Bass Otis and his critics during his early career in Philadelphia
Date
1995
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
The portraitist Bass Otis enjoyed fame and prosperity during his early career in Philadelphia. Despite never having studied in Europe, Otis received critical acclaim among a community of older, more established artists in what was a very competitive portrait market. Two surviving critiques of exhibited Otis portraits demonstrate that the artist was perceived to possess qualities associated with artistic genius. In fact, Otis' brush work and method of lighting his subject conformed to what Sir Joshua Reynolds, one of the most famous art theorists of the time, identified as characteristics of genius in his widely-read treatise Discourses on Art. Parallels between Otis' style and the theories and portrait style of Reynolds provide an explanation of Otis' early critical success in Philadelphia. Moreover, comparisons between the two contemporaneous critiques of exhibited Otis portraits reveal a common stylistic preference among Philadelphia critics in the early nineteenth century.