Samuel H. Crone (American, 1858–1913)

b. 1858 — d. 1913

Samuel Crone was virtually unknown until a 1997 exhibition of his work was held in Memphis, Tennessee, his childhood home. We know almost nothing about his early life and training except that he worked in a Memphis photographic studio. In 1877, while still a teenager, he was listed as an "artist" in the city registry. By the end of that same year he had enrolled at the Bavarian Royal Academy of Art in Munich, Germany. Crone spent most of his life in Europe and supported himself and his wife, Sarah (known as Sadie), through the sale of his oil paintings. He showed paintings at major exhibitions in Munich, Paris, and Philadelphia. His major contribution to 19th-century American art, however, lies with his drawings more than his paintings. They show an admirable directness of observation and a technical facility that deserves comparison with the major American artists working at the end of the 19th century. American Artists and the Munich School In the 1860s, 1870s, and 1880s, the Bavarian Royal Academy of Art in Munich developed into an important teaching center and was a magnet for American artists studying abroad. Given that his parents were German, Crone's choice of the school for his artistic training was a natural one. At the time, about 10 percent of the students there were American, and such important painters as William Merrit Chase and Frank Duveneck had been at the Academy just a few years before Crone began his studies. The style of painting that became known as the "Munich School" was strongly influenced by the French Barbizon painters, realists like Gustave Courbet, and 17th-century Dutch masters, whose works were on view in the city's important picture gallery. The Munich School style contrasted strongly with the tight, linear academic technique then practiced in Paris. Scenes of everyday life were favorite subjects and the Munich School painters favored loose, expressive brushstrokes and dark, brownish tonalities.