biography of Otis A. BULLARD (1816-1853)

Birth place: Howard, NY

Death place: NYC

Addresses: Primarily in NYC

Profession: Portrait, genre, historical, and panoramic painter

Studied: Apprenticed at age 14 to a sign and wagon painter; portrait painting with Philip Hewins, Hartford, CT

Exhibited: NAD, 1842-53; American Art-Union, 1847-48

Work: Shelburne (VT) Mus.

Comments: Painted portraits of Emily Dickinson's family in Amherst (MA), 1840. The following year he returned to Howard, NY, where he married the daughter of his first master, and in 1842 he settled in NYC. Between 1846 and 1850 he completed his major work, a panorama of NYC, painted with the assistance of several other artists. The panorama was shown throughout New York State and after his death was exhibited in Baltimore, Cincinnati, and Davenport (IA). He is believed to have painted over 900 portraits but relatively few have been located.

Sources: G&W; Parker, The Dickinson Portraits by Otis A. Bullard;" 7 Census (1850), NY., XLVI, 154; Cowdrey, NAD; Cowdrey, AA & AAU; G&W acknowledged J. Earl Arrington who cited for them Baltimore Sun Oct. 20, 1854; Cincinnati Gazette Dec. 11, 1855; and Schick, The Early Theater in Eastern Iowa, 257-58; Muller, Paintings and Drawings at the Shelburne Museum, 36 (w/repro.)"

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