Thomas Whitley (active 1835 - 1860 )

Whitley has been referred to as "one of the most colorful, controversial, and influential of all New Jersey painters."(1) An Englishman by birth, a landscape painter, and editor of the Hoboken Gazette, Whitley settled in Paterson from 1835 to 1839, where he painted many views of the Passaic Falls. In 1839 he moved to New York, then Italy and Cincinnati. In 1849 he returned to Hoboken, New Jersey, where he remained until 1860. He continued to paint landscapes of the Hoboken and Weehawken area. During his time in Hoboken, Whitley worked as an art and drama critic of the New York Herald and the Home Journal, as well as editor of the Hoboken Gazette.

During this time the growth of the Art-Unions flourished, and Whitley has the "distinction of being the prime mover of the destruction of these organizations."(1) He was a member of the American Artists Association, which formed in opposition to the Art Union. Articles appeared in the New York Herald, where Whitley was a critic, stating that the Art-Unions were immoral and illegal; this resulted in turning the public against them. In 1852 the New York Supreme Court declared the American Art-Union illegal and unconstitutional.

(SES, Fall 2003)

Passaic Falls, Spring

Passaic Falls, Spring, c.1839, oil on wood panel, 23 x 33 inches, From the Collections of The New Jersey Historical Society, Newark. Gift of Dr. W. B. Graves.

Passaic Falls, Autumn, c.1839, oil on panel, From the Collections of The New Jersey Historical Society, Newark. Gift of Dr. W.B. Graves. 1923.4.

The landscapes shown here depict "the state's most admired and painted natural wonder [of that time], the Passaic Falls."(2) Whitley displays a more romantic, more dramatic vision of the Falls than some painters of his time. The painting includes visitors fishing and admiring the great power of the Falls. Whitley's free brushwork gives an interesting quality to his work.

The New Jersey Historical Society has two versions of Whitley's Falls, one painted in the spring and one in the autumn. The first view shown here was apparently painted quickly; it was inscribed in the lower left center: "In haste T.W. Whitley." (SES)

(1) William H. Gerdts, Painting and Sculpture in New Jersey (Princeton: Van Nostrand, 1964), pp.59, 55.

(2)William H. Gerdts, "The East and the Mid-Atlantic: Art across America: Two Centuries of Regional Painting, 1710-1920" (New York: Abbeville Press, 1990), p.231.