Painting
Cedar Rapids Painting
| "Three views in a short space show the peaceful appearance of what is now a busy paper mills center....The third, another rural river scene, whose composition must have challenged the technical skill of the artists, is entitled 'Cedar Rapids.' The village of Kimberly has grown up around the damsite and, a short distance to the right, a marker now marks the spot where at the Treaty of the Cedars, twenty years before the era of Brookes and Stevenson, the Menominee Indians had signed away their claim to this fertile river area." (Alice E. Smith, "The Fox River Valley in Paintings," Wisconsin Magazine of History, 51(2), winter 1967-1968, p, 139, 145, 148.) |
| Image ID: | 91152 |
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| Creation Date: | 1856 |
| Creator Name: | Brookes and Stevenson |
| City: | |
| County: | |
| State: | Wisconsin |
| Collection Name: | WHS Museum Collection |
| Genre: | Painting |
| Original Format Type: | paintings |
| Original Format Number: | Museum 1942.523 |
| Original Dimensions: | 18 x 12 inches |
| In 1856 Samuel Marsden Brookes and Thomas H. Stevenson "painted a group of river town sites and locks for the Fox-Wisconsin River Improvement Co. . . . and in 1909 the whole set of ten was purchased from Misses S.G. and D.B. Martin by the [Wisconsin] Historical Society for seventy-five dollars. Included in the group [is] . . . 'Cedar Rapids'. . . They are oil sketches about twelve by eighteen inches, mounted now on composition board, unframed, and, while helpful as geographical record, are without special merit as painting. Most of them show matter-of-fact views of the water of the river, with occasional buildings, — which however can be historically identified as particular residences, — and are rather sketchily done in contrast to Brookes' minute portrait style, evidencing probably the large part Stevenson played in their making. They were used, doubtlessly, in the promotion and advertising of the Improvement Company and their significance lies in the confirmation they give to the fact that the painter still functioned in the fifties in the utilitarian capacity of reporter and illustrator." (Porter Butts, Art in Wisconsin, 1936, p. 74.) |
| Croplands |
| Industrial buildings |
| Rivers |
| Trees |
| Vacation homes |
| Landscape |
| This image is issued by the Wisconsin Historical Society. Use of the image requires written permission from the staff of the Collections Division. It may not be sold or redistributed, copied or distributed as a photograph, electronic file, or any other media. The image should not be significantly altered through conventional or electronic means. Images altered beyond standard cropping and resizing require further negotiation with a staff member. The user is responsible for all issues of copyright. Please Credit: Wisconsin Historical Society. |
| Location: | Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, 4th Floor, Madison, Wisconsin |
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