id: 124077 accession number: 1944.8 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1944.8 updated: 2025-02-09 01:06:37.634000 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 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.
"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 Directions in Drawing II: The Human Figure. 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 Transformations in Cleveland Art, 1796-1946. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 19-July 21, 1996). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Robinson, William H., et. al. Transformations in Cleveland Art, 1796-1946: Community and Diversity in Early Modern America. 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