Charles T. Webber (December 31, 1825 – 5 April 1911) was an American painter. Webber created hundreds of paintings during his lifetime, including portraits, landscapes, mythological and historical scenes, as well as genre subjects. He was an active member in Cincinnati’s art scene, founding many artistic groups, and was also a prominent figure in the Underground Railroad. In Cincinnati in particular, Webber was held in high regard due to his artistic achievements.
Biography
Early life
Webber was born in Cayuga Lake, New York, on the 25th of December in 1825. When he was a child, Webber learned to paint and draw in a woodshed attic, which he used as his studio. Webber never had any formal art training as a youth. Aside from this, not much is known about Webber’s childhood.
Career
After moving to Springfield, Ohio in 1844, Webber was befriended by a fellow artist by the name of John Peter Frankenstein, who became his art teacher. Frankenstein, who taught Webber the medium of painting, is the only art teacher that Webber ever had. Once he had gained the skills, Webber was able to make a living through teaching students of his own, and by painting portraits.
Webber moved to Covington, Kentucky in 1858. At this time, he was able to gain employment in David R. Hoag’s Cincinnati studio as a photograph tinter. After this, Webber went on to open the Artists’ Photographic and Picture Gallery with his partners, fellow artists Joseph Oriel Eaton and James Mullen selling portraits and photographs. Despite the business' success, the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 caused the business to dissolve. This prompted Webber to move into his own art studio, which was located at 14 East Fourth Street. Webber remained in this studio, selling portraits, until the 1880s.
Through his involvement in many of Cincinnati's artistic groups and clubs, Webber was able to establish himself as an art educator. Through these ventures, he became a prominent and significant figure in Cincinnati's art scene.
Wanting to continue his career as an art educator, Webber took up a teaching position at the Ohio Mechanics Institute School of Design in 1878, teaching a life class.
Later years
During the later years of his life, Webber found time to learn the art of sculpture. In 1896, he created a bust of H. Thane Miller, who was the director of the Cincinnati House of Refuge, out of bronze.
In 1911, Webber died in his residence located in Riverside, Cincinnati, at the age of 85. He is buried in an unmarked grave which is located at Spring Grove Cemetery.
Contributions to the Underground Railroad
Painting
Webber's most famous contribution to the Underground Railroad is his painting of the same name. Webber completed this painting in 1893 for the World's Columbian Exposition of that year. The painting depicts a group of fugitives who are being led to freedom by abolitionists. Those depicted in the painting are friends of Webber—Hannah Haddock, Levi Coffin, and his wife, Catharine Coffin. Levi Coffin was a prominent abolitionist and was widely known throughout the movement. The painting is of particular significance to the movement due to the fact that it focuses on the abolitionists who brought southern slaves to freedom in the northern states, rather than the slaves themselves or the persecutors they fled.
Contributions to the Artistic Scene in Cincinnati
The Cincinnati Academy of Fine Arts on October 18, 1838. Aiming to gain higher quality facilities for those in the artistic community, the Academy sponsored a number of exhibitions. Charles T. Webber sponsored a large loan exhibition of American and European art alongside various art collectors.
Webber was also involved in Cincinnati's Sketch Club. He described the club's beginning as simple, with the club maintaining a profound sense of internal harmony until some wealthy merchants and preachers were included as honorary members. These members proved to bring about the group's eventual undoing, with the final meeting taking place on August 6, 1864, in Leon van Loo's studio. The Sketch Club is said to have had a major influence on the evolution of Cincinnati's artists and the artistic scene.