Archives of American Art Blog

Sideburns of Note: Donald Grant Mitchell

Blogs across the Smithsonian will give an inside look at the Institution’s archival collections and practices during a month long blogathon in celebration of October’s American Archives Month. See additional posts from our other participating blogs, as well as related events and resources, on the Smithsonian’s Archives Month website.

Donald Grant Mitchell, 1883 / unidentified photographer. Charles Scribner's Sons Art Reference Dept. records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Readers know by now that I am fond of men’s facial hair. therefore, it should be no surprise that I am enthralled with Whisker Wars, the new reality show about facial hair competitions in the US. Contestants featured on the show have the ultimate goal of completing in the World Beard & Mustache Championships.

Using photographs at the Archives of American Art I have come up with some contestants for a facial hair competition of my own. For instance, surely Donald Grant Mitchell and his tremendous sideburns have potential to place highly in the Partial Beard or the Sideburns Freestyle categories. Maybe he could enter both! Perhaps Bill Mitchell (no relation to Donald), the 2011 Sideburns Freestyle winner at the World Beard and Mustache Championships, has some pointers for Donald Grant Mitchell?

Donald Grant Mitchell (1822-1908) was an American essayist, often writing under the nom de plume Ik Marvel. His most well–known book may be Reveries of a Bachelor [you can read several editions on Open Library]. Mitchell attended Yale and traveled Europe extensively in the mid–1800s, much of it on foot. A profile from The New York Times in 1893 claims he walked 600 miles in England alone! He was an agriculturalist and landscape architect, living on a 200 acre farm just outside of New Haven, CT known as Edgewood. The farm then became the subject of much of his writing.

Jennifer Snyder works with oral history interviews at the Archives American Art. When not sending interviews out for digitization, she is writing about extraordinary examples of facial hair for this blog.

Beards of Note: Louis Lang

I recently read about a new beard style that is taking the world of facial hair by storm: The Monkey Tail, A Beard. So I got to thinking, if this beard had existed in the 19th century, how many artists would have adopted the style?

Simulated 19th Century Monkey Tail beard, as modeled by the author of this blog post.

Louis Lang, ca. 1860. Miscellaneous photographs collection. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Perhaps American painter Louis Lang (1814-1893) would have. After his death in 1893, The New York Times labeled Lang an eccentric in an article about his will. I can certainly picture him sporting The Monkey Tail—can you?

See several of Lang’s paintings on The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s website.

Jennifer Snyder works with oral history interviews at the Archives American Art. When not sending interviews out for digitization, she is writing about extraordinary examples of facial hair for this blog.

Mustaches of Note - John White Alexander

John White Alexander, 1882 or 1883. Napoleon Sarony, photographer. John White Alexander papers, 1870-1942, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

This portrait of John White Alexander haunts my dreams. I think it must be his eyes. Or perhaps it is his mustache.

Alexander was best known for his portraiture work; these paintings can be found in museums all over the United States. I particularly like Portrait of Mrs. John White Alexander, 1902.

From 1905 until his death in 1915, he painted an amazing 69-piece mural, The Apotheosis of Pittsburgh, around the grand staircase at the Carnegie Museums. Read more about the mural here.

Jennifer Snyder works with oral history interviews at the Archives American Art. When not sending interviews out for digitization, she is writing about extraordinary examples of facial hair for this blog.

Beards of Note - William Morris Hunt

William Morris Hunt, ca 1860. Macbeth Gallery records, 1838-1968. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

William Morris Hunt, ca. 1866. James Wallace Black, photographer. Miscellaneous photograph collection. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

William Morris Hunt should be considered one of Boston’s most important painters, becoming one of the most prolific creators of landscapes and portraits in the 19th century. He also traveled in Boston’s most prominent intellectual circles.

Unfortunately, Hunt suffered from depression and committed suicide in 1879 at the age of 55. Hunt looks much older than 55 in both of these images and (I think) his state of mind is clearly reflected, as well.

The image on the above left is a photograph of Hunt’s 1866 self portrait, found at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA.

The photograph below shows Hunt in a painter’s smock with his palette and brushes at his studio in Boston, his beard a bit shorter and whiter in 1879, shortly before his death.

Jennifer Snyder works with oral history interviews at the Archives American Art. When not sending interviews out for digitization, she is writing about extraordinary examples of facial hair for this blog.

Mustaches of Note - Elihu Vedder

Elihu Vedder, ca. 1910. Unidentified photographer. Elihu Vedder papers, 1804-1969. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Doesn’t he look ready to jump on his bicycle and join a modern day Tweed Ride?*

Elihu Vedder is best known for his illustrations of the 1884 edition of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. You can browse his digitized papers in our collections online. If you happen to be in Washington, DC you can visit some murals by Vedder in the Library of Congress, in the Thomas Jefferson building outside the Main Reading Room.

*More on the Tweed Ride in DC last fall from the Washington Post and DCist -- and there is a Seersucker Social on June 12!

Jennifer Snyder works with oral history interviews at the Archives American Art. When not sending interviews out for digitization, she is writing about extraordinary examples of facial hair for this blog.

Beards of Note - Peter Cooper

Peter Cooper, 187-?. Brown Brothers, photographer. From the Miscellaneous photograph collection. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Peter Cooper was the inventor of the first steam locomotive, the Tom Thumb. The National Museum of American History has a model of the Tom Thumb in their transportation collection.

Interestingly, Cooper is also credited with inventing the first gelatin dessert—something we now call JELL-O.

More on Peter Cooper.

Jennifer Snyder works with oral history interviews at the Archives American Art. When not sending interviews out for digitization, she is writing about extraordinary examples of facial hair for this blog.

Mustaches of Note - Carolus-Duran

Carolus-Duran, 1878. From the Charles Scribner’s Sons Art Reference Dept. records, 1839-1962. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

John Singer Sargent studied under French art instructor and painter Carolus-Duran (Charles Auguste Émile Duran, 1837-1917). Sargent’s signature brushwork was developed during his time in Paris with Carolus-Duran.

The lovely portrait of Carolus-Duran Sargent painted of his mentor in 1879 (featuring that signature brushwork and the above pictured facial hair) can be found at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA.

More on Mustaches of the 19th-Century.

Jennifer Snyder works with oral history interviews at the Archives American Art. When not sending interviews out for digitization, she is writing about extraordinary examples of facial hair for this blog.