James Bard




The Fanny, 1831, James and John Bard



If you know anything at all about artists, you know that, like doctors, they tend to specialize. I've always insisted that the greatest compliment one can pay an artist is to say he or she is versatile. No insult intended, but James Bard was not versatile. James (and in the beginning) his twin brother, John, from a very early age, specialized. Their earliest joint work dates from 1827, though it may be lost. The earliest confirmed work by the two that I could find is a watercolor from 1831, The Fanny (above). They were born in 1815, so that would have made them sixteen at the time. No, it does not depict an adolescent fascination with the female derriere but a fascination with steamboats, which by the time the boys became teenagers, were a daily sight in the harbor of New York City and on the Hudson River near where they were born.

 

Syracuse, 1857, James Bard

Neither of the boys had any formal art training. They learned to paint and draw the hard way (and perhaps the best way) by doing a lot of painting and drawing. Over the course of James Bard's lifetime, he painted or drew more than 3,000 different vessels, as well as multiple images (with different backgrounds) of the same boats. Though the twins' first efforts were somewhat crude, they improved notably during the 1840s when James began to paint on his own and switched to oils. Bard's painted backgrounds are improvised (at best) though, over the course of his career, he did managed to get a handle on painting water (sort of). The brothers' last joint effort is dated 1849. Historians suggest Bard painted virtually every steamboat operating in the New York area during his working lifetime. These same marine historians "love" his work in that it makes their work easier. In many cases, Bard's highly detailed, highly accurate images are the only record, not just of various boats' appearance, but of their very existence.

 

Norma, 1855?, James Bard. Though
specializing in steam, Bard also painted
the occasional sailing ship.

Though often painting for wealthy boat owners (his own brother-in-law, for instance) indications are he barely eked out a modest living from his work. There's no record of his ever owning real estate of having a checking account. Though Bard and his wife had six children, only one, a daughter, lived to adulthood. Though hundreds, of his works survive, details of the artist's life are sketchy. Some suggest the brothers ceased their collaboration when John joined the California gold rush. In fact, James apparently spent some time in California as well, painting Sacramento River steamers. In any case, he died penniless in the care of his daughter in 1897 at the age of 81.

 

Horse Jack of Woodbridge, NJ, 1871, James Bard

Unlike most artists, even those who specialize, Bard left behind no self-portraits, not even a faded photo so that we might know what he looked like. In fact, insofar as I can tell, only once did he depart from his artistic forte, a single instance when he painted a horse (right, quite unsuccessfully too, I might add). It was some fifty years after his death before anyone deemed Bard's work significant enough to mention in print. And like many such artists, it has been only in recent years that the steamboats of James Bard began bringing respectable prices, most being in the five-figure range. However one recently brought $200,000 at auction. Thus, in common with dozens of other "bread and butter" artists, only their collectors (or heirs) really profit from their work.

Syracuse (detail), 1857, James Bard.
As with the work of many self-trained artists, Bard
excelled at painting minute details. His relatively modest sized
paintings offer a wealth of information for marine historians.