Albert Herter (March 2, 1871 – February 15, 1950) was an American painter, illustrator, muralist, and interior designer. He was born in New York City, studied at the Art Students League with James Carroll Beckwith, then in Paris with Jean-Paul Laurens and Fernand Cormon.
He came from an artistic family; his father, Christian Herter (1839–1883), had co-founded Herter Brothers, a prominent New York interior design and furnishings firm. Herter Brothers closed in 1906, and Albert founded Herter Looms in 1909, a tapestry and textile design-and-manufacturing firm that was, in a sense, successor to his father's firm.
Personal In Paris, he met a fellow American art student, Adele McGinnis. They were married in 1893 and had three children: Everit Albert (1894–1918), Christian Archibald (1895–1966), and Lydia Adele (1898–1951). The couple honeymooned in Japan, then returned to Paris for the first years of their marriage. In 1898 they moved back to the United States and built a Mediterranean-style villa, called "Près Choisis" (later called "The Creeks"), in East Hampton, New York, with a studio for each of them. Herter's mother built a mansion, "El Mirasol," in Santa Barbara, California, where the family spent the winters. Following his mother's death, Herter and his wife renovated the mansion and converted it into a boutique hotel. Son Everit and daughter Lydia also became artists, although Everit was killed at age 24 in World War I. Son Christian became a politician, serving as governor of Massachusetts and later U.S. Secretary of State under Dwight D. Eisenhower. Adele Herter was a founding member of New York City's Cosmopolitan Club, and is remembered as a painter of still lifes and "society" portraits.
Paintings Herter had an extraordinary early career, at age 19 receiving an honorable mention at the Paris Salon (1890, La Femme de Buddha), and winning prizes from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1897 Lippincott Prize, Le Soir), the American Watercolor Society (1899 Evans Prize, The Gift of Roses), and elsewhere. He was awarded medals at the 1895 Atlanta Exposition (1830, The Muse), the 1897 Nashville Exposition (The Muse), the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle (Sorrow), and the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo (Gloria, The Danaides).Albert Herter (1871-1950), from AskArt.
Herter painted a 1912 life-size double portrait of his sons, Everit (left) and Christian (right), which his friend V. Everit Macy donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Charles de Kay, "Albert Herter," Art and Progress, American Federation of the Arts, vol. 5, no. 4 (February 1914), p. 136. Following Everit Herter's 1918 death in World War I, the Metropolitan returned Portrait of College Boys to the artist, and Macy donated Herter's Portrait of a Young Russian Nobleman in exchange.
Portrait of Bessie (1892), High Museum of Art.Portrait of Bessie, from High Museum of Art. The Muse (1894), Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.The Muse, from Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Woman with Red Hair (1894), Smithsonian American Art Museum.Woman with Red Hair, from Smithsonian American Art Museum. Garden of the Hesperides (c. 1898), private collection. A Family Group (1898), private collection. Self-Portrait in Costume of Hamlet (c. 1900), Smithsonian American Art Museum.Self-Portrait in Costume of Hamlet, from Smithsonian American Art Museum. Portrait of Courtlandt Palmer (1906), Metropolitan Museum of Art.Portrait of Courtlandt Palmer, from Metropolitan Museum of Art. The composer is shown at the piano. Still Life with Flowers and Fruit (c. 1910), Hudson River Museum., from Google Arts & Culture. The Roman Bath (c. 1910), Pittsburgh Athletic Association (private club) Portrait of Anna Maria Richardson Harkness (after Benjamin Curtis Porter), (1910-1915), Yale University Art Gallery.Portrait of Anna Maria Richardson Harkness from Yale University Art Gallery. Portrait of College Boys (1912), private collection. Double portrait of Everit and Christian Herter, sons of the artist. Portrait of a Young Russian Nobleman (c. 1918), Metropolitan Museum of Art.Portrait of a Russian Nobleman, from Metropolitan Museum of Art. Pilgun Yoon as “Aladdin” (c. 1923), Brooklyn Museum.Pilgun Yoon as "Aladdin", from Brooklyn Museum. Founders of the National Academy of Sciences (1924), National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C.National Academy of Sciences/ Lincoln Mural. Depicts President Lincoln signing 1863 legislation creating the National Academy of Sciences. The Bouvier Twins (1926), private collection.The Bouvier Twins, from ArtNet. Double portrait of Maude and Michelle Bouvier, aunts of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Portrait of Edward S. Harkness (1931), Yale University Art Gallery.Portrait of Edward S. Harkness from Yale University Art Gallery.
Illustrations He painted covers for the Ladies' Home Journal and other magazines, and illustrated a number of books.Tales of the Enchanted Islands of the Atlantic (1898). He also created several World War I posters.World War I posters by Herter, from Library of Congress.
Murals In 1909, Herter was commissioned by the Daughters of the American Revolution to create what was intended to be the world's largest painted theater curtain, for the Denver Auditorium. The flat curtain was 35 feet (11 m) high and 60 feet (18 m) wide. Its theme was an allegory of the United States Declaration of Independence, and included illustrations of historical figures such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin.
Herter executed murals for buildings such as the Massachusetts Statehouse, the Wisconsin State Capitol, the Los Angeles Public Library, and the National Academy of Sciences.
