Visual art
John Mix Stanley
1814–1872 · painter, artist-explorer
Painter of the American West and Native American life who began his career in frontier Detroit and returned to spend his last years there.
- Born
Canandaigua, New York- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 58- Detroit years
- 1832–1842, 1864–1872
- Field
- Visual art
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Stanley came to Detroit, then a frontier town in Michigan Territory, in 1832 and made his living painting signs and portraits. In 1842 he set out for the West to paint Native American life, travelled with military and railroad survey expeditions, and during the Mexican–American War joined Stephen Kearny's march to California. In 1852 he placed a gallery of more than 150 paintings on display at the Smithsonian Institution, hoping Congress would buy it; the sale never happened, and most of the pictures burned in the Smithsonian fire of 1865. Stanley returned to Detroit in 1864, opened a studio and stayed for the rest of his life. He helped found an early art association that was a forerunner of the Detroit Institute of Arts and its art school. He died in Detroit in 1872.
Highlights
- Arrived in frontier Detroit in 1832 as a sign and portrait painter
- Painted Native American life across the West from 1842
- His Smithsonian gallery of 150+ paintings largely burned in 1865
- Helped found a forerunner of the Detroit Institute of Arts