1828-1896

JOHN O'BRIEN INMAN

(1828-1896)

Born in New York City, John Inman became an accomplished and famous artist in his time, earning his reputation for skilled portraits, still lifes, and landscapes.  But his fame did not last much beyond his death, and only a few historians know much about him. 

He was the son of artist Henry Inman (1801-1846), and was one of the founders and first vice-president of the National Academy of Design in New York City.  He received his art training from his father, who died when the family was young and left them destitute.

His earliest work, which was of a conch shell, is dated 1846, shortly after his father's death.  In 1852, he married and then later divorced C. Adeline Hedley.  He began his career painting portraits and miniatures in his New York City studio and spent a summer in Savannah, Georgia, where he did a portrait of the President of the University. 

Like many portrait painters of the time, he traveled widely for commissions, and in 1860 went to the Adirondack Mountains in New York State.  The 1860s were his most prolific time, and he also became a noted floral painter. 

In 1866, he left the United States for a twelve-year stay in Europe, primarily in Rome where he depicted Italian peasants.  He returned to the United States in 1878, and two years later went to England until 1888.  He then lived in Saugerties, New York, on the banks of the Hudson River.  There people remembered him as being nearly destitute and creating paintings cheaply for food money. 

He died at the Fordham Home for Incurables, a charity facility.


Source:
Michael David Zellman, 300 Years of American Art