Alexander Jackson Davis (1803 - 1892 )

Alexander Jackson Davis was born in 1803 in New York. He spent most of his childhood in New Jersey and central New York state. He began working in 1818 as a typesetter in Virginia, then returned to New York to study art at the American Academy of Fine Arts and the National Academy of Design.

Although he excelled at drawing and engraving, Davis is known as one of the most significant American architects of his day. He formed a partnership with the prominent architect Ithiel Town, working primarily in the Greek Revival style, with some influence of Gothic and other styles. In 1835, after six years with Town, Davis struck out on his own as an architect. He is also known for his collaborations with the architectural writer and theorist Andrew Jackson Downing (1815-1852) in popularizing Picturesque design.

Davis’s work “ranges from major government and institutional buildings to ornamental garden structures; his main contribution to American architecture was his introduction of the European picturesque in his designs for Italianate and Gothic Revival country houses and cottages.”(1) Davis concentrated mainly on architectural design as a young artist. It wasn’t until he retired that he focused his attention on drawing and engraving. “Source of the Passaic Falls” is an exception, created when the architect was about forty years of age. Davis died in West Orange, New Jersey in 1892. (DES)

(1)Jane Turner, ed., The Dictionary of Art / Grove’s Dictionaries, Inc. (New York: Macmillan, 1996).

Source of the Passaic Falls

Source of the Passaic Falls, 1843, hand-colored steel engraving from John H. Hinton, The History and Topography of the United States of North America, vol.2 (Boston: S. Walker, 1843), p.398. Courtesy Claude Epstein.

Detail - Source of the Passaic Falls, 1843. Courtesy Claude Epstein.

“Source of the Passaic Falls” was created as an illustration for John H. Hinton’s History and Topography of the United States of North America, published in 1843. Passaic Falls, located in Paterson, New Jersey, was a popular subject among early nineteenth-century artists. Davis’s illustration is reminiscent of picturesque landscape design with its framing device of tall cliffs, central body of water, and the relaxed figures strolling through the scene that serve as focal points.

The art of engraving is a very lengthy and meticulous process utilizing many different methods and mediums. Davis’s illustration “Source of the Passaic” is a steel engraving rather than an engraving on wood; metal engraving allows for a very intricately detailed work of art, as proved through the success of this image. The colors were added later by hand. (DES)

References:

Jane Turner, ed., The Dictionary of Art / Grove’s Dictionaries, Inc. (New York: Macmillan, 1996).

Jules Adeline, The Adeline Art Dictionary (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1996).

Dagobert Runes and Harry Schrickel, Encyclopedia of the Arts (New York: Philosophical Library, inc., 1946).

Virginia Military Institute Archives web site (see link below).

Encyclopedia.com (see link below).

Metropolitan Museum of Art web site (see link below).