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I recently learned about two well-regarded painters from Spuyten Duyvil. I am wondering if anyone can guess or figure out who they are.
This first one has paintings in the Smithsonian and the Met. He mostly painted portraits. This is an altered portion of one of his paintings:
The second artist has paintings in the Whitney museum. She made a diverse assortment of subjects in different styles. Here is a portion of one of her paintings:
Does anyone know or can you figure out who these local born artists were?
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Bingo, Stephanie!
Here’s one of Kendall’s paintings at the Smithsonian:
I was trying to figure out where William Sergeant Kendall (1869–1938) may have lived on Spuyten Duyvil but I could not. Here’s a map from 1868, the year before he was born. Notice how many homes were owned by “William Sergeant”–perhaps a relative.
Here’s another Georgina Klitgaard painting also at the Smithsonian:
From a local perspective, one interesting thing about Georgina Klitgaard (1893-1976) was that she was born Georgina Berrian. The Berrians had been on Spuyten Duyvil since before the Revolution. Since she painted a lot of landscapes, I was hoping I could find some local scenes in her portfolio but I have not turned up anything yet.
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I agree, Nick, this is a wonderful post and some beautiful paintings!
I can help a little about William Sergeant, who was the grandfather of William Sergeant Kendall. The 1870 federal census had a number of Sergeant family members listed for Yonkers, as the neighborhood was then part of. There was a William Sergeant the father, William Sergeant the son, and several other children, including Elizabeth (Eliza) Sergeant Kendall, the mother of the artist. She was married to Benjamin Franklin Kendall. The census records show that B.F. Kendall did not have any real estate assessed, suggesting that his family was living in one of the houses attributed to William Sergeant on the 1868 Beers map. The order of the census listings suggest that William Sr. and William Jr. were living in the two bigger houses on Independence Ave. while the other Sergeant children likely were living in the smaller houses on Sidney and Troy Streets. Thanks for introducing this family to us!
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A Few other local artist two of which were members of the Kingsbridge Historical Society(KHS). Charlotte Livingston (1898-1991) was an early members and later trustee of the KHS. She studied at the Art Student league and National Academy of Design where she met her future husband. She was also admitted as a member of the SalmagudiClub first class of women artist. Charlotte mainly painted in water colors and her style is very much like her contemporary mentioned, Georgina Klitgaard. Charlotte painted the painting below in 1919. It’s a view looking south on Giles Place Bronx towards Fort Independence Street.
Of interest is the house at lower right which belonged to one of her teachers GW Maynard. Charlotte was a student of a nationally known artist, George Willoughby Maynard (1843-1923) a painter and muralist(library of Congress and Boston’s Trinity Church) and National Academician and teacher. Below is an example of his work entitled “Mermaids Pool” 1912.
The other Kingbridge Historical Society member was Francis vanderveer Kughler (1901-1970) who was born in Kingsbridge. A professional artist known for landscapes and portraits. He was a president of the Salmagundi Club. Below is a painting titled “Bronx Park 1938” which captures a spring day in the Bronx.
Kughler’s landscape style was very similar to Ernest Lawson who painted locally and who is a topic for another time. An early portrait painting by Kughler was of his girl friend and later wife, Charlotte Livingston painted in 1932.
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Thanks for that helpful research and the additional artist information. The 1870 census Julie posted shows a 1-year-old William Sergeant Kendall living in a building next to the home of G.H. Petrie, which still stands on the corner of W. 227th St. and Arlington Ave (or Sidney Street and Troy Street as they were known at the time).
This 1872 Beers map shows a building owned by William Sergeant next door to the home of George Petrie at the corner of Troy and Sidney Street so that could have been Kendall’s childhood home:
That’s about where 2631 Arlington Ave is today.
The neighborhood certainly seems to have punched above its weight with regard to painters. I imagine the presence of so many wealthy families had something to do with that.
Peter mentioned the painter Francis Kughler, who I hadn’t realized was a member of the KHS. On the topic of Spuyten Duvyil, here is one of Kughler’s paintings of the area:
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Small world as I came across a book on American art and came across this photo that includes two of the artist in this thread standing together in 1907. William Sergeant Kendall and George Willoughby Maynard both members of the National Academy of Design. Both with a connection in art and both living in the Bronx at the turn of the 20th Century.
GW Maynard top at left and Kendall top 2nd from right.
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