Gerald Cassidy (artist)

Gerald Cassidy (November 10, 1869 – February 12, 1934) was an early 20th-century artist, muralist, and designer who lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Gerald Cassidy
Cassidy in 1920
Born
Ira Dymond Gerald Cassidy

(1869-11-10)November 10, 1869
Covington, Kentucky
DiedFebruary 12, 1934(1934-02-12) (aged 64)
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Resting placeFairview Cemetery (Santa Fe, New Mexico)
NationalityAmerican
EducationFrank Duveneck
Alma materArt Student's League of New York; National Academy of Design
Known forPainting, lithography
SpouseIna Sizer Cassidy
Patron(s)Edgar Lee Hewett

Biography

Cassidy was born in Covington, Kentucky, on November 10, 1869, as Ira Dymond Gerald Cassidy.[1] His parents were Edwin B. Cassidy and Olive E. Cassidy, née Crouch.[2] He studied art at the Institute of Mechanical Arts under Frank Duveneck, and the Art Students League in New York.[3]

At the same moment that Cassidy was first finding success, he contracted a life-threatening case of pneumonia and was moved to a sanitarium in Albuquerque in 1890.[4] It was here that he first saw the people and places of the American Southwest, the subject matter that he would dedicate his entire life's work to after this point. His first work using American Indian and Western subjects was heavily art deco, and a deco edge would remain in his work even as it developed into a more solidly realist style.

Cassidy moved from Albuquerque to Denver to work as a lithographer.[5] In 1912 he moved and settled in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he met Edgar L. Hewett, founding director of the Museum of New Mexico. Hewett commissioned him to paint his first mural at the Panama-California International Exposition.[6] He painted the Navajo in works that were primarily transferred to postcards or posters. At the 1915 Panama-California International Exposition in San Diego Cassidy was awarded the gold medal for his murals, the largest award he would win in his lifetime. Cassidy also created the mural Dawn of the West and the Parfet Park memorial in Golden, Colorado, where he was an honorary member of the Golden Kiwanis Club.[7][8]

During the mid-twenties Cassidy traveled in Europe, and his pieces were well thought of by the European public. Pablo Picasso chose one of Cassidy's pieces from a show for inclusion in the Luxembourg Palace in Paris.[9]

He was married twice; first to Sarah Craus Snowden. On January 12, 1910, he married Perlina Sizer Davis.[2]

He died on February 12, 1934, as a result of turpentine and carbon monoxide poisoning from a newly installed natural gas heater in his studio[10] while working on a mural art project for the dome of the federal building at Santa Fe.[2]

Art collections

Cassidy's art can be seen at the New Mexico Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston,[11] UC Berkeley Bancroft Library,[12] Smithsonian American Art Museum,[13] and the El Paso Museum of Art. His work is also in Santa Fe at the main post office, Bishop's Lodge, and Hotel La Fonda.[14]

  • Master of Ceremonies, 1925
    Master of Ceremonies
  • Cui Bono, 1911
    Cui Bono, New Mexico Museum of Art
  • View of the Santa Fe Plaza in the 1850s
    View of the Santa Fe Plaza in the 1850s, New Mexico Museum of Art
  • Coronado mural at Santa Fe post office
    Coronado mural at Santa Fe Post Office
  • Pueblo Blind Man
    Pueblo Blind Man
  • Portrait of Juan Bautista de Anza, El Paso Museum of Art
    Portrait of Juan Bautista de Anza, El Paso Museum of Art

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gerald Cassidy.
  1. Robertson, Edna (1977). Gerald Cassidy 1869-1934. Museum of New Mexico. p. 3.
  2. "Gerald Cassidy, Artist, 54, Dies". The New York Times. February 13, 1934. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  3. "New Mexico Art Tells New Mexico History". Cui Bono?. New Mexico Museum of Art. Archived from the original on 11 October 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  4. Eldredge, Charles C. (1986). Art in New Mexico, 1900-1945 : Paths to Taos and Santa Fe. Washington D.C.: National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. p. 182. ISBN 0896595986.
  5. Lewandowski, Stacia (2011). Light, Landscape and the Creative Quest : Early Artists of Santa Fe. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Salska Arts. p. 44. ISBN 9780615469171.
  6. Udall, Sharyn R. (1987). Santa Fe Art Colony, 1900-1942. p. 82. ISBN 0935037152.
  7. Noel, Thomas J. (2007). Guide to Colorado Historic Places: Sites Supported by the Colorado Historical Society's State Historical Fund. Westcliffe Publishers. p. 220. ISBN 9781565794931. OCLC 57201895.
  8. "Cassidy Given An Honorary Membership". Colorado Transcript. June 20, 1929. Retrieved January 15, 2018 – via Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection.
  9. "Artist Bio".
  10. Robertson, Edna; Nestor, Sarah (2005). Artists of the Canyons and Caminos: Santa Fe: Early Twentieth Century. Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith. p. 36. ISBN 1-4236-0114-9.
  11. "Search the Collection". Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  12. "Self-portrait of Gerald Cassidy". Calisphere. UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  13. "Search Collections". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  14. Flynn, Kathryn (1995). Treasures on New Mexico Trails : Discover New Deal Art and Architecture. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Sunstone Press. p. 209. ISBN 0865342369.
  • Jefferson County Republican newspaper edition of March 1, 1934.
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