Artist

John Alexander McDougall

born 1810/11-died NY 1894
Media - portrait_image_113596.jpg - 90323
The Collection of The Newark Museum Gift of Beatrice MacDougall Lindberg, 1967
Also known as
  • John A. McDougall
Born
Livingston, New Jersey, United States
Died
New York, United States
Active in
  • New York, New York, United States
  • Newark, New Jersey, United States
Nationalities
  • American
Biography

The son of a cabinetmaker, John Alexander McDougall maintained studios in New York City and Newark, New Jersey, where he made photographs and painted miniatures. Among his famous sitters were Edgar Allan Poe, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Henry Clay. All four of his sons were active in the arts, and his youngest son, Walter, reminisced about his father in an autobiography published in 1926 called This is The Life. He recounted his father's experiments using celluloid instead of ivory for miniatures, and his attempt to sustain his career through photography as late as 1880.