Artist

Charles Bird King

born Newport, RI 1785-died Washington, DC 1862
Media - king_charles_bird.jpg - 90045
Courtesy Redwood Library and Athenaeum
Also known as
  • C. B. King
Born
Newport, Rhode Island, United States
Died
Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Active in
  • London, England
Biography

Following the lead of his fellow artists working in early America, King specialized in portraiture. He studied under Edward Savage in New York, then with Benjamin West in London. He returned to America in 1812 and worked in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. In 1818 he settled permanently in the nation's capital. There he painted portraits of many prominent figures, including John Quincy Adams, John Calhoun, Henry Clay, James Monroe, and Daniel Webster. Commissioned by the federal government, King painted more than one hundred portraits of Indian delegates, representing at least twenty tribes, who visited the capital from 1821 to 1842. His work stands today as a valuable record of early Indian leaders.

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 (1 item)

Janet Echelman, 1.8 Renwick, 2015, knotted and braided fiber with programmable lighting and wind movement above printed textile flooring, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by the American Art Forum, 2017.7, © 2015, Janet Echelman
1.8 Renwick
Date2015
knotted and braided fiber with programmable lighting and wind movement above printed textile flooring
On view

Related Books

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Lure of the West: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Lure of the West: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum commemorates Treasures to Go, a series of eight exhibitions from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, touring the nation through 2002. The Principal Financial Group is a proud partner in presenting these treasures to the American people.