The Blacksmith

In the dim interior of his cluttered workplace, an elderly smith is seen at work in Jefferson David Chalfant’s The Blacksmith. His tools surround him in the casual disarray of regular use as the bearded, bespectacled man, still vigorous and capable, stands over his anvil hammering a length of molten iron. The surrounding environment, a mass of warm browns, is suffused with shadow despite the illumination provided by several skylights and a rear window, but the scene conveys a modest utilitarianism rather than the gloom of abandonment. The smith’s prominent bald head, his upraised arm, and the glowing metal toward which both physical force and attention are concentrated emphasize the intimate relationship between mental and manual skill. The embodiment of dedication to honest toil and time-honored craftsmanship, Chalfant’s smith suggests the vitality of traditional ways.

The Blacksmith is one of at least three paintings by Chalfant of blacksmiths at work. They are among numerous images of skilled manual labor, the nostalgic theme of Chalfont’s paintings in the 1890s. In the second half of the nineteenth century, rapid change caused by urbanization, industrialization, and mass immigration prompted many Americans to view their rural past in a nostalgic light. Like Thomas Waterman Wood, whose The Yankee Pedlar (TF 1998.3) is also in the Terra Foundation collection, Chalfant painted genre scenes, portrayals of everyday life, that celebrate a rapidly vanishing way of life characterized by close community, self-sufficiency, and honest hard work. Chalfant’s typical blacksmiths, cobblers, clockmakers, and chess players are white-haired, implying that their well-honed skills, along with their dignified character, may well die with them.

Chalfant brought a special understanding to his subjects, for he was himself a craftsman who trained and worked as a cabinetmaker early in his career. Ironically, however, he depended heavily on modern mechanical technology—photography—to make his paintings. Chalfont commissioned a professional to photograph scenes he carefully staged in his studio using props and paid models. The Blacksmith, however, is based on a photograph of an actual, working smithy. Chalfant did not simply copy it and turn it into a painting: he shifted the viewpoint and perspective to create a more intimate setting, and substituted an elderly smith for the young worker in the photograph. Such changes heightened the romantic, retrospective mood of his sentimental glimpse into America’s past.

[possibly] Sixty-ninth Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January-February 1900, no. 155 (probably as The Tool Maker).

Selections from Paintings and Designs Submitted in The Osborne Company's Artists' Competition, The Salmagundi Club, New York, New York, n.d., no. 77 (as The Tool Maker).

Jefferson D. Chalfant, 1856–1931, The Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts, Wilmington, Delaware, January 8–February 1, 1959, no. 20 (as The Tool Maker).

Jefferson David Chalfant 1856–1931, Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania (organizer). Venues: Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, June 2–September 3, 1979; The Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey, October 10–November 26, 1979. [exh. cat.]

Through Artists' Eyes: 19th-Century America, Selections from the Masco Collection, Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory, North Carolina, March–May 1993, no. 9.

The American Spirit: 19th Century Masterpieces from the Masco Collection, The Art Museum of Western Virginia, Roanoke, Virginia, July–October 1994.

New Faces, New Places: Recent Additions to the Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, October 14–December 31, 2000.

Héroïque et le quotidien: les artistes américains, 1820–1920 (The Extraordinary and the Everyday: American Perspectives, 1820–1920), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–November 30, 2001. [exh. cat.]

D'une colonie à une collection: le Musée d'Art Américain Giverny fête ses dix ans (From a Colony to a Collection: Celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of the Musée d'Art Américain Giverny), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, March 30–June 16, 2002.

A Place on the Avenue: Terra Museum of American Art Celebrates 15 Years in Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 16, 2002–February 16, 2003.

The People Work: American Perspectives, 1840–1940 (Le Travail à l'oeuvre: les artistes américains 1840–1940), Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 15–May 25, 2003; Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, June 8–August 17, 2003. [exh. cat.]

Copley to Cassatt: Masterworks from the Terra Collection, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut, and Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut, September 5–December 7, 2003.

Art Across America, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; National Museum of Korea, Seoul, South Korea; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venues: National Museum of Korea, Seoul, February 4– May 12, 2013; Daejeon Museum of Art, Daejeon, South Korea, June 7–September 1, 2013. [exh. cat.]

America: Painting a Nation, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia (organizers). Venue: Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, November 9, 2013–February 8, 2014. [exh. cat]

Gorman, Joan H. Jefferson David Chalfant, 1856–1931. (exh. cat., Brandywine River Museum). Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania: Brandywine River Museum, 1979. Text p. 22; cat. 3, p. 23 (color).

Sotheby's, New York, New York (Sale 7230, December 3, 1998): lot 116. Text p. 92; ill. lot 116, p. 93 (color).

Cartwright, Derrick R. The Extraordinary and the Everyday: American Perspectives, 1820–1920. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2001. Text p. 22 (checklist); ill. p. 34 (color).

Cartwright, Derrick R. L'Héroïque et le quotidian: les artistes américains, 1820–1920. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2001. Text p. 22 (checklist); ill. p. 34 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. The People Work: American Perspectives, 1840–1940. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2003. Text pp. 9, 27 (checklist): fig. 1, p. 9 (black & white), ill. p. 44 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. Le Travail à l'oeuvre: les artistes américains, 1840–1940. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2003. Text pp. 9, 27 (checklist); fig. 1, p. 9 (black & white), ill. p. 44 (color).

Art Across America. (exh. cat., National Museum of Korea, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Terra Foundation for American Art). Seoul, South Korea: National Museum of Korea, 2013. (English and Korean versions). Text pp. 35, 179; ill. fig. 20, p. 36 (color), p. 178 (color).

America: Painting a Nation. (exh. cat., Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the National Museum of Korea, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Terra Foundation for American Art). Sydney, Australia: Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2013. Text p. 124; ill. cat. no. 36, p. 125 (color).