John H. Fitzgibbon
- BORN
-
February 2, 1817
London, England
- DIED
-
August 12, 1882
Xenia, Ohio
John H. Fitzgibbon was a pioneering photographer in St. Louis, Missouri, opening the city’s second gallery showing daguerreotypes in 1846. He was best known for his studio portraits and photographs of scenes of regional life in the territories west of the Mississippi River. Fitzgibbon was well known in photography circles because of his extensive writing and technical innovations.
Fitzgibbon lived and worked in New York City and Philadelphia in his early years, then moved to Lynchburg, Virginia, where he lived for five years and learned photography. In 1841, he opened his first photography gallery there. In 1846, Fitzgibbon moved to St. Louis and established his photography studio and gallery. His gallery featured portraits of celebrities such as Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, Tom Thumb and singer Jenny Lind, as well as other notable figures who traveled through St. Louis.
In addition to portraiture, in 1853, Fitzgibbon purchased from Jeremiah Gurney the Robert H. Vance collection of three hundred whole-plate daguerreotypes documenting California and Central and South America. Fitzgibbon exhibited these daguerreotypes in his St. Louis gallery until 1856. The current location of this collection is unknown.
In 1854 Fitzgibbon embarked on a professional tour of southwest Missouri, northwest Arkansas and the Indian Nations located in present-day Oklahoma. Fitzgibbon traveled and photographed throughout his thirty-two day trip.
In 1857, Fitzgibbon commissioned artist Charles F. Wimar and two assistants to create a painted panorama of Kansas from daguerreotype images. It is unknown if these daguerreotypes were made by Fitzgibbon or one of his assistants. This panorama, titled _Fitzgibbon’s Panorama of Kansas and the Indian Nations, _was a depiction of the Border War in Kansas, and included scenes of the Upper Missouri River, as well as views of towns in western Missouri and eastern Kansas. The panorama traveled to New England in 1857, where it was presented in Boston in front of an audience with narration and music.
In 1860 Fitzgibbon moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi, and opened a photography studio there. He stayed until 1863 when the city was under siege during the Civil War. While attempting to leave the city, he was arrested by Union forces and detained briefly in New Orleans. After his release, Fitzgibbon moved to New York City, where he established a short-lived photography gallery. By 1866, Fitzgibbon was back in St. Louis and had opened a new photography gallery. In 1876 Fitzgibbon’s second wife, Maria Dennis, took over daily management of the photography studio so Fitzgibbon could focus on his journal, the St. Louis Practical Photographer and Illustrated Monthly Journal. After Fitzgibbon’s death in 1882, Maria continued the publication of the journal and its succeeding title, St. Louis & Canadian Photographer.
During his career, Fitzgibbon belonged to several professional societies for photographers. In 1851, he was elected vice president of the American Daguerre Association. Later in his career, in 1870 he served as treasurer of the St. Louis Photographic Society. In 1872 he was secretary of the National Photographic Association, and helped organize the annual exhibition and meeting in St. Louis. He served as secretary again in 1880. In 1882, he was president of the Photographic Association of St. Louis.
John H. Fitzgibbon, Jenny Lind, 1851.
Daguerreotype, 5 1/2 x 4 1/2 in.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Gift of Hallmark Cards, Inc., 2005.27.40.
Reproduced with permission of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
John H. Fitzgibbon, Kno-Shr, Kansas Chief, 1853.
Daguerreotype, 7 1/16 x 5 13/16 in.
The Met, Gilman Collection, Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2005, 2005.100.82.
Award, Crystal Palace Exhibition
Award, St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association Fair
Award, Illinois State Fair
Award, St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association Fair
Award, St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association Fair
Awards & Exhibitions 6
Award, Crystal Palace Exhibition
Award, St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association Fair
Award, Illinois State Fair
Award, St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association Fair
Award, St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association Fair
References
Artist clippings file is available at:
Bibliography
Select Sources
John H. Fitzgibbon, Jenny Lind, 1851, Daguerreotype, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Collection Search, accessed December 13, 2022, https://art.nelson-atkins.org/objects/51720/jenny-lind?ctx=48388ccd-9c0f-4c79-ab48-4615d06a9771&idx=0.
Keith F. Davis and Jane L. Aspinwall, The Origins of American Photography 1839-1885: From Daguerreotype to Dry-Plate (Kansas City: Hall Family Foundation in association with The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2007), 53-54, 308.
“Fitzgibbon, John H.,” in Peter E. Palmquist and Thomas R. Kailbourn, Pioneer Photographers from the Mississippi to the Continental Divide: A Biographical Dictionary 1839-1865 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005), 254-259.
Martha A. Sandweiss, Print the Legend: Photography and the American West (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2002), 74-75.
Martha A. Sandweiss, “Picturing Change: Early St. Louis Photography," in John Neal Hoover, ed. St. Louis and the Art of the Frontier (St. Louis: St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, 2000), 82-91.
Andrew H. Eskind, et al., Index to American Photographic Collections: Compiled at the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House (New York: G. K. Hall, 1996), 1031.
