Moses Wells Sawyer (January 31, 1863 – March 21, 1960) was an American painter, illustrator, and photographer. He took photographs and made paintings of discoveries from the Pepper-Hearst Expedition.[1] The Florida Museum of Natural History has a few of his photographs.[2] He also has works at the National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution and the University Museum at University of Pennsylvania. The Library of Florida History and Smithsonian have collections of his papers.[3]
Sawyer was born in Keokuk, Iowa to Moses Calvin Sawyer and Helen Jane Cass Sawyer. He received a law degree in 1882, but pursued a career in art after studying with John Vanderpoel at the Art Institute of Chicago. He was an illustrator for the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago Tribune before becoming a draughtsman for the U.S. Geological Survey office in Washington D.C. for the division of illustration.[4] Sawyer's photographs, sketches, and watercolors from Pepper's expedition are all that remain of many of the finds that deteriorated soon after discovery.[5]
Sawyer married Kathleen Bailey after his return from the Florida expedition and they had two children, Helen and Bailey (Bill). Sawyer lived in New York until retiring to Spain in ill health and continuing to paint in Europe as well as Central and South America. He relocated again to Sarasota, Florida in 1944. His memberships included the Art Students League, Salmagundi Club, and American Watercolor Society.[5]
By 1931 he was painting landscapes and castles.[6]
His daughter Helen Alton Sawyer and her husband Jerry Farnsworth were also artists.
The University of Florida library has several photos of him including one of him painting a landscape on Cape Cod, another outside with his wife Kathleen Alton Bailey Sawyer, and one among prominent friends.[7]
In 2019 a historical society reenactor read his letter from aboard the Sea Breeze on the 1895-96 expedition.[8] Florida Gulf Coast University offered a 2-hour seminar on Sawyer in fall 2019.[9]
References
edit- ^ Purdy, BarbaraA (December 6, 2017). The Art and Archaeology of Florida's Wetlands. Routledge. ISBN 9781351411349 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Photos from Florida Museum of Natural History". ufdc.ufl.edu.
- ^ "Wells Sawyer papers, [ca. 1870-1995]". www.aaa.si.edu.
- ^ Snead, James; McVicker, Donald (November 28, 2016). Coming of Age in Chicago: The 1893 World's Fair and the Coalescence of American Anthropology. U of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803268388 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b "Photos from Florida Museum of Natural History". ufdc.ufl.edu.
- ^ "GOVERNMENT SPONSOR OF SAWYER ART SHOW; Paintings Done by American in Spain on View at the Smithsonian Institution". The New York Times. October 25, 1931.
- ^ "Photos: Sawyer Painting, with Wife, with Friends". ufdc.ufl.edu.
- ^ "Lunch with Friends Travels 'Back in Time' with Wells Moses Sawyer". Coastal Breeze News. April 26, 2019.
- ^ "Adult Lectures & Short Courses" (PDF). Florida GulfCoast University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-12-13. Retrieved 2023-11-05.