Printmakers You Should Know: J.T. Bowen

Today we're going to go back in time to the 19th century to take a look at one of America's early lithographers, J.T. Bowen of Philadelphia (ca. 1801-1856).

Lepus Townsendii, Townsend's Rocky Mountain Hare, Male and Female, from The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. Image courtesy of https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-6d25-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

I admittedly don't know very much about Mr. Bowen himself aside from the fact that his lithographic company was based in Philadelphia. As was the case with George Miller a century later, Bowen wasn't the designer of the lithographs he made, but the printer who had the technical skill and expertise to translate the original watercolors he received into printed editions.

Invented in 1796 by Alois Senefelder as an economic way to reproduce theatrical works, lithography was still a new medium in the nineteenth century, but enterprising printers recognized the opportunity to reproduce large editions of prints at an economic price. The most famous of these firms in America was Currier and Ives, whose prints ranged from historical events to portraits and sentimental family scenes. Advertisers also used the new medium to their advantage, which helped propel the explosion of visual and material culture during the Victorian era.

Currier and Ives, He is Saved, image courtesy of https://springfieldmuseums.org/collections/item/he-is-saved-currier-ives/

Artists such as Fitz Henry Lane also recognized the potential of the medium and experimented with it.

Fitz H. Lane, View of the Town of Gloucester, Mass., 1835 - 1836. Lithograph, image courtesy of https://www.bostonathenaeum.org/about/publications/selections-acquired-tastes/view-town-gloucester-mass-1835-1836-fitz-henry-lane

By the late nineteenth century, avant-garde artists such as Henri-Toulouse Lautrec blurred the distinction between high art and commercial reproduction by creating high-quality posters, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jane Avril, 1899, brush lithograph, printed in four colours from three stones on paper. Image courtesy of http://artmatters.ca/wp/category/prints-and-drawings/

Today Bowen's would work be grouped in the natural history/ethnography category. The 19th century was the era of expeditions across the American West to document the flora and fauna while fanning the ever-increasing fires of the Manifest Destiny philosophies that would come to dominate politics and foreign policy. Here are some examples of Native American subjects as drawn by Charles Bird King.

Tah-Col-O-Quoit, from History of the Indian Tribes of North America, 1842, hand-colored lithograph, copy after Charles Bird King, published by McKenney and Hall with J.T. Bowen as printer. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=17156.

Asseola, a Seminole Leader, from History of the Indian Tribes of North America, 1842, hand-colored lithograph, copy after Charles Bird King, published by McKenney and Hall with J.T. Bowen as printer. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=17130

Probably Bowen's most significant project, however, was the Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America.

Canis (Vulpes) Virginianus, Grey Fox, 5/7 natural size, from The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. Image courtesy of https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-6d37-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Dycoteles torquatus, Collared Peccary, from The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. Image courtesy of https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-6d41-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Cervus Canadensis, American Elk, Wapiti Deer, 1/7 natural size, male and female, from The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. Image courtesy of https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-7830-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

First published between 1845 and 1848, The Viviparous Quadrupeds by John James Audubon (1785-1851), compiled in collaboration with his son John Woodhouse (1812-1862) and Reverend John Bachman (1790-1874), has historically received less attention than its ornithological predecessor, The Birds of America.  

 

Tyto Alba, Barn Owl, from The Birds of America. Image courtesy of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birds_of_America#/media/File:171_Barn_Owl.jpg

Yet these elephant folios remain a significant technical achievement in nineteenth-century American printmaking. Whereas the first edition of The Birds of America consisted of hand-colored intaglio plates printed in London, the Viviparous Quadrupeds represents a wholly American undertaking. Color lithography wouldn't be used successfully until the 1860s, so each of these had to be colored by hand. Considering the massive size of the elephant sheets, that would have been a daunting task to say the least.

Putorius frenata, Bridled Weasel, males, natural size, from The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. Image courtesy of https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-782e-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Still, it's a remarkable achievement, considering how new the medium still was and how recently lithography had been established as a printing form in the United States. As someone who has always had a side interest in natural history, I can't help but be drawn to these prints.

Lynx Rufus, Common American Wildcat, 3/4 natural size, male, from The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. Image courtesy of https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-6d23-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99