University museum gets first original work of Bingham

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- George Caleb Bingham is recognized as one of Missouri's most important 19th-century artists.

He was also the first professor of art at the University of Missouri.

It wasn't until the 21st century, however, that the university's Museum of Art and Archaeology could boast ownership of its first original work by Bingham.

The museum already exhibits several prints of the artist's works and has one of his oil portraits on loan.

On Friday, officials unveiled the museum's own Bingham painting: a portrait of Thomas Withers Nelson, who lived in Boonville and died in 1879.

"We brought it back to Missouri, where it belongs," said museum director Marlene Perchinske.

The museum bought it for $35,000 from Adams Davidson Gallery in Washington; it was delivered late last week. Money for the purchase came from private endowments, curator Joan Stack said.

Bingham, who lived from 1811 to 1879, and Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) are considered Missouri's two most important artists, Stack said.

"It's especially important for the prestige of a Missouri museum to have a Bingham," she said.

Gov. Bob Holden, Rep. Vicki Riback Wilson, D-Columbia, and several other dignitaries attended the unveiling, which was a fund-raiser for the arts.

Bingham was born in Virginia but spent the majority of his life in Missouri, where he became famous for his portraits and paintings of daily frontier life. His genre paintings depict images of an America that few artists captured at the time, Stack said.

"He represented the sorts of things very few people represented," Stack said. "It's very fortunate for historians who study that time."

Though Bingham lived all over Missouri, he maintained an art studio on Guitar Street, which is commemorated by a plaque on the east wall of the Daniel Boone Building in downtown Columbia.

Many of his portraits can be found at the State Historical Society of Missouri, in the Ellis Library Building on the Missouri campus.

Bingham painted the Nelson portrait in 1844 and 1845, Stack said.