Mountain scenes have nothing of the bombast of Bierstadt. His medium of watercolor tended to understate rather than exaggerate, and placidity is the prevailing mood in his work. Because of his survey training, Alden avoided romanticism and luminism, creating landscapes that were accurate yet economical in the illusion of detail….He never exhibited and he did not belong to any art organization. Only in his retirement did he sell any of his works, and then only a few.








CONDITION Excellent. Colors vibrant. Some minor age darkening. A TERRIFIC WATERCOLOR BY AN IMPORTANT NINETEENTH CENTURY ARTIST.

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