American, 1845 - 1912
J. Scott Hartley received his early education at the Albany Academy and worked in his youth in a local marble yard, cutting tombstones. He was encouraged by the sculptor Charles Calverley, who, with Hartley, was an assistant in the studio of Erastus Dow Palmer. In 1866 Hartley went to London to study, while continuing to support himself carving tombstones. Encouraged by winning a silver medal at the School of the Royal Academy of Art in 1869, he went on to Berlin for another year of study. On returning to America in 1870, Hartley established himself in New York.
Hartley was quick to make a place for himself among the young artists of the city. Late in 1871 an informal group styling itself "The Sketch Class" held its first meeting in Hartley's Broadway studio, where he lived in a more-or-less bohemian manner with his brothers. The group met there once a week, in those early years, to sketch a predetermined subject. When Hartley went abroad again, in the spring of 1873, the Sketch Class was suspended, but it revived on his return. It was at his suggestion, in 1877, that the group changed its name to the Salmagundi Club. Although the club's main constituency in its early years was New York's professional illustrators, Hartley's connection doubtless remained strong through his brother Joseph, who was the Salmagundi's president from its start in 1871 until 1888. Hartley served as president from 1903 to 1905.
Hartley's second trip to Europe included two years in Rome and a brief time in Paris. He returned to the United States in 1875 and showed his sculpture The Young Samaritan (unlocated) at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia the following year.
During the 1870s he began executing incisive portrait busts, especially of male subjects, for which he became well known. He showed a special interest in actors, whom he depicted in roles for which they were famous. Examples of these include: Ada Rehan as Katherine in "The Taming of the Shrew" (c. 1900, unlocated), shown at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, in 1901; Otis Skinner as Shylock, shown in the Academy annual of 1905; and Otis Skinner as Col. Philippe Bridau, included in the Academy's winter exhibition of 1908. Among other prominent artists and men of letters whose portraits Hartley sculpted were Nathaniel Hawthorne (1894-95, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.), Ralph Waldo Emerson (1894-95, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.), and Thomas Moran (1891, formerly collection of the National Academy, now unlocated).
Hartley began exhibiting at the Academy in 1870, but fame came to him only when his work The Whirlwind was shown in the 1878 annual. (In 1896 he reworked the conception, a version of which is in the collection of the Montclair [N.J.] Art Museum.) The artist's attempt at employing violently swirling drapery to depict movement in the traditionally static medium of bronze caused a minor controversy. Nevertheless, critics soon realized that his was a particularly versatile talent.
Although Hartley avoided classicizing as such, he executed a number of ideal works that he showed at the Academy and at the Brooklyn Art Association during the 1870s and 1880s. These included Titania and Bottom (unlocated), Puck (unlocated), and Wild Flower (1880, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.). The latter work was a bust of a child in the guise of a flower, a conceit he repeated several times. Among his larger works are The Pilgrim (1882), a statue of the early settler Miles Morgan done for the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, and the monument to John Ericsson (1893) in New York's Battery Park.
In 1877 the Art Students League hired Hartley as its first lecturer in anatomy; the following season the position of instructor in modeling was added to his duties. He continued in these roles until 1884 and also served as the league's president in 1879 and 1880. His 1891 treatise, Anatomy in Art, was widely recognized. He began teaching "Artistic Anatomy" in the Academy school in 1897 and delivered these instructional lectures, occasionally alternating them with general talks on sculpture, until at least 1908.
Hartley was elected to membership in the Society of American Artists in 1891. He had first shown with the Society in the spring of 1879, in its second annual exhibition, when the organization was perceived as posing an aggressive challenge to the established artistic values represented by the National Academy. That exhibition was held just as Hartley was being elected an Associate of the Academy. While this might suggest he had a gift for diplomacy, it can only reliably be noted that after a rather long wait to be elevated to Academician, his election to full membership in both organizations was nearly simultaneous. In later years Hartley also belonged to the National Sculpture Society and the Architectural League of New York.
Hartley was quick to make a place for himself among the young artists of the city. Late in 1871 an informal group styling itself "The Sketch Class" held its first meeting in Hartley's Broadway studio, where he lived in a more-or-less bohemian manner with his brothers. The group met there once a week, in those early years, to sketch a predetermined subject. When Hartley went abroad again, in the spring of 1873, the Sketch Class was suspended, but it revived on his return. It was at his suggestion, in 1877, that the group changed its name to the Salmagundi Club. Although the club's main constituency in its early years was New York's professional illustrators, Hartley's connection doubtless remained strong through his brother Joseph, who was the Salmagundi's president from its start in 1871 until 1888. Hartley served as president from 1903 to 1905.
Hartley's second trip to Europe included two years in Rome and a brief time in Paris. He returned to the United States in 1875 and showed his sculpture The Young Samaritan (unlocated) at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia the following year.
During the 1870s he began executing incisive portrait busts, especially of male subjects, for which he became well known. He showed a special interest in actors, whom he depicted in roles for which they were famous. Examples of these include: Ada Rehan as Katherine in "The Taming of the Shrew" (c. 1900, unlocated), shown at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, in 1901; Otis Skinner as Shylock, shown in the Academy annual of 1905; and Otis Skinner as Col. Philippe Bridau, included in the Academy's winter exhibition of 1908. Among other prominent artists and men of letters whose portraits Hartley sculpted were Nathaniel Hawthorne (1894-95, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.), Ralph Waldo Emerson (1894-95, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.), and Thomas Moran (1891, formerly collection of the National Academy, now unlocated).
Hartley began exhibiting at the Academy in 1870, but fame came to him only when his work The Whirlwind was shown in the 1878 annual. (In 1896 he reworked the conception, a version of which is in the collection of the Montclair [N.J.] Art Museum.) The artist's attempt at employing violently swirling drapery to depict movement in the traditionally static medium of bronze caused a minor controversy. Nevertheless, critics soon realized that his was a particularly versatile talent.
Although Hartley avoided classicizing as such, he executed a number of ideal works that he showed at the Academy and at the Brooklyn Art Association during the 1870s and 1880s. These included Titania and Bottom (unlocated), Puck (unlocated), and Wild Flower (1880, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.). The latter work was a bust of a child in the guise of a flower, a conceit he repeated several times. Among his larger works are The Pilgrim (1882), a statue of the early settler Miles Morgan done for the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, and the monument to John Ericsson (1893) in New York's Battery Park.
In 1877 the Art Students League hired Hartley as its first lecturer in anatomy; the following season the position of instructor in modeling was added to his duties. He continued in these roles until 1884 and also served as the league's president in 1879 and 1880. His 1891 treatise, Anatomy in Art, was widely recognized. He began teaching "Artistic Anatomy" in the Academy school in 1897 and delivered these instructional lectures, occasionally alternating them with general talks on sculpture, until at least 1908.
Hartley was elected to membership in the Society of American Artists in 1891. He had first shown with the Society in the spring of 1879, in its second annual exhibition, when the organization was perceived as posing an aggressive challenge to the established artistic values represented by the National Academy. That exhibition was held just as Hartley was being elected an Associate of the Academy. While this might suggest he had a gift for diplomacy, it can only reliably be noted that after a rather long wait to be elevated to Academician, his election to full membership in both organizations was nearly simultaneous. In later years Hartley also belonged to the National Sculpture Society and the Architectural League of New York.
