Active Dates: c. 1852-1889
Gallerist: William Pate
Location:1 Yale University, The Yale Banner 1888, vol. 47 (Connecticut: Yale University, 1888), 273.
146 William Street, New York, NY
148 William St, New York, NY
Specialty: Publisher & importer of prints, American landscape prints, Framing.
Gallery History:
William Pate & Co, founded by and known as William Pate in its earliest years, was a publisher and importer of etchings and engravings in New York City during the 19th century.2Yale University, The Yale Banner 1888, 273. Alongside publishing, the shop also offered their customers framing services and print delivery.3 Yale University, The Yale Banner 1888, 273. The establishment published a number of steel engravings after famous American landscape paintings.
Copyrighted in 1869 and published by GP Putnam & Sons in 1872, William Pate’s Gallery of Landscape Painters—American Scenery, is a folio of 24 natural, picturesque landscapes that brought together America’s best painters and engravers.4The Philadelphia Print Shop, “Pate’s Gallery of Landscape Painters – American Scenery” (web page), Philadelphia Print Shop (web site), accessed April 14, 2020. http://www.philaprintshop.com/pate.html The top quality engravings were modelled after masterworks of American landscape art by painters like George Inness and Thomas Hill, who were loosely associated with various American art movements of the time like the Hudson River school.
In their advertisement in the Yale Banner 1888, the gallery refers to its etchings and engravings as “high class,” while simultaneously defining them as “moderate in price.” William Pate & Co. provided Americans with the opportunity to own affordable, mass-produced prints made after the contemporary paintings of their time, circulating prints to audiences that might not have otherwise seen the paintings themselves. Today, some of these prints are still around and for sale, while others have found homes in museums such as the Smithsonian.
Illustrations
Date Written: April 17, 2020
Author’s Initials: MP
William Pate & Co Gallery Bio PDF
Primary Sources
Yale University. The Yale Banner 1888, Volume 47. Connecticut: Yale University, 1888.
Secondary Sources
Smithsonian American Art Museum. “Yosemite Valley” (web page). American Art (website), accessed April 14, 2020. https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/yosemite-valley-10531
The Philadelphia Print Shop. “Pate’s Gallery of Landscape Painters – American Scenery” (web page). Philadelphia Print Shop (web site), accessed April 14, 2020. http://www.philaprintshop.com/pate.html