Joseph Whiting Stock had modest artistic goals, but his unique work earned him an honored place among American painters.
Few, if any, American painters have overcome adversity like Joseph Whiting Stock. Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on January 30, 1815, Stock was just 11 when an oxcart toppled onto him, leaving him permanently paralyzed below the waist.
Although confined to his home in Springfield and unable to sit up for much of his youth, Stock accepted his fate. "I became cheerful and contented in my situation, amusing myself in a variety of ways," he wrote in his journal. He took up painting, and despite being dogged by incredible physical hardships throughout his short life, became one of America's most significant primitive painters. During his brief career he produced approximately 1,000 paintings, an immense body of work far exceeding that of most of his contemporaries. His own artistic aspirations seemed to have encompassed little more than wanting "to give a good likeness," a goal he doubtless achieved.
Only a small portion of Joseph Whiting Stock's work has been located but what is available accords him a unique place among American artists. His portraits are marked by stiffness and awkwardness, reflecting his lack of formal training. This was common among primitive, or folk, artists, whose style was characterized by simplicity, directness, and a clear sense of design. Stock also developed his own distinctive style. He specialized in full-length portraits of children, and the backgrounds of his works often included such common items as furniture, clothing, and books. This subtle aspect of Stock's art reveals much about nineteenth-century American life.
Stock's inclination to experiment distinguished him from the bulk of primitive painters. He introduced bright colors into his work and attempted compositions ranging from simple head portraits to full-length poses. The size of his paintings ranged from 8-by-10 inches to canvasses five times that size. His diary indicates that his lost landscapes included a number of ocean portraits featuring whaling vessels and other ships.
Stock demonstrated considerable promise as an artist while still in his teens. In 1832 his physician arranged some professional guidance for the 17-year-old painter, and Stock soon attempted his first original work, a portrait of his younger sister Eliza. He followed this success with portraits of other family members, and as word of his talent spread he began to receive commissions from local residents. During the next two years he turned out 51 paintings, including copies of portraits of Napoleon Bonaparte and Andrew Jackson. Stock managed to do all his work while flat on his back.
Eight years after Stock suffered his crippling injury, Doctor James Swan became his physician and opened up the artist's world considerably. In the summer of 1834, Swan noted that Stock's "knees were bent in acute angles," as for years he "had lain almost constantly in one position." Though he could not restore Stock's crippled limbs, Doctor Swan was determined to improve the young man's life. With the help of two mechanics Swan altered a conventional wheelchair to accommodate his patient. Stock could now lift himself out of bed, move about the house, and actually paint while sitting. The addition of a steering mechanism and other levers that enabled the chair to be maneuvered into a carriage or railroad car allowed Stock to travel for the first time. He happily took advantage of his new freedom and during the next few years moved among nearby New England towns selling portraits, miniatures, and occasionally landscapes.
In January 1839, tragedy struck again. As Stock was preparing some varnish in his Springfield studio, the substance caught fire and he "was soon involved in the flames." As he slowly recovered from this horrific accident a high fever further threatened his life. On top of these ailments, Stock was then afflicted with a serious hip infection that required major surgery. His survival of this major operation was almost miraculous. The indomitable artist eventually returned to his painting, working constantly to earn a modest living. He occasionally shared studio space with his brother-in-law, O.H. Cooley, a student of the newly invented daguerreotype photograph.
Physical calamity seemed to pursue Joseph Whiting Stock, and tuberculosis brought his prodigious career and courageous life to a premature end in 1855, at the age of 40. He had endured an extraordinary amount of hardship, but his physical anguish and frustration never manifested itself in his work. While his career, he recalled, "embraced much of suffering and affliction, [and] much of sorrow and pain," it was also marked "with much of joy and happiness." Though the loss of much of Stock's work has rendered his legacy somewhat obscure, he retains a prominent position among American painters.
Left, Port Jervis, NY, From the Mountain on the Pennsylvania Side of the Delaware, c. 1854, a lithograph
Below, Luther Stock, 1840.
BY CHRISTINE ROANE
Source: American History, Mar1998, Vol. 33 Issue 1, p34, 5p