Bonnie Wright, “‘This Perpetual Shadow-Taking’: The Lively Art of John Fitzgibbon,” Missouri Historical Review, 76, no. 1 (October 1981), 22-30.
Charles van Ravensway, “The Pioneer Photographers of St. Louis,” Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society, X, no. 1 (October 1953), 48-71.
“The Late John H. Fitzgibbon: In Memoriam,” Photographic Times and American Photographer, 12, no. 140 (August 1882), 338-339.
G.H Loomis, “Gallery Biographic No. 4: J.H. Fitzgibbon,” Anthony’s Photographic Bulletin 6, no. 3 (March 1875): 81-82.
Jacob N. Taylor and M.O. Crooks, Sketch Book of St. Louis: Containing a Series of Sketches of the Early Settlement, Public Buildings, Hotels, Railroads, Steamboats, Foundry and Machine Shops, Mercantile Houses, Grocers, Manufacturers, etc. (St. Louis: George Knapp & Co., Printers and Binders, 1858), 311-314, accessed December 19, 2022, https://archive.org/details/sketchbookofsain00tayl/page/n5/mode/2up.
“J.H Fitzgibbon, of St. Louis,” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper (September 5, 1857), 4:218.
Core Reference Sources
Dictionary of Missouri biography (Columbia and London: University of Missouri Press, 1999).
Peter H. Falk, et. al, Who was Who in American Art, 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America (Madison: Sound View Press, 1999).
Image Credits
Artwork
John H. Fitzgibbon, Jenny Lind, 1851.
Daguerreotype, 5 1/2 x 4 1/2 in.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Gift of Hallmark Cards, Inc., 2005.27.40.
Reproduced with permission of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
John H. Fitzgibbon, Kno-Shr, Kansas Chief, 1853.
Daguerreotype, 7 1/16 x 5 13/16 in.
The Met, Gilman Collection, Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2005, 2005.100.82.
Portrait of Artist
Unknown, J.H. Fitzgibbon, 1857.
Engraving, 3 55/64 x 2 63/64 in.
Included in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper (New York) 4:92 (5 September 1857): 213.
Contributors
Roberta Wagener, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Artist Record Published
Published on March 28, 2023
Learn more
References
Artist clippings file is available at:
Artist’s work in these institutions’ collections
Art Institute of Chicago
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Bibliography
Select Sources
John H. Fitzgibbon, Jenny Lind, 1851, Daguerreotype, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Collection Search, accessed December 13, 2022, https://art.nelson-atkins.org/objects/51720/jenny-lind?ctx=48388ccd-9c0f-4c79-ab48-4615d06a9771&idx=0.
Keith F. Davis and Jane L. Aspinwall, The Origins of American Photography 1839-1885: From Daguerreotype to Dry-Plate (Kansas City: Hall Family Foundation in association with The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2007), 53-54, 308.
“Fitzgibbon, John H.,” in Peter E. Palmquist and Thomas R. Kailbourn, Pioneer Photographers from the Mississippi to the Continental Divide: A Biographical Dictionary 1839-1865 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005), 254-259.
Martha A. Sandweiss, Print the Legend: Photography and the American West (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2002), 74-75.
Martha A. Sandweiss, “Picturing Change: Early St. Louis Photography," in John Neal Hoover, ed. St. Louis and the Art of the Frontier (St. Louis: St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, 2000), 82-91.
Andrew H. Eskind, et al., Index to American Photographic Collections: Compiled at the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House (New York: G. K. Hall, 1996), 1031.
Bonnie Wright, “‘This Perpetual Shadow-Taking’: The Lively Art of John Fitzgibbon,” Missouri Historical Review, 76, no. 1 (October 1981), 22-30.
Charles van Ravensway, “The Pioneer Photographers of St. Louis,” Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society, X, no. 1 (October 1953), 48-71.
“The Late John H. Fitzgibbon: In Memoriam,” Photographic Times and American Photographer, 12, no. 140 (August 1882), 338-339.
G.H Loomis, “Gallery Biographic No. 4: J.H. Fitzgibbon,” Anthony’s Photographic Bulletin 6, no. 3 (March 1875): 81-82.
Jacob N. Taylor and M.O. Crooks, Sketch Book of St. Louis: Containing a Series of Sketches of the Early Settlement, Public Buildings, Hotels, Railroads, Steamboats, Foundry and Machine Shops, Mercantile Houses, Grocers, Manufacturers, etc. (St. Louis: George Knapp & Co., Printers and Binders, 1858), 311-314, accessed December 19, 2022, https://archive.org/details/sketchbookofsain00tayl/page/n5/mode/2up.
“J.H Fitzgibbon, of St. Louis,” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper (September 5, 1857), 4:218.
Core Reference Sources
Dictionary of Missouri biography (Columbia and London: University of Missouri Press, 1999).
Peter H. Falk, et. al, Who was Who in American Art, 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America (Madison: Sound View Press, 1999).
Contributors
Roberta Wagener, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Artist Record Published
Published on March 28, 2023
Updated on None
