biography of Thomas S. OFFICER (c.1810-1859)

Birth place: Carlisle, PA

Death place: San Francisco, CA

Profession: Miniaturist, portrait painter

Studied: Thomas Sully.

Exhibited: Artist's Fund Soc., Phila., 1840-45; PAFA, 1851; NAD,1846-49; Mechanics Inst., San Fran., 1858-59 (bronze medal for miniatures & portraits).

Work: Dickinson College, Carlisle (PA)

Comments: Officer began his career in Phila. about 1834 and worked there until 1845. He was at Mobile (AL) in May 1837, at Richmond (VA) in April 1845, and in NYC from 1846-49. Bolton and several others believed he may have been in New Orleans about 1833 and 1847 but no contemporary sources confirm this (see Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists.) After visiting Mexico and Australia, he moved to San Francisco in 1855, where he had a portrait studio and worked as a colorist for photographer George B. Johnson. An alcoholic, Officer died in poverty several years after his arrival.

Sources: G&W; info courtesy Charles Coleman Sellers, Dickinson College, who cites obit. in Carlisle (Pa.) Herald, Jan. 1860; Bolton, Miniature Painters; Phila. BD 1838; Rutledge, PA; Richmond Portraits; Cowdrey, NAD; Cowdrey, AA & AAU; San Francisco BD 1856-59; FARL photo. file. More recently, see Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists; Hughes, Artists in California.