Soul of the Chrysanthemum
Artist
Elihu Vedder
(American, 1836-1923; active Italy after 1856)
Artist
Anita H. Vedder
(American, 1873 - 1954)
Dateafter 1894
MediumCrayon, graphite, and metallic paint over a "Bromide Phototype," in an original mount
DimensionsOverall: 10 1/2in. (26.7cm)
Framed: 24 x 18in. (61 x 45.7cm)
Framed: 24 x 18in. (61 x 45.7cm)
ClassificationsDRAWINGS
Credit LineGift of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Object number55.32
Description On View
Not on viewCollections
CopyrightNo known copyright restrictions.
Label TextIn 1892 Vedder sold a picture he listed in his sales book merely as "Chrysanthemum (head)." This work was probably the source for a collotype the artist copyrighted two years later. The MWPAI work is a hand-colored version of this mechanical reproduction. Many years earlier, in 1868, Vedder made a drawing, "Soul of the Sunflower," that is the compositional antecedent for the "Soul of the Chrysanthemum." In conventional Victorian-era flower symbolism, a yellow chrysanthemum signifies slighted love, jealousy, and disdain. The mythological nymph Clytie experienced these feelings when she was deserted by Apollo and transformed into a sunflower because of her fidelity to him.
Since at least 1880 Vedder sold photographic reproductions of his works. These transactions were managed by his wife, who urged him to hand-color them. "Some of the crowd of visitors who come to the studio may purchase originally colored reproductions," she reasoned, "even if oil paintings are too expensive for them." Although Vedder considered this type of activity "honest but undignified," he was grateful for the income it provided. Several other American artists of his generation did the same thing. In the early 1880s John La Farge (1835-1910) used photomechanical reproductions of his drawings and engravings as the basis for new works. Thomas Moran (1837-1926) and Edward L. Henry (1841-1919) also embellished photographs of their works.
Vedder may have been assisted coloring photographs of his works by his daughter Anita. The Vedder scholar Regina Soria has argued that if she colored the MWPAI work by herself, it can only be considered part of Vedder's authentic oeuvre if she did so while her father was alive. Although there is no information to indicate when she or her father colored the MWPAI work, it seems probable that it was done during the artist's lifetime, considering the large number of autographic drawings and paintings by her father that Anita inherited when he died and the relatively low market value of the colored photographs, which would have discouraged the production of any more.
Paul D. Schweizer
