Abbott Handerson Thayer

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Abbott Handerson Thayer (August 12, 1849-1921) was an American artist, naturalist, and educator.

He gained a certain fame during his lifetime, as a painter of portraits, figures, animals, and landscapes, and his paintings are included in major American art shows.

He is perhaps best known for his 'angel' paintings, some of which use his children as models. He worked with his son, Gerald Handerson Thayer, on a book about natural coloration, called Concealing-Coloration in the Animal Kingdom during the last third of his life.

It was first published by Macmillan in 1909 and then reissued in 1918, and may have had an effect on military camouflage during World War I. However, Theodore Roosevelt and others' assertion that all animal coloration is cryptic was largely mocked by Thayer.

Early life

Thayer was born in Boston to William Henry Thayer and Ellen Handerson. He spent his childhood in rural New Hampshire near Keene, near Mount Monadnock's foot. He became an amateur naturalist (in his own words: "bird crazy"), a hunter, and a trapper in a rural setting. Thayer closely examined Audubon's Birds of America, experimented with taxidermy, and created his first paintings: watercolor paintings of animals.

He was admitted to the Chauncy Hall School in Boston, where he met Henry D. Morse, an amateur artist who painted animals, at the age of 15. Abbott developed and refined his painting skills, focusing on depictions of birds and other animals, and soon began painting animal portraits on commission. Ellen Thayer Fisher, his sister, was also taught techniques that he was learning.

He moved to Brooklyn, New York, to study painting at the Brooklyn Art School and the National Academy of Design at age 18. Lemuel Wilmarth, an English teacher, has been studying at Lemuel Wilmarth. During this period in New York, he met many up-and-coming artists, including Kate Bloede and his close friend, Daniel Chester French. He exhibited his work at the newly formed Society of American Artists, as well as refineing his skills as an animal and landscape painter. After marrying Kate Bloede, he migrated to Paris, where he studied for four years at the École des Beaux-Arts, with Henri Lehmann and Jean-Léon Gérôme, and where his closest friend became the American artist George de Forest Bush. He founded his own portrait gallery (which he shared with Daniel Chester French) and joined the Society of American Painters, gaining apprentices again.

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