American, 1819 - 1869
Apart from the fact that he was one of the seven children of an Albany tailor, nothing is known of James Cafferty's youth. A reference made in his New York Times obituary to his early association in Albany with Charles Loring Elliott (who was seven years his senior) suggests that Cafferty might have received his earliest artistic training from Elliott. Cafferty was in New York by 1839, working as a sign painter. In 1841 he began two years of study in the Academy school's antique class. His work was first shown in an Academy annual exhibition in 1843. That same year he was elected vice-president of the newly founded New-York Sketch Club.
During the 1840s and 1850s Cafferty worked as a portrait, landscape, and genre painter. He also did book illustrations. For a period during these years he supplemented his income by selling artists' supplies. The American Art-Union purchased many of his landscapes for its annual lotteries, and he was a consistent exhibitor in Academy annuals, showing portraits and an occasional landscape through the 1850s. However for the last decade of his life, still lifes-especially fish and game subjects-dominate his exhibition record.
Although Cafferty had been active in Academy affairs in the late 1850s, including serving on the Council in 1857-58, his death was not formally memorialized at the Academy annual meeting in the spring of 1870, probably due to an oversight. However, in October 1869, shortly after he died, the Council responded to a need expressed by his family with a contribution of fifty dollars toward funeral expenses. The Council's resolution of condolence accompanying that tangible expression of sympathy noted the "loss to the Academy . . . and to the Profession, of an artist of distinguished and versatile talents."
During the 1840s and 1850s Cafferty worked as a portrait, landscape, and genre painter. He also did book illustrations. For a period during these years he supplemented his income by selling artists' supplies. The American Art-Union purchased many of his landscapes for its annual lotteries, and he was a consistent exhibitor in Academy annuals, showing portraits and an occasional landscape through the 1850s. However for the last decade of his life, still lifes-especially fish and game subjects-dominate his exhibition record.
Although Cafferty had been active in Academy affairs in the late 1850s, including serving on the Council in 1857-58, his death was not formally memorialized at the Academy annual meeting in the spring of 1870, probably due to an oversight. However, in October 1869, shortly after he died, the Council responded to a need expressed by his family with a contribution of fifty dollars toward funeral expenses. The Council's resolution of condolence accompanying that tangible expression of sympathy noted the "loss to the Academy . . . and to the Profession, of an artist of distinguished and versatile talents."
