Joseph Rusling Meeker
- BORN
-
April 21, 1827
Newark, New Jersey
- DIED
-
September 27, 1887
Saint Louis, Missouri
- EDUCATION
-
National Academy of Design
New York, New York
Joseph Rusling Meeker was an artist who was the leading landscape painter in St. Louis during his lifetime.
Meeker was born in Newark, New Jersey, on April 21, 1827, and grew up in Auburn, New York. In the 1830s, Meeker was employed by a carriage painter, Thomas J. Kennedy. In Auburn, Meeker set up a studio with artist and friend George L. Clough. Meeker was awarded a scholarship to the National Academy of Design in New York City in 1845, and there he studied art with Asher B. Durand and portraitist Charles Loring Elliott, learning the landscape painting tradition of the Hudson River School. After studying at the National Academy, he returned to Auburn in 1848 and then moved to Buffalo, New York, living there from 1849 to 1852 before moving to Louisville, Kentucky, where he was active from 1852 to 1857. Later Meeker moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he lived for the rest of his life.
During the Civil War, from 1862 to 1865, Meeker served in the Union Navy as a paymaster on a gunboat that traveled the Mississippi River. While in the Navy, he made sketches of the river and the Louisiana bayous. After the war, Meeker traveled to Colorado, Wyoming, Minnesota, California and Louisiana.
His sketches during the war were transformed into paintings, with a repeated focus on Louisiana bayous as a motif, especially during the 1860s to his death in 1887. These paintings are some of his best-known works. Some of the imagery used in his artwork was based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, Evangeline. Most of his paintings were done along the Meramec River in Missouri. In addition to creating art, Meeker also taught students, including St. Louis artist Augusta S. Bryant.
Meeker was a leader in the St. Louis art community. He helped found the St. Louis Art Society in 1872 and served as its president three times. He also helped found the St. Louis Sketch Club in 1877. Additionally, Meeker contributed articles about painting to the St. Louis periodical The Western in 1877 and 1878.
Joseph Rusling Meeker died on September 27, 1887, in St. Louis.
American Art-Union Exhibition
Organized by American Art-Union
Organized by American Art-Union
National Academy of Design Exhibition
Organized by National Academy of Design
Organized by National Academy of Design
Boston Art Club Exhibition
Organized by Boston Art Club
Organized by Boston Art Club
Thonssen’s Gallery Exhibition
Organized by Thonssen’s Gallery
Organized by Thonssen’s Gallery
St. Louis Museum of Fine Arts Exhibition
Organized by St. Louis Museum of Fine Arts
Organized by St. Louis Museum of Fine Arts
St. Louis Sketch Club Exhibition
Organized by St. Louis Sketch Club
Organized by St. Louis Sketch Club
Redheffer & Koch Exhibition
Organized by Redheffer & Koch
Organized by Redheffer & Koch
St. Louis Exposition
Organized by St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association
Organized by St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association
Awards & Exhibitions 19
American Art-Union Exhibition
Organized by American Art-Union
Organized by American Art-Union
National Academy of Design Exhibition
Organized by National Academy of Design
Organized by National Academy of Design
Boston Art Club Exhibition
Organized by Boston Art Club
Organized by Boston Art Club
Thonssen’s Gallery Exhibition
Organized by Thonssen’s Gallery
Organized by Thonssen’s Gallery
St. Louis Museum of Fine Arts Exhibition
Organized by St. Louis Museum of Fine Arts
Organized by St. Louis Museum of Fine Arts
St. Louis Sketch Club Exhibition
Organized by St. Louis Sketch Club
Organized by St. Louis Sketch Club
Redheffer & Koch Exhibition
Organized by Redheffer & Koch
Organized by Redheffer & Koch
St. Louis Exposition
Organized by St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association
Organized by St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association
References
Artist clippings file is available at:
Bibliography
Select Sources
Julie Dunn-Morton, 175 Years of Art at the St. Louis Mercantile Library: A Revised Second Edition of the Handbook to the Collections (St. Louis: St. Louis Mercantile Library, University of Missouri-St. Louis, 2021), 66-67.
Randolph Delehanty, Art in the American South: Works from the Ogden Collection (Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State University Press, 1996), 20-21.
Estill Curtis Pennington, Downriver: Currents of Style in Louisiana Painting 1800-1950 (Gretna: Pelican Publishing Company, 1991), 72-77.
Thomas McCormick and Melissa Williams, Missouri Artists (Columbia: Thomas McCormick and Melissa Williams, 1984), 10.
C. Reynolds Brown, Joseph Rusling Meeker: Images of the Mississippi Delta (Montgomery: Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, 1981).
“Joseph R. Meeker,” in J.A. Dacus, A Tour of St. Louis, or The Inside Life of a Great City, (St. Louis: Western Pub. Co., Jones & Griffin, 1878), 72-73, accessed November 10, 2022, https://archive.org/details/atourstlouisori01buelgoog/page/72/mode/2up.
Core Reference Sources
Anita Jacobsen, Jacobsen's Biographical Index of American Artists (Carrollton: A.J. Publications, 2002).
Peter H. Falk, et. al, Who was Who in American Art, 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America (Madison: Sound View Press, 1999).
William H. Gerdts, Art Across America: Two Centuries of Regional Painting, 1710-1920 (New York: Abbeville Press, 1990).
Contributors
Roberta Wagener, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Artist Record Published
Published on December 1, 2022
Learn more
References
Artist clippings file is available at:
Artist’s work in these institutions’ collections
Saint Louis Art Museum
Bibliography
Select Sources
Julie Dunn-Morton, 175 Years of Art at the St. Louis Mercantile Library: A Revised Second Edition of the Handbook to the Collections (St. Louis: St. Louis Mercantile Library, University of Missouri-St. Louis, 2021), 66-67.
Randolph Delehanty, Art in the American South: Works from the Ogden Collection (Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State University Press, 1996), 20-21.
Estill Curtis Pennington, Downriver: Currents of Style in Louisiana Painting 1800-1950 (Gretna: Pelican Publishing Company, 1991), 72-77.
Thomas McCormick and Melissa Williams, Missouri Artists (Columbia: Thomas McCormick and Melissa Williams, 1984), 10.
C. Reynolds Brown, Joseph Rusling Meeker: Images of the Mississippi Delta (Montgomery: Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, 1981).
“Joseph R. Meeker,” in J.A. Dacus, A Tour of St. Louis, or The Inside Life of a Great City, (St. Louis: Western Pub. Co., Jones & Griffin, 1878), 72-73, accessed November 10, 2022, https://archive.org/details/atourstlouisori01buelgoog/page/72/mode/2up.
Core Reference Sources
Anita Jacobsen, Jacobsen's Biographical Index of American Artists (Carrollton: A.J. Publications, 2002).
Peter H. Falk, et. al, Who was Who in American Art, 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America (Madison: Sound View Press, 1999).
William H. Gerdts, Art Across America: Two Centuries of Regional Painting, 1710-1920 (New York: Abbeville Press, 1990).
Contributors
Roberta Wagener, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Artist Record Published
Published on December 1, 2022
Updated on None
