Featured American Cameo Carvers

I came across a few articles recently featuring American cameo carvers. I thought this might be an interesting subject, as often cameo artists are considered to be from Italy, France or another European country.

Keeping a running list of American cameo carvers would be helpful in the off-chance someone in the forum happened upon a signed cameo and couldn't place the artist.

To start off, here is a link to an article called "Some American Cameo Portraitists by Gertrude S. Cole from The Magazine Antiques, September 1946, pp. 170-171.

https://www.sites.google.com/site/robertballhughes/Home/sculpture-gallery/cameos


Below is a list American Cameo Artists from the article. Many were also sculptors and painters, using cameo carving as their stepping stone to larger works:

John Crookshanks King, Boston, active ~1837-1860
Peter Stephenson, Boston, active ~1839-1860
Joseph A. Greenough, Boston, active ~1848-1879
Margaret Foley, Boston and Rome, active ~mid-1840's-1877
Mary Ann Delafield Dubois, New York, born 1813, died 1888
William Morris Hunt, Boston, active?
Erastus Dow Palmer, Albany NY, active ~1845-1860s
Launt Thompson, Albany and New York City, active ~1850s-?
Robert Ball-Hughes, Boston, active ~1840-1860s
George O. Annable, Providence, RI active ~1850s
Augustus St. Gaudens, New York City, Paris, Rome, active ~1861 - late 1800s
Louis Avet (originally from France), New York City, Cincinnati, and New Orleans, active ~1849-1884
Jules Le Brethon (originally from France), New York City, active ~1850-1860s?
Louis St. Gaudens, Rome, active ~1870- 1900?
Louis Herzog, Rome, active ~1870- 1900?

 

Louis Zoellner (originally from Germany) Brooklyn, 1871 - ~1930

Avet & then Lebrethon were teachers of A. St. Gaudens.

 

Yes, and Louis Avet apparently had a very bad temper! He actually fired St. Gaudens in a fit of rage and then, realizing his mistake, tried to hire him back at a higher wage. St. Gaudens refused and moved on to the workshop of Jules Le Brethon.

Interestingly, Louis Avet primarily carved cameos in stone and semi-precious gems, not shells, and his work was incorporated into jewelry at many high end stores in New York City, like Tiffany & Co. and Ball, Black & Co.

https://erenow.net/common/the-greater-journey-americans-paris/8.php

 

A few more American cameo cutters, this time located in Ohio (link to book reference below).

Eugene Joseph Franz, born 1866 died 1949
Augustin Rostaing, Cincinnati, active ~1832-1844
Frank Peabody (Franklin Winchester Peabody), Cincinnati and other cities, active ~1850s-1900s
Theodore Jung, Dayton, active mid-1880s

https://books.google.com/books?id=ZdICm_W8xKwC&pg=PA313&dq=american+cameo+carver+ohio&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiBw57k_P_1AhVRLTQIHXgMB90Q6AF6BAgFEAI#v=onepage&q=american%20cameo%20carver%20ohio&f=false

 

And a few American women cameo carvers:

Louise Lander, Boston, active ~1840s-1850s
Margaret Foley (listed previously, but more info about her in the link below)
Harriet Hosmer (briefly- she was primarily a sculptor)

https://books.google.com/books?id=TcfhDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT48&dq=american+cameo+carver&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiE4_WWgoD2AhXgk4kEHXB0A9Y4ChDoAXoECAoQAg#v=onepage&q=american%20cameo%20carver&f=false

 

Another:

Pietro Mezzara (Franco-Italian, emigrated to California in 1850s) active ~1850s 1870s, primarily a sculptor. There is a list of places where he exhibited cameos at the end of this manuscript.

https://books.google.com/books?id=6nCBfz6tMRMC&pg=PA12&dq=american+cameo+carver&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjGiNTXiYD2AhUuCTQIHd8fDTc4HhDoAXoECAcQAg#v=onepage&q=american%20cameo%20carver&f=false

 

A few more cameo cutters listed in the 1842-1843 Longworth's American Almanack, New-York Register and City Directory:

Wilberforce Auld
George W Ditchett
Salathiel Ellis
Joseph Jackson
John R Lounsbery
Alfred Masson

https://books.google.com/books?id=wDBFAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA334&dq=american+cameo+carver&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjEoJTUjID2AhWQj4kEHQc8BPk4MhDoAXoECAMQAg#v=onepage&q=cameo&f=false