biographie de John William HILL (1812-1879)

Birth place: London, England

Death place: near West Nyack, NY.

Profession: Landscape and topographical painter

Studied: served his apprenticeship under his father, John Hill, NYC

Exhibited: NAD, 1829-79; Brooklyn AA, 1862-84

Member: ANA, 1833; NYWCS (a founder, 1850); Assoc. Advancement Truth in Art (pres., 1863)

Work: Ayer Collection, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago (94 watercolors of birds); BMFA (Karolik Collection of American Watercolors)

Comments: Son of the aquatint engraver John Hill (see entry), J.W. Hill was brought to America in 1819. His family moved from Philadelphia to NYC in 1822. After 1836, he made his home near West Nyack, NY. Early in his career he was a topographical artist, employed by the New York State Geological Survey, 1836-41, and later by Smith Bros. of NYC, for whom he made watercolor views of many American cities, incl. New Orleans, (which Smith lithographed and published). About 1855, Hill read Ruskin's Modern Painters and turned exclusively to the new Naturalism" or Pre-Raphaelitism of which he came to be considered the leading spirit in America. He made detailed pictures directly from nature, making sketches of bird nests and dead animals as well as closely-observed paintings of wildflowers, gardens, birds, and landscapes, many in watercolor and executed in a stipple technique with tiny brushes normally employed for miniatures. He was in the White Mountains of NH in 1852 and 1857 and his view of Richmond, VA, was published by Smith and Bros. in 1852. In 1888, his work was honored in An Artist's Memorial, written by his son, John Henry Hill (see entry), and illustrated by the son's etchings after his father's landscapes.

Sources: G&W; J. H. Hill, An Artist's Memorial; Stauffer; American Art Review, I (1880), 46, obit.; Peters, America on Stone; Cowdrey, NAD; Cowdrey, AA & AAU; Swan, BA; Rutledge, PA; Stokes, Icon., reproduces 7 plates; Stokes, Historic Prints, reproduces 8 plates and lists 22. More recently, see Gerdts, Painters of the Humble Truth, 98, with repro.; Reps, 183-84 (discusses Hill's city views); Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists, 185; Campbell, New Hampshire Scenery, 85; Wright, Artists in Virgina Before 1900; For Beauty and for Truth, 68 (w/repros.); 300 Years of American Art, vol. 1, 153"