| American Watercolors — Attributed to John McLenan (1827-1865) “Musicians wanted for the Army” |
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Attributed to John McLenan (1827-1865) “Musicians wanted for the Army” |
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Published: New York 1862 Medium: Watercolor and graphite on paper Dimensions: 11 1/2” x 7 7/8” John McLenan (1827-1865) was an influential and prolific illustrator whose works appeared nationally in books and periodicals from 1852 to 1866. According to legend, McLenan was sketching on a barrel head when he was “discovered” in 1848 by famed wood engraver DeWitt C. Hitchcock. The meeting resulted immediately in a new career for McLenan, who remained in Cincinnati until 1851. Upon moving to New York in 1852, McLenan found employment with a host of publishers, including the legendary Charles Scribner. Working with a broad range of subject matter, McLenan depicted a number of Southern topics, among which were The Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1853); A Series of Sketches, Fisher’s River, North Carolina (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1859), and Life and Times of Gen. Sam. Dale, the Mississippi Partisan (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1860). McLenan’s satirical illustrations appeared in the New York Picayune, Vanity Fair, and in numerous issues of Harper’s Weekly. The figure depicted with his banjo seems to have been a stock figure in McLenan's repertoire. He appeared in an influential political cartoon entitled "The Great Negro Emancipation" that was published in the 20 December 1862 edition of Harper's Weekly. A slightly different watercolor version of the following cartoon is now in a private collection. Notes: 1. Sinclair Hamilton, Early American Book Illustrators and Wood Engravers 1670-1870 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1968), 180-185. Hamilton includes a listing of publications containing McLenan’s illustrations. 2. George C. Croce and David H. Wallace, The New-York Historical Society’s Dictionary of Artists in America 1564-1860 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1957), 417. 3. Mary Sayre Haverstock, Jeannette Mahoney Vance, and Brian L. Meggitt, Artists in Ohio 1787-1900: A Biographical Dictionary (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2000), 564,565. 4. The following editions of Harper’s Weekly contain McLenan’s illustrations: 9 February 1861, 96; 29 June 1861, 416; 9 November 1861, 720; and 30 November 1861, 768. References: Richard C. Schneider, African American History in the Press: 1851-1899 From the Coming of the Civil War to the Rise of Jim Crow as Reported and Illustrated in Selected Newspapers of the Time, vols. 1, 2 (Detroit: Gale, 1996). |
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