Albert Newsam was an American deaf lithographer. He created paintings and drawings, including portraits.
Background
Albert Newsam was born on May 20, 1809 in Steubenville, Ohio, United States. He was a deaf mute from birth. His father, William, an Ohio River boatman, was accidentally drowned while the boy was a small child, and nothing is known of his mother. The afflicted boy was brought up by Thomas Hamilton, an Irishman, who kept a small hotel in the village. Without any advantages, and with only the inspiration born of the sight of a few prints in the very few books within his reach, he early displayed a considerable talent for drawing. When he was about ten years of age, a deaf-mute impostor, who called himself William P. Davis, came to Steubenville and lodged at Hamilton's hotel. Detecting the talent of the boy, he proposed to the inn-keeper that he take Albert and provide for him, which was assented to. The pair were not long on the road from Steubenville before it became evident that the boy was being used to display his talents for the purpose of exciting the interest of the charitable. He revolted, but the man appeased him with the argument that he was taking him to Philadelphia for the purpose of having him educated. To all who questioned him Davis told the same story, and always referred to Albert as his brother.
Education
In 1820 Newsam was placed in the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, where he attended school.
Career
When Davis and Albert arrived in Philadelphia in May 1820, they took lodgings in a small hotel and then ventured to the marketplace to see the town. At the corner of Fifth and Market streets there was a watchman's box on the side of which Newsam began to sketch the busy scene before him. A group assembled around the young artist, and later it was joined by the aged Bishop William White, who was then president of the recently organized Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb. The Bishop heard with interest the tale told him by Davis, and the upshot of the meeting was that the managers of the asylum gave an outfit of clothing to both of the strangers; gave Davis a sum of money to take him South, ostensibly to seek relatives; and admitted Newsam to the institution as a state pupil, first protégé of the legislature of Pennsylvania. The boy learned rapidly, spending six years (1820 - 26) in the institution, and after his graduation remaining as monitor for a year. His talents brought him into contact with Sully, Inman, Rembrandt Peale, Neagle, and J. R. Lambdin. The last-named sought to teach him to paint portraits, but found he was not likely to succeed because he could not animate his model by conversation.
In 1827 he attracted the attention of Colonel Cephas G. Childs, whose engraving establishment in Philadelphia was widely known. He was apprenticed to Childs, and remained with him for four years. During this period lithography in the United States was slowly advancing as a commercial enterprise. Newsam was taught the new process by Duval, whom Colonel Childs had brought from Paris, and thus became a lithographer instead of an engraver. During his apprenticeship he attended the classes in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and improved himself in his art by remarkable industry. His beautiful and accurate drawings of portraits soon became noted and he remained at the head of American lithographic artists until illness forced his retirement.
In 1857 he became partly blind, and in 1859, partly paralyzed.
After a year spent in the Pennsylvania Hospital, his funds were exhausted, and he was removed to the city almshouse, where he remained for two years. Then some of his old friends collected a fund and had him placed in the Living Home, near Wilmington, Delaware, where he died in November 1864. His remains were interred in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia.
Achievements
In 1853 Newsam designed the monument to Thomas H. Gallaudet in Hartford, Connecticut.
Connections
On March 26, 1834 Newsam married Rosanna Edgar, a Philadelphia woman who was not a mute, but the pair separated a week after the ceremony.
