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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2001.157
People
Sanford Robinson Gifford, American (Greenfield, NY 1823 - 1880 New York, NY)
Title
Sketchbook: Figures and Animals
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
sketchbook
Date
c. 1845-1847
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/170370

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Sketchbook with black leather-covered cardboard covers
Dimensions
6 x 9.8 x 1.1 cm (2 3/8 x 3 7/8 x 7/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • label: rear pastedown, ink, printed: PAXON'S / Improved Patent / Metallic / MEMORANDUM BOOKS / Prepared with Pencil / The Writing on these Books will remain / perfectly SECURE from erasure when written with the accompanying pencil & uninjured / by the Friction of the leaves in the pocket./ Particularly recommended to Travellers / and all persons conducting outdoor business.

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
By descent through artist's family, 1880; Alice Carter Gifford, Cambridge, MA; bequeathed to her son Sanford Gifford, Cambridge, MA; his gift to the Harvard University Art Museums, 2001.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Sanford Gifford
Accession Year
2001
Object Number
2001.157
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Sketchbook with black-leather-covered cardboard covers. Printed in gold on spine: PAXON'S NEW PATENT. Metal clasp, pencil sleeve. Marbled endpapers, with plain white paper on their versos; drawings made on white versos. Sewn page block. Pages of off-white wove paper, 5.6 x 9.4 cm. Many drawings made in a brown prepared pencil provided with the sketchbook, like a colored pencil (per Craigen Bowen, 3/02). One page has been cut out following p. 2, leaving a stub. At least two pages have been cut out following p. 56; four pages have been cut out following p. 59; at least five pages have been torn out following p. 60.

Publication History

  • Ila Weiss, Poetic Landscape: The Art and Experience of Sanford R. Gifford, University of Delaware Press (Newark, DE, 1987), pp. 57-59; p. 332
  • Harvard University Art Museums, Harvard University Art Museums Annual Report 2001-2002 (Cambridge, MA, 2003), p. 23
  • Sandra Kelberlau, "How One Landscape-Painter Paints: The Technique of Sanford Robinson Gifford" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, June 2006), Unpublished, pp. 1-8 passim

Exhibition History

  • Under Cover: Artists' Sketchbooks, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 08/01/2006 - 10/22/2006
  • HAA 1 Survey Course: Landmarks of World Art and Architecture [Spring 2007], Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 02/26/2007 - 04/08/2007
  • HAA 1 Survey Course (S421): Landmarks of World Art and Architecture [Spring 2009], Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 02/12/2009 - 05/10/2009
  • HAA 1 Survey Course (S421): Landmarks of World Art and Architecture (Spring 2010), Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 02/05/2010 - 05/09/2010

Related Works

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu