Artist

William Henry Holmes

born Cadiz, OH 1846-died Royal Oak, MI 1933
William Bagdatopoulos, <i>Dr. William Henry Holmes</i>, 1929, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum,Gift of the artist  1931.6.4.
William Bagdatopoulos, Dr. William Henry Holmes, 1929, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum,Gift of the artist 1931.6.4.
Also known as
  • William H. Holmes
  • W. H. Holmes
Born
Cadiz, Ohio, United States
Died
Royal Oak, Michigan, United States
Active in
  • Washington, District of Columbia, United States
  • Rockville, Maryland, United States
  • Colorado, United States
Biography

Holmes led a remarkably varied life as an anthropologist, archaeologist, artist, draftsman, explorer, geologist, government official, and museum director. While studying under Theodor Kaufmann in 1871 in Washington, D.C., he met Fielding B. Meek of the Smithsonian Institution, who hired him to illustrate his paleontological reports. This was Holmes's first assignment requiring detailed drawings of fossils and other specimens. In 1872–79 he worked with geologist F. V. Hayden as a geologist-artist on Hayden's western surveys. Highlights of these years include travels to Yellowstone, discovery of the Mount of the Holy Cross and the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings in Colorado, and friendships with William H. Jackson and Thomas Moran. In 1880 Holmes worked with Major Clarence E. Dutton, preparing highly detailed topographical drawings of the Grand Canyon region for Dutton's Tertiary History of the Grand Cañon District (1882). Holmes later worked in the Field Museum of Natural History and taught anthropology at the University of Chicago. He then directed the Bureau of American Ethnography and National Gallery of Art (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum) in Washington, D.C.

References

Cosentino and Glassic, Capital Images, 210, 214–18, 262–63; William E. Goetzman, "Limner of Grandeur: Wiliiam H. Holmes and the Grand Canyon," American West 15 (May–June 1978): 20–29; Nelson, "Holmes," 252–78.

William Truettner, ed The West as America: Reinterpreting Images of the Frontier, 1820–1920 (Washington, D.C. and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991)

Works by this artist (7 items)

William Hunter, Golden Shell, 1994, satinwood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Fleur and Charles Bresler in honor of Kenneth R. Trapp, curator-in-charge of the Renwick Gallery (1995--2003), 2003.60.24, © 1994, William Hunter
Golden Shell
Date1994
satinwood
Not on view
William Hunter, Visions, 1987, cocobolo, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Jane and Arthur K. Mason, 1991.169.4, © 1987, William Hunter
Visions
Date1987
cocobolo
Not on view
Marianne Hunter, William Hunter, Africa, 1990, satinwood, ebony, 24k gold, sterling silver, fine silver, enamel, and rutilated quartz, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Fleur and Charles Bresler in honor of Kenneth R. Trapp, curator-in-charge of the Renwick Gallery (1995--2003), 2003.60.27A-C, © 1990, William and Marianne Hunter
Africa
Date1990
satinwood, ebony, 24k gold, sterling silver, fine silver, enamel, and rutilated quartz
Not on view
Marianne Hunter, William Hunter, Evening Blossom, 1989, ebony, 24k gold, sterling silver, enamel, amethyst, and charoite, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Fleur and Charles Bresler in honor of Kenneth R. Trapp, curator-in-charge of the Renwick Gallery (1995--2003), 2003.60.26A-C, © 1989, William and Marianne Hunter
Evening Blossom
Date1989
ebony, 24k gold, sterling silver, enamel, amethyst, and charoite
Not on view

Exhibitions

An artwork image of a woman
Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano 
October 8, 2021May 8, 2022
This exhibition brings to life the Venetian glass revival of the nineteenth century on the famed island of Murano and the artistic experimentation the city inspired for artists such as John Singer Sargent and James McNeill Whistler.