Item 80: Newspaper Clipping of Artist Samuel F. DuBois, 1958
Item — Box: 1, Folder: 80
Dates
- Created: 1958
Creator
- Raddin, George Gates, 1906-1972 (Person)
Disclaimer for Name and Subject Authorities
Some of the name and subject authority tags have been assigned by educated guessing and estimation of persons and subjects by region, age, profession, and familial relationships. They have been thoroughly researched by using primary and secondary sources available digitally, and named in each description, or in some cases linked directly to the person tag.
Access:
All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.
Extent
1 items
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Condition Note:
Good, newspaper clipping has yellow discoloration. Comes with an envelope the clipping must have been stored in.
Condition Note:
Good, newspaper clipping has yellow discoloration. Comes with an envelope the clipping must have been stored in.
Measurements:
18 ¼ in. x 3 ⅞ in.
Description:
Antique Show to Have Painting of ‘Old Pickle’
Description:
The following item depicts a clipping of a newspaper article, written by George Gates Raddin in 1958, entitled “Antique Show to Have Painting of ‘Old Pickle.’” The article opens by explaining that the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society is hosting the fourth annual Antique showing, in which a painting by Dubois, the portrait of John Michael Kienzel, is to be pictured. The contents of the article give a detailed description of the life of Samuel F. Dubois, a prominent local painter born to Doylestown in 1808, and his subject, John Michael Kienzel, a Swiss immigrant to the valley who became affectionately known by its citizens as “Old Pickle,” for his favored pranks.
In the article, they explain that Kienzel worked as a weighmaster of the scale at the South River common before rising to the position of high constable in Wilkes Barre. He ran the curfew bell, and the article explains that he was well liked for how he easily handled the inebriated class, ensuring they were kept until able to make their way home. Alongside his duties as the constable, he worked as the sexton of Old Ship Zion, a meeting house on Public Square. There he would see to the collection bags during the service and tend to icy roads by the spreading of ashes. Though he made a great impact during his life, the description of him ends on the somber note that no one knows where he was buried to mourn him.
Additionally, the article gives a brief description of Dubois, the painter. Born to parents, Reverend Uriah DuBois and Martha Patterson DuBois, the article underscores the connection that young DuBois took to the history of the region. He showed a proficiency for art at a young age, with the skill affording him a study under Thomas Sully at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, where he rose to become a prominent portrait painter. He is also skilled in the daguerreotype techniques and built upon his portrait skills by way of both mediums. He returned to Doylestown in 1840. There he began painting a number of prominent names in the valley, such as Harrison Wright’s family, including Joseph Wright (1776-1875), William L Conyngham II of Chase, Isaac Smith Osterhout, and his wife Elizabeth Lee Osterhout. The article continues on to mention a letter found in the Wright Papers, that documents the whereabouts and history of his growing collection.
Invaluable has a number of DuBois’ paintings that have been sold at auctions on their website.
A connection to why the material may have been saved by the McClintock’s is mentioned at the bottom of the article. In the conclusion, the paper states that another of the portraits by DuBois was of Sarah Hollenbach Cist Butler, the mother of Augusta Bordley Cist McClintock, wife of Andrew Todd McClintock.
The Bucks County Artists Database gives a brief history of DuBois in their record. “While DuBois's paintings reflect this teaching, he was also influenced by the more traditional, primitive style of the limners. Thus, he tended to depict his subjects more severely than was the current Academy style” (Bucks County Artists Database).
Location:
Wilkes-Barre, Doylestown
Creator
- Raddin, George Gates, 1906-1972 (Person)
Repository Details
Part of the Wilkes University Archives Repository
Contact:
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu