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Harvey Dunn

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For other people named Harvey Dunn, seeHarvey Dunn (disambiguation).
Harvey Dunn
Harvey Dunn in 1918
Born
Harvey Thomas Dunn

(1884-03-08)March 8, 1884
Manchester, South Dakota,U.S.
DiedOctober 29, 1952(1952-10-29)(aged 68)
Tenafly, New Jersey,U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Other namesJ. Harvey Dunn
StyleBrandywine School
SpouseJohanne (Krebs) Dunn
AwardsHonorary Doctorate of Fine Arts degree from theSouth Dakota State College(1951)

Harvey Thomas DunnNA,also known asJ. Harvey Dunn(March 8, 1884 – October 29, 1952),[1]was an American painter and teacher. DuringWorld War I,Dunn was an artist-correspondent with theAmerican Expeditionary Forcesin Europe. Most of Dunn's war sketches are housed at theSmithsonian Institutionin theNational Museum of American HistoryinWashington, D.C.He is best known for his prairie-intimate masterpiece,The Prairie is My Garden(1950).[2]In this painting, a mother and her two children are out gathering flowers from the quintessential prairie of theGreat Plains.

Early life

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Dunn was born on ahomesteadfarm nearManchester, South Dakota,[3]in thecountymade famous byLaura Ingalls Wilder's descriptions of prairie life.[4]His parents were Bersha and Thomas Dunn, a Canadian-American.[5]Dunn had a younger brother Roy and an older sister Carolyn, who was also called Carrie.[5][6]As a child, he attended a rural school.[6]

Dunn attended the South Dakota Agricultural College (nowSouth Dakota State University), in 1901 and 1902. He studied art under Ada Caldwell who encouraged Dunn to pursue his artistic studies inWilmington, Delaware,under the instruction ofHoward Pyle.[4]Dunn was one of a small group of Pyle's students who were trend-setting illustrators, collectively known as theBrandywine School.There he also metWilliam James AylwardandErnest Peixotto,artists that would later accompany him in theUnited States ArmyAmerican Expeditionary Force.[4]Dunn also studied art in Chicago and New York.[6]

Career

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Artist

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Illustration for a serialized novel in the June 1922Harper's Magazine.

In 1906, after two years with Pyle, Dunn established his own studio in Wilmington and immediately began a successful career as an illustrator. He was a prodigious painter, able to produce (on one occasion) fifty-five completed paintings in eleven weeks for various clients. A contemporary described his style in these terms, “He literally attacked a canvas and sometimes I thought he would impale the painting with his brush.”[7]In addition to his illustrations for books, Dunn's work by then was appearing regularly in such magazines asCollier's Weekly,Harper's Magazine,The Saturday Evening Post,andScribner's.[8]

In 1914, Dunn moved east and settled inLeonia, New Jersey,across theHudson RiverfromNew York Cityand its publishing world. Inspired by Pyle's example, Dunn opened the Leonia School of Illustration in 1915 with artist Charles S. Chapman.[9]

Photograph of the drawingSunday Morning at Cunel,1918,National ArchivesatCollege Park, Maryland

His experiences at the front as one ofeight artist-correspondentswith theAmerican Expeditionary Forcein Europe was a turning point for the artist.[4] After the war, Dunn created works for TheAmerican LegionMonthly magazine and other national magazines.[6]The majority of Dunn's war sketches are now housed at theSmithsonian Institutionin theNational Museum of American HistoryinWashington, D.C.[10]

The Prairie is My Garden1950,South Dakota State University

Dunn created a body of work of pioneer prairie scenes.[6]TheSouth Dakota Art MuseuminBrookings,South Dakota,houses approximately 140 of Dunn's best works. Most of the works are on loan by people fromDeSmetand Manchester, South Dakota, or were gifts of the artist and his family. His "often seen" paintingDakota Woman,from his series of strong pioneer women, is housed at theDakota Discovery Museum[11]inMitchell,South Dakota.The Chuckwagonis a 1915 Dunn painting owned by theDenver Art Museum.The Smithsonian Institution notes it is a "quiet scene depicting a small group of cowboys seated on the ground beside a chuckwagon, their backs turned toward the viewer, their horses standing nearby, and a pond in the background."[12]

Educator

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Dunn became an influential teacher. The majority of Dunn's students were either graduate level painters or professional illustrators. Dunn was not interested in teaching painting techniques. His approach was philosophically–oriented. He spoke about spirit, emotions, and discourse at length. He discussed his philosophy of life and art, offered group criticism, and strode from easel to easel discussing each student's work in turn.[13]

