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Samuel Conkey (American 1830-1904) Sundown
Oil on canvas, 11.5 x 19.5 inches/Signed lower right
Take a moment with this painting. Notice what it stirs in you. Not decor, but a story you get to keep looking at. This is the piece people ask about the moment they walk in.
Conkey was born in New York City and lived there until circa 1867. During his lifetime, Conkey was best known for his sculptures in stone and clay. He was lauded for these, as noted in a Philadelphia Evening Bulletin letter to the editor, December 30, 1865:
“Permit me to call attention through your columns, to a very beautiful, and, in some respects, remarkable work of art, lately placed on exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts [Philadelphia], by the contributors to the Artists’ Sketch Club. I refer to the statuette by Samuel Conkey, illustrating the well-known poem “In the Wilderness,” by our townsman, G.H. Boker.”
Conkey moved to Chicago Illinois circa 1867 and remained in Chicago until the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed his property and he returned to New York, residing in Brooklyn where he remained until his death. However, he must have lived, at least for a time, in Detroit, Michigan, whether it was before or after his time in Chicago is unknown; he is listed as a charter member of the Detroit Institute of Art.
Conkey, also a talented painter, executed landscapes in the manner of the Hudson River school artists – somewhat romantic scenes, and with this painting “Sundown,” incorporating the drama of a fiery horizon. At the time of his death in 1904, he had completed a book, which he was planning to publish under the title, “Leaves from an Artist’s Sketchbook.”
Conkey was a member of the Detroit Art Association and exhibited there (1883) and exhibited at the National Academy of Design (NYC, 1867-90).