It is always a pleasure to stumble upon breathtaking artwork. Luckily, my boss, Linda Wehrli shared with me a Facebook post about American Artist, William Sergeant Kendall, that had been shared by a librarian from Italy. We were smitten with the beauty of his work and had to learn more. Linda put me on assignment to research what I could find about this remarkable artist. Here is what I have found, to date.
William Sergeant Kendall was born in Spuyten Duyvil, a neighborhood of the Bronx, New York in 1869. Back in the day, it was a picturesque village of tree-lined streets by the Harlem River.
At the age of 12, Kendall began creating his first paintings. He enrolled at the Brooklyn Art Guild when he was fourteen. His timing could not have been better. American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator, Thomas Eakins, who had begun teaching there the previous year, became Kendall’s first teacher and a great influence on his choice of subject. When Eakins returned to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1884, Kendall continued there with him. “Eakins came in today and criticized my work. He said my work ‘was not bad’ which as you know is good praise for him!,” he wrote his parents from Philadelphia in 1885.
In 1886, Kendall returned to New York to study at the Art Students League with teachers who were trained in France. With their encouragement, Kendall studied in France at various ateliers.
Most summers he spent in Brittany at Concarneau or Le Pouldu. Sometimes he shared a summer studio with fellow students, among them William Henry Hyde, John Humphreys Johnston, Henry McCarter, Wilton Lockwood, and John Lambert.
In the summer of 1891 Kendall traveled to Madrid to study the work of Spanish painter, Diego Velazquez, who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV and one of the most important painters of the Spanish Golden Age. Kendall considered Velazquez to be the first great modern painter.
Those summer painting excursions paid off. At the Paris Salon of 1891, one of Kendall’s Breton paintings won an honorable mention. Back in the day, acceptance at the Salon was still the world-wide standard of success. His award brought Kendall letters of congratulation form American collectors as well as an offer to teach at the Cooper Union in New York City.
In 1892, Kendal took a studio in the University Building on Washington Square in NYC. At the Cooper Union, he taught a women’s painting class from 1892 to 1895. One of his students was Margaret Weston Stickney, whom he married in 1896. Their first child, Elisabeth, was born that fall on Gerrish Island off the coast of Maine. With Elisabeth’s birth, Kendall found his favorite subject matter: his family. Beatrice was born in 1902 and Alison in 1907, so for about 25 years there was always a Kendall daughter to paint.
Like may artists of the period, Kendall relied on portraits for part of his income. His sitters included Helen Huntington (later Mrs. Vincent Astor), and President William Howard Taft. However, posing for Kendall was no easy task. Helen Huntington sat 24 times before Kendall considered her full-length portrait finished. His usual fee for a full-length portrait was $4,000; a head alone was $1,500; head and hands, $2,000; and a half length portrait, $3,000.
Over the years, Kendall won numerous prizes, including a medal at the Carnegie Institute in 1900, a medal at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1900, the Shaw Prize of the Society of American Artists in 1901, and the Shaw Fund Purchase Prize in 1903. In 1901 he was elected an associate of, and in 1905, an academician of the National Academy of Design.
It is interesting to note that Kendall primarily painted the child’s head in the center and his wife’s is in profile.
When his painting “Alison” was exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1910, it won the Potter Palmer gold medal and $1,000 and was bought by the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy/Albright Art Gallery.
Kendall’s work is featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
We hope some of his work might be on exhibit at The Getty or LACMA at some point, so we may view it in person. If it ever does, you can be sure we will blog about it. It is inspiring to learn about this great American painter who stood out during an era known mostly for works by French painters.
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I’ve been committed to continuing lifelong learning and inspiring creative thinking through art and music since 1989. I’d love to meet you! You’re welcome to chat with me on Zoom or stop by the studio. Just shoot me an email at Linda@pastimesinc.com and I’ll be glad to set up a mutually convenient time.
Wow, I didn’t realize what established artists back then could earn in painting portraits. He was very talented – one of the best painters I’ve never heard of! LOL Thanks for the insightful article, Jessica. Yeah, let’s hope some of his work finds its way into Getty or other L.A. museums. 🙂
Thanks for the thoughtful comments. Indeed!
