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Ad Code: 3
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from Auction House Records.
Golden Leaves against a Blue Sky Play
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| ERNEST CHRISTIAN ROST: Artist, Pioneer Photo-Journalist, Adventurer, and Botanist.
2003 by Jonathan Dobin.
Ernest
Christian Rost was born January 20, 1867*, at Mt. Vernon, N.Y. He was
the son of Christian Wilhelm and Minna M. Rost. Christian Rost was a
German-born artist, having studied in Paris and London. He was highly
regarded for his fine wood and copper engravings -- renderings of
governmental buildings on bank notes and official documents; images on
early postage stamps (see Museum of the United States Essays and
Proofs; 3-cent stamp); and earlier for his documenting the Crystal
Palace and other exhibits of the 1850 World's Fair in London. He was
also admired for his engraved landscapes, claimed by some
contemporaries to be among the finest they'd seen. He married his
cousin Minna M. Rost, who earned the distinction as being the
proprietor of a very unique and successful military insignia
manufacturing company on 13th Street, after the couple settled in New
York City. Minna's business particularly flourished during the Civil
War.
Ernest was the fourth of six children, and the only son
surviving into maturity. Christian Rost was acknowledged as being a
very patient teacher. Ernest received much technical grounding and
encouragement from his father and his mother as well.
Early Works - Oils to Etchings
Rost
did landscapes in oils during 1880's. His works were shown at the
National Academy of Design in New York City, where he garnered several
awards. As was the case with his somewhat older contemporary, Edward
Loyal Field, Rost's paintings were rendered in the Tonalist style
(i.e.; atmospheric, enigmatic landscapes -- rendered with broad and
feathered brush strokes ... a style akin to impressionism -- utilizing
warm and earth tones.). In addition to his studies in New York, Ernest
studied in Europe and was a student of the Barbizon school of landscape
artists. He set up a studio in New York City and also Arkville, NY -
until a fire destroyed that studio and much of his earliest work.
After
1887 Rost turned more and more to the medium of etching upon copper
plates. By 1890 etching/engraving became his primary discipline. Also
like Edward Loyal Field, Rost's etchings and engravings completely
embrace the new medium on its own terms -- noted in their day for their
naturalistic composition, as well as for their attention to detail and
linear assuredness.
The bulk of Rost's etchings date from 1890
through 1896, though this writer has one dated 1889 and has seen
several of his works copyrighted as late as 1903. Rost's work depicts
mostly New York and tri-state rural or country scenes. The composition
of some of his earliest works includes people, dogs, and horses as well
as the rural scenes that they inhabit. In addition, he did a number of
etchings illustrating the homes of important contemporary writers and
statesmen.
Rost Sues Publishers
Ernest sued his New York
agents Fishel, Adler and Schwartz Co. in 1894. An office boy was
forging Rost's names on rejected images and claiming they were artist's
proofs. [An artist's proof is a print pressed/ pulled and created by
the artist himself (or supervised by the artist) outside of the regular
(multiple) run of a particular lot of etchings. A proof is an
endorsement by the artist that the print represents an original of the
highest quality]. Though Ernest prevailed at trial, he was not
compensated for damages of prints sold. After this ordeal, Rost was so
angered, that he turned his focus more and more to photography, though
this writer has come across a number of prints published after 1894 and
as late as 1903 published by James Tryoler and by Rost himself:
"Copyright by Ernest C. Rost, New York" (including original works and,
significantly, works by others).
Focus Changes To Photo-Journalism, Writing And Exploring
With
the outbreak of the Spanish-American War (1898), Rost was sent by the
U.S. War Department to Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Panama and
Guam as a civilian photographer of military operations and
installations. By so doing, he became one of the government's first
commissioned photojournalist. His travelogue journeys were well
published and circulated. Rost's photos were praised for their
spontaneous quality, a very difficult quality to achieve considering
the heavy equipment and time-consuming photographic techniques of the
period.
Between 1899 and 1900, at least seven articles by Rost
appeared in the popular 'Leslie's Illustrated Weekly Newspaper'. He
also wrote for Harper's and Scientific America. His first-hand
photographs of the second eruption of Mt. Pelee were also circulated
and admired. On behalf of the explorer, Frederick Cook, Ernest was
called upon to act as expert witness in the still infamous Cook vs.
Peary North Pole trial/dispute. Ernest attested that Robert Peary's
photograph (used to discredit Cooks ascension to the top of Mt.
McKinley) were in fact doctored photos - combining several photos and
drawing (perhaps our first official case of an altered photograph?).
Ernest
married Alice Hoffman (from Delaware?), an artists' model. Alice died
in 1898 at a young age, when the couples' only son, Miles Ernest, was
barely 4 years of age. Because Ernest's mother Minna was so occupied
with filling orders in her business, Ernest, a devoted father,
eventually took full-time care of his son, bringing him along on his
travels and as he moved across the country.
California Bound and Explorations of Cacti
In 1907, Ernest married Etta N. Newbury, a writer who also used the pseudonym, Esther Norton.
By
1918, the Rosts settled in California with the dream of cultivating a
vineyard in the San Joaquin Valley. This ventured proved unsuccessful
and they moved to Alhambra, wherein Rost devoted his life to studies of
cacti. In this capacity, he traveled extensively throughout Southwest
-- collecting and classifying desert plants. He was invited to lecture
extensively about cacti and invited to publish his findings in several
prestigious botanical journals of the time. So great was he respected
in the field that several species of cacti were named after both him
and his son, Miles.
Ernest's Son, Miles
Miles Rost
developed into an artist of distinction and acclaim in his own right --
perfecting a detailed cross-hatching style with quill pen and multiple
layers of colored inks. Miles' studies of fish were considered by many
to be on a par with Audubon's studies of birds; as they depicting fish
with their natural colors for the first time (so often their colors
change upon death and were, as a result, not always rendered
accurately). In addition, Miles did portraits and landscapes in oils.
Of
interest is that then, as now, many people acquired Ernest's works yet
knew little about him. Miles met his wife-to-be, Mildred, as a result
of this. When she was a teen, Mildred's r father acquired a print of
"Old Elm Road," one of Ernest's most popular etchings. Years later,
after seeing Rost's name in a local California newspaper, she and her
father tracked down the artist and his family. She then met Miles and
the rest, as they say, is history!
A Remarkable Life
Ernest
Rost lead a remarkable life: becoming an accomplished painter,
engraver, adventurer, writer, photojournalist, botanist and lecturer --
acquiring a noteworthy level of expertise in every one of those fields.
He traveled and frequently lectured to great applause. He remained in
California until his death in 1940 at the age of 73.
His
etchings/photos or articles are represented in the Library of Congress,
US National Archives; Brunnier Art Museum, Ames, Iowa; Center for
American Music - Stephen Foster Memorial University of Pittsburgh; Fine
Arts Museum of San Francisco. In addition the Huntington Library and
the Smithsonian libraries have extensive files regarding his work with
cacti and travel-related photography
Excerpt of Biography by Jonathan Dobin found on: www.ernestrost.org
---------
*
Previously, Ernest's birth has been listed as 1866. 1867 is confirmed
as his true date of birth by his daughter-in-law, Mildred, by personal
letters and papers in Huntington Library, and by his Death Certificate
of 1940.
Biography copyright 2003 by Jonathan Dobin. All rights reserved
If
you wish to use excerpts of this biography or that listed at
www.ernestrost.org, please contact the author at RostInfoseek@aol.com
for permission. |
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
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