id:			124077
accession number:	1944.8
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1944.8
updated:		2022-10-28 21:57:43.569000

Portrait of an Old Man, c. 1884. John Kavanagh (American, 1857–1898). Charcoal; framing line in graphite (lower margin); sheet: 49 x 38.7 cm (19 5/16 x 15 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. A. J. Weatherhead 1944.8

title:				Portrait of an Old Man
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			c. 1884
creation date earliest:		1879
creation date latest:		1889
current location:		
creditline:			Gift of Mrs. A. J. Weatherhead
copyright:			

---

culture:	America, 19th century
technique:	charcoal; framing line in graphite (lower margin)
department:	Drawings
collection:	DR - American 19th Century
type:		Drawing
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

---

CREATORS

* John Kavanagh (American, 1857–1898)  - artist
Born in Canada to Irish immigrant parents, John Kavanagh’s name is first mentioned in Cleveland’s historical record in 1875, listed as a phographic printer. Two years later he advertised himself as an artist. After studying briefly at the National Academy of Design in New York, he returned to Cleveland and established a reputation as a crayon portrait artist. From 1882 to 1884 he lived in Munich, studying with genre painters Nikolaus Gysys and Ludwig von Löffitz. Kavanagh returned to Cleveland for two years, where he held a week-long solo exhibition at the James F. Ryder Gallery before leaving for Paris, where he studied under Gustave-Rodolphe Boulanger and Jules-Joseph Lefebvre at the Académie Julian. Kavanagh showed in the annual Paris Salon exhibitions (1887–89) and made summer excursions to Fontainbleau to paint landscapes. Back in Cleveland in 1889, he became director of the Art Club, where he taught portraiture and figure painting. Despite the visibility of his work, a lack of patronage left him destitute. In 1898 he was forced to sell the entire contents of his studio by public drawing. Kavanagh died the following month. <br>"Transformations in Cleveland Art" (CMA, 1996), p. 232.
---

measurements: Sheet: 49 x 38.7 cm (19 5/16 x 15 1/4 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:

	description:	yellow-brown wove paper
	watermarks:	

inscriptions:

---

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Directions in Drawing II: The Human Figure
	opening date:   1991-11-05T05:00:00
	<i>Directions in Drawing II: The Human Figure</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5, 1991-January 12, 1992).

	title:		Transformations in Cleveland Art, 1796-1946
	opening date:   1996-05-19T04:00:00
	<i>Transformations in Cleveland Art, 1796-1946</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 19-July 21, 1996).

---

LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

---

PROVENANCE

---

fun fact: 


digital description: 


wall description: 
This charcoal study by Cleveland-based artist John Kavanagh shows the dramatic use of contrasting light and shade (chiaroscuro) and the detailed modeling favored by students at the Royal Academy in Munich, where the artist studied in the early 1880s.
---

RELATED WORKS

---

CITATIONS

	Robinson, William H., et. al. <em>Transformations in Cleveland Art, 1796-1946: Community and Diversity in Early Modern America</em>. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 46; Mentioned: p. 46, 248.
	url:		

---

IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1944.8/1944.8_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1944.8/1944.8_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1944.8/1944.8_full.tif