Information on artist?
HEAFOD
information or a short biography on a known, (maybe a little know) artist by
the name of John J. Zang. Mr. Zang is listed as an American Artist in the late
1800s. Other than his name and the fact that he painted western American
landscapes I can find no additional information. I have checked the reference
library at the Toledo Museum of Art, and The National Museum of American Art,
and the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System which identifies 13
of his paintings but has no information with reguards to a short biography
about the artist. I am at a quandary how can a artist have art work displayed
at noted galleries and yet be so unknown!
Our family inherited a large original oil called "Mt. Matterhorn" painted and
signed by John J. Zang. This has been in our family and passed from generation
to generation from the 1870s. I understand he was considered a Hudson Valley
Painter, but the only list of his works I can find are mostly landscape oils of
western America.
Any ideas on where I can find any information would be appreicated!
Sincerely,
Mike
tran...@finfin.com
--
;)
T.
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Deshazo48
Marianne
>
>OK, Mike. Look for my e-mail.
>
>--
> ;)
> T.
>
>On and off over the last several years I have been attemping to obtain
>information or a short biography on a known, (maybe a little know) artist by
>the name of John J. Zang. Mr. Zang is listed as an American Artist in the
>late 1800s. Other than his name and the fact that he painted western
>American landscapes I can find no additional information. I have checked the
>reference library at the Toledo Museum of Art, and The National Museum of
>American Art, and the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System
>which identifies 13 of his paintings but has no information with reguards to
>a short biography about the artist. I am at a quandary how can a artist have
>art work displayed at noted galleries and yet be so unknown! Our family
>inherited a large original oil called "Mt. Matterhorn" painted and signed by
>John J. Zang. This has been in our family and passed from generation to
>generation from the 1870s. I understand he was considered a Hudson Valley
>Painter, but the only list of his works I can find are mostly landscape oils
>of western America. Any ideas on where I can find any information would be
>appreicated! Sincerely, Mike
>
Marianne (to e-mail remove "fort" after aol.com)
HEAFOD
>
T.
Thanks for the response, I will do my best to answer your questions and
sincerely appreciate any assistance you may be able to provide.
OK, places to look for info. Forget Toledo
The Toledo Museum of Art is known as one of the top ten in the World, of course
I didn't expect to find his work there but did use their resource center which
housed a large library. This is where I found John Zang listed in "Who's was
Who" in American Art as a landscape painter in California in 1883; it also
advised that he painted along the Hudson River and had work displayed at the
Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, CT.
How
do you know he is Hudson Bay?
In 1993 I contacted the Wadsworth and corresponded with an assistant curator of
American Paintings by the name of Elizabeth McClintock who copied and sent a
picture of their painting which they considered a Hudson River scene dating to
aprox. 1875. Does this criteria qualify him as a Hudson Bay painter? I am not
sure as it is unknown to me what is required to qualify him. Their painting
depicts a view of the Hudson River from West Point. Ms. McClintock did refer
to him as a Hudson Valley painter.
It might take more than a name that is the same to attribute
your picture the artist.
Is our picture true to the style of John Zang? Although not an art expert by
any means I have seen three of the works attributed to Zang, ours of course,
the Wadsworth's and a copy of another painting they had in their files which
also depicts Mt Matterhorn by the way, and was in the possession of a collector
in Milford, Conn. who they did not identify all three to the best of my ability
depict the same style of painting, i.e. similar style of tree's, rocks, and
landscape.
Over the next few year's I collected information with regard to Hudson Valley
art work, but made little progress with regard to Mr. Zang or his identity. A
few day's ago my reading in this news group, I stumbled across a Web site for
The National Museum of American Art (http://www.nmaa.si.edu/).
On site I searched for Zang via the Smithsonian Institution Research
Information System. To qualify you must be American born. Thirteen of John J.
Zang paintings are listed. The Wadsworth's View of the Hudson River is one
listed. Could he be European, or did he take the Grand Tour of Europe which
was in style in the late 1800s, or did he copy the Matterhorn from another
source? Of course any of the above is possible. The paintings identified by
the Smithsonian are mostly winter landscapes, or views of western America,
i.e., Yosemite Valley. I searched by computer for address's or phone listings
of the identified 13 owners with negative results. Sotheby Park Bernet, Inc.
of New York, New York owns 3, are they related to The Sotheby's Auction House?
I have yet to find information in regard to this. In 1993 I sent an inquiry to
Sotheby's, their response was to advise they were not interested in auctioning
the item, I never asked them to!!! My original intention was possibly an Art
expert could provide informational source material, I guess they were not
interested.
A further reference to Zang is found in Artists in California 1786-1940 by Edan
Milton Hughes (San Francisco: Hughes Publishing, 1989). Other than his name it
only identifies him as a Landscape painter active in Yosemite Valley in 1883.
What you want is a short bio on this guy?
I am not giving up, nor am I in a rush the family has owned this painting for
over 120 years, someday I am sure we'll find more information about John J.
Zang to pass on to our children and add further to our knowledge. In addition
I am not under the belief that because of the painting age that it has value
other than it's history to our family.
Thanks for your assistance,
Mike
Steve and Terri
:
: I am not giving up, nor am I in a rush the family has owned this painting for
: over 120 years, someday I am sure we'll find more information about John J.
: Zang to pass on to our children and add further to our knowledge. In addition
: I am not under the belief that because of the painting age that it has value
: other than it's history to our family.
It's a shot in the dark, but it might be worth a call or a letter,
especially considering the other things you've tried so far: the Gilcrease
Museum in Tulsa has one of the best Western US collections around. I don't
remember if they have any of Zang's work or not (the name & description of
his work sound familiar, but that may just be the lingering effects of a
brain fade...) but whether they do or not, they may know something about
him if he spent much time painting the western US.
I don't have the address/phone number, but they're listed...
Terri
--
Terri Carl
ter...@neosoft.com
HEAFOD
I searched and found a listing for ten western American museums including The
Heard, and Gilcrease. I have sent email to four which had research librarys
and am awaiting a response hopefully!!
Mike