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Highlights

Robert Ward Van Boskerk (American 1855 – 1932)

19th Century Fine Art Legacy

In Some Ramblings Reminiscences of the Class of ’77 Mines, Columbia Alumni News of April 13, 1917 [1] Boskerck was described thusly:

Robert W. Van Boskerck —White-headed Bob’’—was so blonde, was so much like moonshine, that it required a dark background to see him. He has become a successful painter, an N.A., and I saw him at the last opening of the Academy of Design Exhibition, where, as always, he was making himself agreeable by shining on the ladies. He is still ‘White-headed Bob," (only the whiteness now is from a different cause) and he has not changed a bit except in girth. "Time writes no wrinkles on thine azure brow," whatever it may do to other parts of thine anatomy, O Robert!

"Bobby" as he was known to his friends, was born in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1855 [2], a descendent of the original settlers of "New Netherland." [3]. Although the mists of time have obscured his early life, we known that Van Boskerck graduated from the Columbia University School of Mines with a degree in Civil Engineering in 1877. Van Boskerck was listed in The School of Mines Quarterly, November 1882 to June 1883 as a civil engineer, although engineering was not to be his calling, as that same entry included "artist" with a studio located at 337 Fourth Avenue, New York City [4].

Van Boskerck had taken art instruction from Luminist painter R. Swain Gifford and Tonalist landscape painter Alexander Helwig Wyant in New York [4]. He was exhibiting his paintings in 1879 -- The New York Times had written of "a very little charming piece of landscape" by R. W. Van Boskerck at the exhibition of the Brooklyn Art Club. [5]

Van Boskerck lived in the famous Sherwood Studio Building, once located on the southeast corner of 57th Street and Sixth Avenue [6 14], which was built in the late 1870s as apartments and studios for artists. [6 14]. He was to cultivate a large group of artist friends – he appears in an 1888 photograph titled "Artists at a banquet for Harry Siddons Mowbray with a group of New York artists." The group of artists pictured included William Merritt Chase, J. Carroll Beckwith, William A. Coffin, J. Alden Weir, T.W. Dewing, Kenyon Cox. Others present to celebrate Mowbray were Stanford White, Valentine Blacque, H.O. Walker, and Jonas Webb.[7]

Known to his intimates as "Bobby of the Evergreens [8], for a reason currently unknown, although it may relate to his development as a landscape painter. In an American Art News article in December 1905, it was stated “while we still tremble a little for the artist when he " gets to his greens" his work has lost its former hardness and sometimes garishness of color, and he is on the high road now to deserved success.[9] In fact, during one of his exhibitions in 1905, an art critic stated that “the whole display is refreshing and shows versatility and unusual feeling for nature.”[10]

During the first quarter of the twentieth century, Van Boskerk visited England and France, although the Forests of Fontainebleau south of Paris seemed to be a preferred spot. He made painting trips during the spring mostly to areas along east coast of the United States (Rhode Island and New Jersey), the Adirondack Mountains and the Keene Valley of New York State [11, 12] followed by summers in Europe – France, England or Holland, [13 14, 15] and returning to the United States in the fall. He often tooled around France and the United States by automobile [15]

When asked why he sought scenes in France instead of in America, Van Boskerck replied: "There are just as good scenes and subjects in America as in France, but that is not the entire question. You can find an interesting spot almost anywhere in America, but what are you going to do if there is no hotel or inn? You live very comfortably in Newport, for instance, but no artist wants to paint Newport. In France you can jog along, find a delightful little country place, which lends itself to all the points an artist seeks, and you will also find a habitation. The counterparts of these little French hotels and inns are not to be found in the United States." [16]

In the spring of 1919, Van Boskerck’s traveling was curtailed when he was seriously injured -- a victim of a hit and run accident in New York City while crossing Fifth Avenue. [17] However, he rallied and spent the summer in the Keene Valley where painting seemed to be good therapy and his health was much improved by the time of his return to his Sherwood studio. [18] It is uncertain whether Van Boskerck continued traveling to Europe after his accident in 1919. Regardless, he continued paint his favorite Eastern U.S. haunts until at least 1921, as he was still exhibiting in that same year. [19]

Van Boskerck was a member of the National Academy of Design (Associate 1897, Academician 1907); and the Society of American Artists (1887). He exhibited at the Brooklyn Art Association (1879-1885, 1892); National Academy of Design (1880-1900); Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1880, 1900); Boston Art Club (1881-1885); Art Institute of Chicago (1888-1891, 1912-1913); American Watercolor Society (1898); Carnegie International (1898); Pan-American Exposition (Buffalo. 1901); St. Louis Exposition (1904, medal); Corcoran Gallery (1907-1908, 1930); Society of Independent Artists (1919).[20]

“Bobby of the Evergreens” passed away after a brief illness in 1932.

Written by Joan Hawk, Researcher and Co-Owner Bedford Fine Art Gallery, November 1, 2025.

Use only with the permission of Bedford Fine Art Gallery.

References:

  1. Columbia Alumni News, Vol. VIII, 1916-1917, by the Alumni Federation of Columbia University, Inc., New York, 1916-17.

  2. Robert Ward Van Boskerck (1855-1932) - Find a Grave Memorial accessed 10/2025.

  3. Year book of the Holland Society of New-York, 1887, pp. 85-86, 111, Holland Society of New York. internetarchive.com accessed 10/2025.

  4. The School of Mines Quarterly, November 1882 to June 1883, published by the Alumni Association of the Engineering and chemical Societies of the School of Mines, Columbia College, New York.

  5. The New York Times, Vol XXIX, No. 8813, December 9, 1879.

  6. American Art Annual, 1919, Vol. XVI, pg. 525, American Federation of Arts, Washington, D.C.

  7. How New York City Artists Invented a New Mode of Urban Living, By Rebecca Dalzell, Jun 3. 2015, 1:15pm EDT. [accessed 10/30/25].

  8. https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/items/detail/artists-banquet-harry-siddons-mowbray-2644.

  9. American Art News, Vol. XII, No. 14, January 10, 1914, pg. 8. Internetarchive.org accessed 10/2025.

  10. American Art News, Vol. 4, No. 8, December 2, 1905, pg. 5. Internetarchive.org accessed 10/2025.

  11. American Art News, Vol. IV, No. 8, 1905, pg. 6. Internetarchive.org accessed 10/2025.

  12. Boston Sunday Globe, Mar 25, 1894, p. 25 | NewspaperArchive.

  13. American Art News, Vol.3, No. 76, April 22, 1905, pg. 3. Internetarchive.org accessed 10/2025.

13.New York Times, Jun 23, 1901, p. 32 | NewspaperArchive Internetarchive.org accessed 10/2025.

  1. American Art News, Vol. IV, No. 11, December 23, 1905. Internetarchive.org accessed 10/2025.

  2. American Art News, Vol. 7, No. 7, November 28, 1908, pg. 4. Internetarchive.org accessed 10/2025.

  3. American Art News, Vol V, No. 33, August 17,1907, pg. 3. Internetarchive.org accessed 10/2025.

  4. American Art News, Vol. 10, No. 33, May 25, 1912, pg. 2. Internetarchive.org accessed 10/2025.

  5. American Art News, Vol. VIIIX, December 6, 1919. Internetarchive.org accessed 10/2025.

  6. American Art News, Vol. XIX, No. 38, July 16, 1921, pg. 7. Internetarchive.org accessed 10/2025.

  7. Falk, Peter, ed., 1999, Who Was Who in American Art, Sound View Press, Madison, CT.

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