Tags
Adirondack Mountains, Albert Bobbett, Alfred Billings Street, Alfred Bobbett, Bobbett & Hooper, Catholic Layman, Christmas in Art and Song, Columbia University, Engraving, Episcopalian Ministry, Forest Pictures, Forest Pictures of the Adirondacks, Grandville, Illustrating, John Augustus Hows, Nast, Nathaniel Orr, New Hampshire, New York, Painting, Raphael, Rubens, Sketching
This new series of posts had good intentions.
It was supposed to be solely about John Augustus Hows.
However, as I moved along on the work I realized that is was not about one man; it was about four artists who put together a book of sketches and poetry all surrounded by exceptional wood engravings.
So that is the reason this series is named “Hows & Friends”
Alfred Billings Street added the words that matched Hows’ illustrations.
Bobbett & Hooper engraved Hows’ illustrations into wood for printing purposes.
The “Bobbett & Hooper” is not a shortcut for Bobbett and Hooper. That appears to be where history left them; as the team of “Bobbett & Hooper.” All mention of them ties them together that way.
Now that the introductions are out of the way – – – let us look at the men.
John Augustus Hows was the son of a professor. John lived in New York City his whole life. He was able to travel and visited these Adirondack Mountains and all of the mountains between there and New Hampshire. I have learned that he was a studious young man.
It seems to me that he seemed to change major directions from time to time. If I remember correctly he studied for the Episcopalian ministry but then changed to become a Catholic layman.
Other changes were in the area of professions.
It appears that John Augustus Hows received his arts degree from Columbia University in 1852. However, right after that he studied for the ministry. Apparently he was not too pleased with that line of work either. He studied with an office of law but that also didn’t seem to please him. He tried his hand at painting, wood engraving and illustrating.
That appeared to be his calling.
He specialized in sketching and illustrated several books between the 1860’s and the 1870’s.
Hows exhibited at the National Academy of Design from 1861 to 1873. He also exhibited at the Brooklyn Art Association in the late-1860’s. He was an Associate of the National Academy.
(NOTE: If any of the following appear fuzzy simply click on them for an enlarged and clearer view.)
John left this earth earlier than most.
But not before he, as an artist, and Alfred Street, as a poet, and two engravers, Bobbett and Hooper, assembled a book about the Adirondack Mountains.
There appears to be little mention of Street on what we call “history” on the Internet; yet there is just enough for our efforts. We can see that he was well accepted by a variety of people and organizations.
Now Bobbett & Hooper seemed to team up on a variety of books; both adult and children’s.
Above is a listing of one of those books, “Christmas in Art and Song.” This listing places the artwork of John Augustus Hows, and the engraving of Bobbett & Hooper” in good company; Raphael, Rubens, Nast and Grandville to drop a few names.
Below is the title page of “Chirstmas in Art and Song.” It has nothing to do with the post other than John Augustus Hows’ name is listed. My main reason for showing it is – – – well – – – I just like it!
One other gentleman whose etchings/engravings do not appear in “Forest Pictures of the Adirondacks” but do appear in the above book and several other illustrated Adirondack books is Nathaniel Orr. Orr also does fine work. But he does not belong in this post; other than as an honorable mention.
Back to Bobbett;
There is not much more I can add to Bobbett and nothing whatsoever that I can find on Hooper.
That is a shame.
And there you have the four artists who gave us “Forest Pictures in the Adirondacks” which I will share with you over the next few weeks.
I hope you enjoy them. As usual, I had fun.
Another fascinating post my friend! I missed your responses re: Puerto Rico. We will be back there soon for four days, staying at El Convento. Your article was fascinating and of course terrible. Makes me feel bad for using the airport. PR is facing serious economic problems now, but the people remain so wonderful and it it one of my most favorite places to visit. Please forgive me for not responding to your comments, but the wifi is problematic in the Caribbean. Cheers to you my friend!
Thank you for your nice comments on Puerto Rico. Hope your four days are enjoyable. My brother in law has told me how bad things are in PR. He lives in Rio Piedras. It appears to be cyclical. One time, back in 1964 or so, the whole island was full of half finished hotels and office buildings; hulks of concrete with empty eyes for windows.
Reblogged this on waldotomosky and commented:
This series of posts is a re-do of a series originally posted over five years ago. I hope you enjoy the series as much as I had in putting it together.
Hello, sir. I’ve been researching Bobbet & Hooper myself a bit and came across your post here. I can help a little on Hooper:
Edward Hooper, was of course an artist and engraver, and also a print-maker, and was one of the founders of the American Watercolor society.
There’s where it gets interesting. I recently spent a few hours trying to definitively determine whether or not that Edward Hooper, engraver, print-maker, and watercolor painter, has any relationship to the younger Edward Hopper (whose name is very, very, very often spelled as “Hooper” in reference), who was an illustrator in some of the same circles the other Edward would have ran in in earlier days, an engraver, a watercolor & oil painter who of course went on to vastly greater fame — and I utterly cannot say for sure that there’s no connection and histories on Hopper seem pretty vague.
It’s a heck of a coincidence in any case.
I enjoyed glancing through your blog. I’m a vintage periodical collector rather than a book collector, but this is pretty much what I do also — taking it apart and figuring out the events and people behind the work is half the fun.
Best wishes to you.
Mark Seifert
Hi Mark, Thank you for the note on my post the subject matter and personalities. It is nice to know that some of these older posts are still being visited. You may enjoy the series on woodcuts and accompanying stories starting at https://waldotomosky.wordpress.com/2015/04/07/adirondack-images-and-tales-an-introduction/