Later in life Dunn remarked: "The most fruitful and worthwhile thing I have ever done has been to teach."[7]Dunn's most inspired teaching was probably achieved at theGrand Central School of Art,which was established by theGrand Central Art Galleriesand located on the top floor ofGrand Central TerminalinNew York City.[14]His comments were captured by a student during a five-hour class session and were published in 1934 in a slim volume titledAn Evening in the Classroom.[14][15]

Dunn was a demanding teacher and at times a harsh critic. He believed in preparing his students for the harsh realities and intense competition of the commercial world. Talent was not enough. As he once said, "If you ever amount to anything at all, it will be because you are true to that deep desire or ideal which made you seek artistic expression in pictures." His students includedDean Cornwell,James E. Allen,Harry Beckhoff,John Clymer,Mac Conner,Dan Content, Mario Cooper, Wilmot Emerton Heitland, Walt S. Louderback,Henry Clarence Pitz,Arthur Sarnoff,Mead Schaeffer,Harold Von Schmidt,Frank Street, andSaul Tepper.[14]

Art organizations

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In 1945, Dunn was named a member of theNational Academy of Design.[6]He was the president of theSociety of Illustratorsin 1948 and 1949.[16]Dunn received an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts degree from theSouth Dakota State Collegein 1951. He donated 37 paintings to the college.[6]

Personal life and death

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Dunn married Johanne Louise Krebs, the daughter of Harvey Johannes Krebs, on March 12, 1908.N. C. Wyethwas Dunn's best man.[17]The Dunns had a son Robert and a daughter Louise, who was married to John R. Rutherford.[6][18]

Dunn died on October 29, 1952, at his home inTenafly, New Jersey[6]at the age of 68 from cancer.[19]Johanne died on October 2, 1978, inPrinceton, New Jersey.[20]His name is memorialized by Harvey Dunn Elementary School, located in the eastern part ofSioux Falls, South Dakota.[21]

See also

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References

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  1. ^Miller, John E."Dunn, Harvey (1884-1952)".University of Nebraska–LincolnEncyclopedia of the Great Plains.RetrievedFebruary 20,2016.
  2. ^"The Prairie is My Garden".
  3. ^Holtzmann, Roger (November 2012)."Harvey Dunn, Working Man".South Dakota Magazine.
  4. ^abcd"Harvey Thomas Dunn".United States Army Center of Military History. December 1, 2009.
  5. ^ab"Harvey T. Dunn, Esmond, Kingsbury, South Dakota",Twelfth Census of the United States,Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900
  6. ^abcdefghi"Harvey Dunn, Famous Painter, Dies in N.J."The Daily Plainsman.October 30, 1952.Retrieved2023-05-10.
  7. ^ab"Harvey Thomas Dunn 1884-1952".A. R. Mitchell Museum of Western Art.Retrieved1 October2018.
  8. ^"Masters of the Golden Age: Harvey Dunn and his Students".Norman Rockwell Museum. 8 June 2016.Retrieved1 October2018.
  9. ^Falkenstein, Michelle."Jersey Footlights",The New York Times,July 31, 2005. Accessed March 31, 2011. "Dunn settled in Leonia in 1914 to be near the New York market for illustration and enjoyed a successful career."
  10. ^"Picturing World War I: America's First Official War Artists, 1918-1919 -- Harvey Thomas Dunn (1884 - 1952)".National Museum of American History.Retrieved2023-05-10.
  11. ^"Dakota Discovery Museum".
  12. ^"The Chuckwagon".Smithsonian InstitutionCollection Search Center.RetrievedJune 24,2015.
  13. ^"Painting Notes from Harvey Dunn".he Art of Robolus. 8 September 2006.Retrieved1 October2018.
  14. ^abc"Harvey Thomas Dunn".Norman Rockwell Museum.Retrieved1 October2018.
  15. ^Dunn, Harvey (2019-07-17).An Evening in the Classroom: Being Notes Taken by Miss Taylor in One of the Classes of Painting.Courier Dover Publications.ISBN978-0-486-83490-0.
  16. ^"Obituary for J. Harvey Dunn".Dayton Daily News.October 5, 1952.Retrieved2023-05-10.
  17. ^"Harvey Thomas Dunn - Johanne Louise Krebs Marriage".The Morning News.Wilmington, Delaware. March 13, 1908.Retrieved2023-05-10.
  18. ^"Weddings: Miss Louise Dunn and Mr. J. R. Rutherford".The Morning News.Wilmington, Delaware. December 3, 1936.Retrieved2023-05-10.
  19. ^"Catalog".
  20. ^"Johanne K. Dunn, obituary".The News Journal.Wilmington, Delaware. October 5, 1978.Retrieved2023-05-10.
  21. ^"Action 15678 - Naming of Harvey Dunn Elementary School".Argus-Leader.Sioux Falls, South Dakota. May 29, 1974. p. 39.Retrieved2023-05-10.
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