James McDougal Hart

Background

James MacDougal Hart was born on May 10, 1828, at Kilmarnock, Scotland, the son of James and Marion (Robertson) Hart. His parents brought him to the United States in 1831.

Education

James apprenticed to a sign and banner painter at Albany, New York. In 1850 he went to Düsseldorf, then a frequented center, for three years of study under Schirmer and other teachers. The art of Düsseldorf was thin and sentimental, and students who attained distinction did so in spite of their instruction.

Career

On his return to America James Hart opened a studio at Albany and taught and painted until his removal to New York in 1857. In the period immediately after the Civil War New York swarmed with people newly rich and feverishly eager to acquire at once the trappings and paraphernalia of culture, oil paintings included. With such clients Hart and his brother found abundant employment, for they painted in a language intelligible to the artistically illiterate. James garnished his landscapes with barnyard animals, chiefly cows, and painted them with such fidelity that his delighted customers thought they could distinguish the Alderneys from the Guernseys. James was, in reality, deeply moved by the placid beauty of southeastern New York and did much, in spite of his immature technique, to stimulate a general appreciation of it. Like his brother, James also exhibited at the Brooklyn Art Association and at major exhibitions around the country. He died at his home in Brooklyn.

Achievements

• James Hart was known as a landscape and cattle painter of the Hudson River School. Among his better known works are: “The Drove at the Ford” (Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington), “At the Brookside” (Metropolitan Museum, New York), and “In the Autumn Woods” (Sayles Memorial Hall, Brown University).

Membership

Hart was a member of the National Academy of Design.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• “James, he’s a fair mon but he connot paint a coo. ” - William Hart

Connections

In 1866 Hart married Marie Theresa Gorsuch, by whom he had several children.

Father:

James Hart

Mother:

Marion (Robertson) Hart

Spouse:

Marie Theresa (Gorsuch) Hart

Daughter:

Mary Theresa Hart

Daughter:

Letitia Bonnet Hart

References

• American Paintings in the Detroit Institute of Arts, Vol. I: Works by Artists Born Before 1816 (Collections of the Detroit Institute of Arts) (Volume I)