His best-known mural, Le Départ des poilus, août 1914 (Departure of the Infantrymen, August 1914), is in the Gare de Paris-Est railroad station in Paris. The Herters' elder son, Everit, volunteered to fight in World War I, and was killed in June 1918."New York Artist Killed in France," The New York Times, June 28, 1918.HERTER, Everit Albert. Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, 40th Engineer Regiment. Entered the Service from: New York. Died: June 13, 1918. Buried at: Plot A, Row 13, Grave 59, Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, Belleau, France. Herter channeled his grief into this mural, which depicts soldiers departing for the war from that same railroad station. The young man at center with his arms in the air is a portrait of Everit, the woman in white at far left is a portrait of Adele Herter, and the older man at far right with the bouquet of flowers is a self-portrait. Herter donated the mural to the People of France in 1926.
Der Nibelungen (circa 1898) - six murals, music room, Emilie Grigsby House, 67th Street & Park Avenue, New York City:The Lost Emilie Grigsby House, from Daytonian in Manhattan. The murals were sold at auction for $2,500 in 1912."$193,067 Realized at Grigsby Art Sale," The New York Times, January 28, 1912. The Pageant of Nations (1913) - seven murals, The Mural Room, St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco, California. Included a portrait of Gertrude Atherton posing as "California." The Herter murals were taken down and placed in storage in 1971. The Mural Room was demolished during hotel expansion and remade as a larger lobby and front desk area. Two murals, Connecticut Supreme Court Building, Hartford. Painted on canvas at Herter's studio at "The Creeks" in East Hampton, New York, then taken to Hartford and affixed to wall and ceiling with white lead. An Allegory of Education (1913) Fundamental Orders 1638-1639 (1913) Four murals, Supreme Court Chamber, Wisconsin State Capitol, Madison: The Legionary Appeal to Caesar (1915)Roman Law from Wiki Commons. The Signing of the Magna Carta (1915)English Law from Wiki Commons. The Trial of Chief Oshkosh (1915)Local Law from Wiki Commons. The Signing of the Constitution (1915)The Signing of the Constitution from Wiki Commons.
Prometheus (1924), Great Hall, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C.: Le Départ des poilus, août 1914 (Departure of the Infantrymen, August 1914) (1926), Gare de Paris-Est, Paris. Given by Herter to the people of France. Eight murals, Children's Literature Department, Main Branch, Los Angeles Public Library: The Landing of Cabrillo at Catalina Island (1928) The Building of a Mission (1928) Fiesta at a Mission (1928) Raising the Flag at Monterey (1928) Finding of Gold in '49 (1928) Relief ship at San Diego (1928) Jose Gaspar de Portola (1928) Juan Bautista de Anza (1928) Warner Brothers Hollywood Theatre (1928–30), New York City. This movie palace was converted into the Mark Hellinger Theatre in 1949. In 1989, it became the Times Square Church, which continues to occupy it. Herter's murals have been taken down. Library portico, Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Florida (1939)Photo of Herter portico mural , from Flickr. Milestones on the Road to Freedom in Massachusetts (1942) - five mural-sized paintings, House of Representatives, Massachusetts State House, Boston 1630 - Governor Winthrop at Salem Bringing the Charter of the Bay Colony to Massachusetts 1779 - John Adams, Samuel Adams and James Bowdoin Drafting the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 1697 - Dawn of Tolerance in Massachusetts: Public Repentance of Judge Samuel Sewall for His Actions in the Witchcraft Trials 1788 - John Hancock Proposing the Addition of The Bill of Rights to the Federal Constitution 1689 - Revolt Against Autocratic Government in Massachusetts: The Arrest of Governor Andros
Tapestries "Though a painter by profession, Mr. Herter has a keen appreciation of tapestry texture, which he has developed by personal work at the loom. Especially interesting should be the set of 26 panels now on the looms, picturing The Story of New York back to the days when Peter Stuyvesant smoked his long-stemmed pipe and cursed in Dutch."George Leland Hunter, Tapestries; Their Origin, History And Renaissance, (New York: John Lane Company, 1912), pp. 214-16.
The Story of New York (1912) - 28 panels, McAlpin Hotel, New York City. The Great Crusade (1920), Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan., from Cranbrook Art Museum.
Interior design
Herter designed Spanish Colonial Revival interiors for the Loews Warfield Theatre (1923) in San Francisco, including a mural of Spanish-style dancers above the proscenium. He designed Byzantine Revival interiors for Broadway's Martin Beck Theatre (1924) in New York City,"New Martin Beck Theater to Open Tuesday Evening," The New York Times, November 9, 1924. which was renamed the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in 2003.
The Creeks In 1894, as a wedding gift from the groom's mother, Mary Miles Herter, the couple received a parcel of land between Montauk Highway and Georgica Pond, in East Hampton, Long Island. In 1899, they built "The Creeks," a 40-room, Mediterranean-style villa, designed by architect Grosvenor Atterbury. The estate featured about a mile of waterfront on the tidal estuary. The villa contained "his and hers" artist studios so each would have their own workspace. Adele Herter designed the extensive gardens. In 1912, Albert Herter built a larger studio, a soaring 56-by-35-foot space that doubled as a private theater, "where Enrico Caruso, Isadora Duncan and Anna Pavlova performed."Bob Colacello, "Studios by the Sea," Vanity Fair, January 2000