American, 1836 - 1892
Wyant grew up in Defiance, Ohio, and nearby Port Washington where he worked as a sign painter. In 1857 he went to Cincinnati where he was impressed by Hudson River school landscape paintings that he saw on exhibition there. With a new conviction to become a professional artist, he went to New York in 1859 and luckily received the support of no less a figure than George Inness. This and the financial backing of Cincinnati patron Nicholas Longworth helped launch Wyant's new career. In 1865 (not 1864 as has been stated elsewhere) he began participating in the Academy's annual exhibitions and continued to do so in every year until his death. He was active in the New York art world in general and was a founder of the American Watercolor Society and a member of the Society of American Artists and the Century Association.
Following the Civil War, Wyant went to Germany where he studied at the academy in Karlsruhe with Hans Gude. He visited France, England, and Ireland before returning to the United States in 1866. In 1873, he was part of a government expedition to the American west, the Wheeler Survey, which proved to be too physically demanding for him. The circumstances of this fateful journey are recorded in a letter in the Academy's archives:
. . . the Captain of a Government Exploring Expedition bound for New Mexico, and a personal friend of Wyant's invited him to accompany him. As he could not afford to pay his own expenses, he enlisted in the Government service. After their arrival in New Mexico his friend the Captain was transferred to another post, and a brutal Irishman supplied his place, who took especial delight in heaping every possible indignity upon our friend and fellow member. His health gave way under the strain, and he had a stroke of paralysis, when he was discharged. How he landed at the doors of the Young Men's Christian Association opposite [the Academy on 23rd Street], he could never tell, but he was welcomed by kind friends, and under the best of medical care partially recovered; and the strangest part of this story is, that Mr. Wyant's succeeding work, with his left hand, was far superior to that of the preceding and healthy period of his life.
In 1892, following the artist's death, the Academy recorded the following tribute to him: "As members of the Council we wish to place upon the minutes a formal expression of our sincere sorrow for the death of our late friend and fellow member, Alexander H. Wyant whose works have done much to increase the respect for American Art and whose personal friendship many of us enjoyed."
Following the Civil War, Wyant went to Germany where he studied at the academy in Karlsruhe with Hans Gude. He visited France, England, and Ireland before returning to the United States in 1866. In 1873, he was part of a government expedition to the American west, the Wheeler Survey, which proved to be too physically demanding for him. The circumstances of this fateful journey are recorded in a letter in the Academy's archives:
. . . the Captain of a Government Exploring Expedition bound for New Mexico, and a personal friend of Wyant's invited him to accompany him. As he could not afford to pay his own expenses, he enlisted in the Government service. After their arrival in New Mexico his friend the Captain was transferred to another post, and a brutal Irishman supplied his place, who took especial delight in heaping every possible indignity upon our friend and fellow member. His health gave way under the strain, and he had a stroke of paralysis, when he was discharged. How he landed at the doors of the Young Men's Christian Association opposite [the Academy on 23rd Street], he could never tell, but he was welcomed by kind friends, and under the best of medical care partially recovered; and the strangest part of this story is, that Mr. Wyant's succeeding work, with his left hand, was far superior to that of the preceding and healthy period of his life.
In 1892, following the artist's death, the Academy recorded the following tribute to him: "As members of the Council we wish to place upon the minutes a formal expression of our sincere sorrow for the death of our late friend and fellow member, Alexander H. Wyant whose works have done much to increase the respect for American Art and whose personal friendship many of us enjoyed."
