Asher Brown Durand - Portrait of Luman Reed

Luman Reed (1787–1836) was a successful

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

n merchant and an important patron of the arts. His support for the painters

George Whiting Flagg George Whiting Flagg (June 26, 1816 – January 5, 1897) was an American painter of historical scenes and genre pictures. He was from a family of artists including his brother, Jared Bradley Flagg, and uncle Washington Allston, with whom both b ...

and

Thomas Cole Thomas Cole (February 1, 1801 – February 11, 1848) was an English-born American artist and the founder of the Hudson River School art movement. Cole is widely regarded as the first significant American landscape painter. He was known for hi ...

were particularly significant contributions to the development of American painting during the early 19th century. He also commissioned works from artists such as Asher B. Durand.

Biography

Reed was born on a farm in Green River (in the area that is now Austerlitz),

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. He began his business career as a store clerk in the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

village of

Coxsackie, New York Coxsackie ( ) is a town in Greene County, New York, United States. The population in the 2020 census was 8,382, a decrease from the 2010 census. It is the second-largest town in Greene County after Catskill. The name of the town is said to be ...

, where his family relocated (c. 1789) before moving to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1815. There he became one of the city's most prominent merchants with the Front Street dry-goods firm he established with various partners, the last being

Jonathan Sturges Jonathan Sturges (August 23, 1740 – October 4, 1819) was an American lawyer, jurist and politician from Fairfield, Connecticut. He represented Connecticut as a delegate to the Continental Congress and in the United States House of Repres ...

(1802–1874). With his wealth, Reed assembled in the course of six years one of the earliest and most significant collections of

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

and

American art Visual art of the United States or American art is visual art made in the United States or by U.S. artists. Before colonization, there were many flourishing traditions of Native American art, and where the Spanish colonized Spanish Colonial arc ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, which he displayed in a specially designed two-room gallery in his house on Greenwich Street in lower

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

The_Course_of_Empire_Installation_Diagram

Philanthropy

Making his mark as a patron of both established and aspiring contemporary American artists, Reed attempted to nurture the creation of a national artistic culture as sophisticated and accomplished as that of Europe. His interest in

landscape painting Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction in painting of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, rivers, trees, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a cohe ...

and

portraiture A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better re ...

notwithstanding, Reed was also an avid collector of

genre paintings Genre painting (or petit genre) is the painting of genre art, which depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity c ...

depicting scenes from everyday life.Vedder, L.A., ''supra.'' In 1844, his substantial collection was purchased by a group of his associates in New York with the intention to form a public art collection, later the New York Gallery of Fine Arts, and was displayed for periods of time at the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...

and The Rotunda. The collection was later donated to the

New-York Historical Society The New York Historical (known as the New-York Historical Society from 1804 to 2024) is an American history museum and library on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum. It ...

in 1858. It is one of the most important early 19th-century collections of American art that survives intact.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Luman American art collectors 1787 births 1836 deaths People from Columbia County, New York American art patrons Philanthropists from New York (state) Burials at New York Marble Cemetery