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for Thomas Augustus Cummings
American, 1823 - 1859
Thomas Augustus Cummings was a son of Thomas Seir Cummings. Little is known about his life and career. He attended the Academy school from 1840 until 1845; the register for 1841-42 lists him as a "Pupil of T. S. Cummings," an indication that he received formal instruction from his father in the school that the senior Cummings operated.
He first exhibited in an Academy annual in 1842, represented by a pair of paintings, Temperance and Intemperance, both subtitled An Allegory in Still Life Objects, and by two apparently unconnected paintings, both entitled Rudiments of Art (unlocated). Thereafter he showed in Academy annuals almost every year through 1858, but always portraits. His record of acquisition by the American Art-Union, New York, offers evidence that he did not abandon still-life painting. The organization first showed his work in 1845-Temperance and Intemperance, again-and patronized him in 1847, 1848, and 1849, acquiring several still lifes and genre subjects of boys fishing, which seems to have been another of his specialties. Cummings's only other known appearance in an exhibition came in 1846, when his painting The Village Champion was shown at the Brooklyn (N.Y.) Institute of Arts and Sciences; the lender was his apparently proud father.
In writing his Annals of the Academy in 1863-65, several years after his son's death, the elder Cummings did not fail to record a triumph of which he felt the young man had been cheated. In 1850 the Council was to choose an American student to receive a fund established by the art dealers Goupil, Vibert and Company for two years of study abroad. The decision was to be based on examples of the competitors' work. As related by the senior Cummings, the choice came down to his son and Alexander Rutherford, a painter of portraits, still lifes, and genre scenes. The prize went to Rutherford, despite the fact that he had not delivered his submission until "many days" after the established deadline. Although Cummings railed against the "manifest injustice" done to his son, he acknowledged the awkwardness of his being a member of the Council and that "withal [he] was not particularly anxious for the award for his son, he allowed it to pass." Cummings did not provide further details about the reasons for his reluctance.
Cummings faithfully recorded deaths of Academy members in the Annals. When it came his son's turn, under the heading for the year 1859, he was reserved and probably accurate: "February 14. Died, Thomas Augustus Cummings, Associate Member-a young artist of merit. . . . Dying young, his works are not numerous, or generally known."
He first exhibited in an Academy annual in 1842, represented by a pair of paintings, Temperance and Intemperance, both subtitled An Allegory in Still Life Objects, and by two apparently unconnected paintings, both entitled Rudiments of Art (unlocated). Thereafter he showed in Academy annuals almost every year through 1858, but always portraits. His record of acquisition by the American Art-Union, New York, offers evidence that he did not abandon still-life painting. The organization first showed his work in 1845-Temperance and Intemperance, again-and patronized him in 1847, 1848, and 1849, acquiring several still lifes and genre subjects of boys fishing, which seems to have been another of his specialties. Cummings's only other known appearance in an exhibition came in 1846, when his painting The Village Champion was shown at the Brooklyn (N.Y.) Institute of Arts and Sciences; the lender was his apparently proud father.
In writing his Annals of the Academy in 1863-65, several years after his son's death, the elder Cummings did not fail to record a triumph of which he felt the young man had been cheated. In 1850 the Council was to choose an American student to receive a fund established by the art dealers Goupil, Vibert and Company for two years of study abroad. The decision was to be based on examples of the competitors' work. As related by the senior Cummings, the choice came down to his son and Alexander Rutherford, a painter of portraits, still lifes, and genre scenes. The prize went to Rutherford, despite the fact that he had not delivered his submission until "many days" after the established deadline. Although Cummings railed against the "manifest injustice" done to his son, he acknowledged the awkwardness of his being a member of the Council and that "withal [he] was not particularly anxious for the award for his son, he allowed it to pass." Cummings did not provide further details about the reasons for his reluctance.
Cummings faithfully recorded deaths of Academy members in the Annals. When it came his son's turn, under the heading for the year 1859, he was reserved and probably accurate: "February 14. Died, Thomas Augustus Cummings, Associate Member-a young artist of merit. . . . Dying young, his works are not numerous, or generally known."