Ms. Sanders, God Bless You! And thank you for providing a few more valuable tidbits of info about the American artist William Kendall. I have added his name to an artist calendar which I began about 8 years ago and the calendar is a monstrous entity, wherein I am hoping eventually–SOON!–to have a good representation of artists from virtually every country in the world.
You may not have time to dig, but one frustration I have found over and over again is that modern American artists are EXTREMELY secretive about their birthdays, obviously in fear of privacy or identity theft I suppose. The structure of the calendar is predicated on the calendar–whose birthday is Jan. 1st, or 2nd, etc. of which year. It has been my experience that artists from other countries outside the United States are considerably more free with this information and all those names of artists for whom I cannot get decent chronology just have to remain anonymous in one of the appendices at the back.
NO, I will never, ever publish this thing because I have interjected my own commentary about the art here and there way, way past the pale of what any publisher would ever consider. They want something published that is squeaky clean when it comes to political correctness and my work is nowhere even near it. I have dozens of good American artists for whom I have much admiration for their art but without the requisite chronology, their names will never get into the calendar itself, which is now pushing in its eighth year closer to 4 million words since I am attempting to include biographical sketches as well as examples of the artworks they produce in the entries.
If you know of some American artists you think merit inclusion in this endeavor let me know. It is an impossibility to get them all, but I am looking here at my “K” page and seeing the name of Liz Kenyon, Betsy M. Kellum and that is only 2 examples among dozens for which I cannot find chronology. Thanks again for reading all this.
I noticed you also have a specialization in giving piano lessons, and I am both a basso singer and pianist myself. Let me give you a gift just for reading all this stuff. You could also derive a bit of inspiration from seeing and hearing the work of the Scandinavian artist Mikalojus K. Ciurlionis, who both had a prodigious talent for visual painting and for composing music. His life story will almost bring tears to your eyes. Thanks again and it would be nice to hear from you. Best wishes. My phone is 214-505 0186 and I live in Dallas, Tx. Today is Sat. May 26, 2018
Thanks for the thoughtful comment. Will let you know if we think of other American artists.
Best of luck!
It’s interesting to note that William Sergeant Kendall born 25 years after Mary Stevenson Cassatt, attended the same school (PA Academy of Fine Arts), had the same teacher Thomas Eakins, studied in Paris at various ateliers (I seem to recall he also was accepted at the École des Beaux-Arts), but more importantly, he also painted the same subject matter as Cassatt. With the Kendall paintings of his wife and children, the wife’s head is turned around or in profile. This can be attributed to a failing marriage and eventual divorce (see “An Interlude”). He then married his second wife Christine Herter-Kendall (1890-1981). A couple of years ago, I met the great-granddaughter of Kendall (granddaughter of Elizabeth Kendall). We had lunch in Patterson, NJ. She knew Christine and spoke of her very favorably and indicated she was a very nice person. She also mentioned that many of Kendall’s paintings are unaccounted for, possibly mistaken for Cassatt’s work. If anyone knows the whereabouts of any of his work that information would be appreciated.
Thank you for your thoughtful and eloquent comment, Mario. I apologize for my tardiness in replying. How exciting to have met Kendall’s great-granddaughter! I’m sorry to learn many of Kendall’s paintings are unaccounted for or mistaken for Cassatt’s work. I hope my readers might note this and pass along the request to locate such missing works. Much obliged for the intel.
Aloha from Hawaii, Mario. I would love to reach out to my cousin Elisabeth. If you are still in touch, would you see if she is willing to speak to a close, New England cousin?
I live in Hawaii, but I am from Massachusetts. I have traced the Kendall line deeply to it’s Normal and English roots. I am a huge fan of William’s work.
Thank you,
Dr. Joan Kendall
Very importantly, he also painted the same subject matter as Cassatt. With the Kendall paintings of his wife and children, the wife’s head is turned around or in profile. Thanks.
Interesting! Thank you for the comment. 🙂