JAMES MACDOUGAL HART

James MacDougal Hart (brother of William Hart) was born in Kilmarnock, Ayreshire, Scotland on the 10th of May, 1828. When six years of age he came to America with his parents, who found a home in Albany, New York. There the painter spent most of his youthful days. He began as an apprentice to an Albany coach maker but in 1850 went to study in Düsseldorf for three years. In 1857 he moved to New York where he became active in the National Academy and was its Vice-President for three years. Like his brother, he produced a great number of pastoral landscapes which were eagerly purchased by the ever-increasing group of wealthy New York merchants who required easily understood paintings. His fondness for farm animals has made the cow a fairly constant motif in his rural compositions. While never attaining the highest level of artistic achievement, James Hart is a competent painter whose work deserves a place in the history if landscape painting. He once stated about his artwork: "I strive to reproduce in my landscape the feeling produced by the original scenes themselves. That is what I try for--only that, and just that. In this painting, for instance," pointing to one near him, "I aimed at the lazy, listless influence of an Indian-summer day. If the painting were perfect, you would feel precisely as you feel when contemplating such a scene in Nature."

Information found in: "The Art Institute of Chicago," a magazine article in the "Miscellaneous H" artist binder in The Print Study Room.

Entered by: Michael Clayton, Print Study Room Staff, 2/3/06