James Farrington Gookins (December 30, 1840 – May 23, 1904) was an American artist. He was born in

Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute ( ) is a city in Vigo County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 58,389 and Terre Haute metropolitan area, its metropolitan area had a populati ...

, where his father, Samuel Gookins, was a lawyer and judge. He attended

Wabash College Wabash College is a private liberal arts men's college located in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Founded in 1832, by a group of Dartmouth College graduates and Midwestern leaders, the institution was originally named "The Wabash Teachers Seminary an ...

but his education was interrupted by the outbreak of the American Civil War. He joined the 11th Indiana Volunteers under

Lew Wallace Lewis Wallace (April 10, 1827February 15, 1905) was an American lawyer, Union general in the American Civil War, governor of New Mexico Territory, politician, diplomat, artist, and author from Indiana. Among his novels and biographies, Walla ...

. During his war service he produced several sketches that were published in ''

Harper's Weekly ''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper (publisher), Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many su ...

''. After the war he moved to Chicago to pursue art, moved to Europe for a time to study, and then returned to the United States and opened an art school in Indianapolis. Later in life he was involved in organizing the Indiana Soldiers and Sailors' Monument, "designed the lakefront plans for the 1893 Colombian Exposition," and worked as a civil engineer. He died of a "stroke of apoplexy" in New York City.

References

1840 births 1904 deaths 19th-century American painters People from Terre Haute, Indiana Harper's Weekly artists {{US-painter-1840s-stub