Morning Frost

Maker William Savery Bucklin

PeriodDated November 22, 1908

MediumGraphite on paper glued to card board

Dimensions9.5 × 7 in. (24.1 × 17.8 cm)

SignedSigned lower right corner "Morning Frost 22nd Nov 08 WSB

ClassificationsDrawings

Credit LineGift of the Rockbridge Regional Library, 2023

Object number2023.9.2

DescriptionA graphite on paper sketch of two large pyramidal haystacks, with a smaller stack at right, low brush at left, with the morning mist producing a hazy background appearance. The paper is glued to a cream-colored cardboard backing.
Curatorial RemarksAlthough William Savery Bucklin produced sketches, drawings, and paintings of many of his travels and local areas, he returned again and again to the landscape of the former North American Phalanx. The Phalanx was founded in 1844 and based upon the transendentalist philosophy of Charles Fourier. Born in France, Fourier believed that the founding of small communities working together for their mutual benefit would be the way to end the world's problems and ultimately unite mankind. Founding members, which included numerous Bucklin family members, purchased the farmland once owned by Joseph Van Mater. The early years of the group were challenging and difficult. The community persisted, and eventually were able to add a number of workshops which provided income for the group. Among much else, the Phalanx operated a canning business, processing the harvests of Monmouth's farmers. Canned tomatoes were especially suiccessful. In 1847, the Phalanx community was able to build a grand main structure. Known as the Phalanstery, it contained 85 rooms, including apartments for single community members and families, a reading room, reception room, dining rooms, and much else. A fire in 1854 swept through many of the community's workshops, destroying the cannery and other industries. It was discovered that the community was grossly underinsured, resulting in the group's ultimate dissolution in 1856. Bucklin family members purchased much of the property and continued to use the Phalanx buildings. The old Phalanstery building appears to have been a favorite subject of William Savery Bucklin, who captured the structure in both daylight and nighttime, in fog, snow, and rain. Bucklin also sketched many of the surviving outbuildings and cottages scattered around the property. These haystacks were most likely on the Phalanx grounds, captured in morning frost by Bucklin.NotesWilliam Savery Bucklin was born in October 1851 at the North American Phalanx. His father, John Bucklin (1807-1895) and mother Lydia Eliza Sears (1811-1902) were prominent members of the utopian community located in Colts Neck. Bucklin was only three when a serious fire swept through the community, destroying a number of workshops and small production buildings on September 10, 1854. The Phalanx was found to be grossly underinsured, and the community did not have the funds to rebuild and reestablish itself after the fire. That, coupled with crushing debt incurred before the fire, caused the Phalanx shareholders and members to vote to dissolve the group. In January of 1856, the North American Phalanx was formally dissolved. After the dissolution, the property was divided up into lots and sold at auction. A number of the properties were purchased by former Phalanx members, including several Bucklin family members who would continue to live on the property for the next 80 years. The Bucklins rented out rooms in the old main building, known as the Phalanstery, to visiting artists and sightseers. One of these visitors, artist George Arnold, apparently gave William Bucklin his first drawing lessons. Bucklin sold his first drawing at the age of eleven and went on to study art at the Normal School in Boston, Massachusetts, then in New York where he became one of the first members of the Art Students League. Bucklin exhibited his work at numerous nationally recognized art venues including the Boston Art Club, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Brooklyn Art Association, the National Academy of Design, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Bucklin traveled extensively to such locations as California, the Adirondacks, and Florida, where he produced numerous study works. Bucklin favored landscapes and worked in pencil, pen and ink, watercolor, and oil on canvas. He favored the simple farmland in and around the former Phalanx property. In a 1919 review of one of Bucklin's exhibitions, a New York Tribune critic noted "His canvases possess, to a delightful degree, the quality of sunniness...there is charming individuality all the way through." Bucklin also assisted his father in the running of the restored cannery business. Originally started by the members of the North American Phalanx, the small cannery factory used local Monmouth produce, particularly Jersey tomatoes, to produce canned goods for local and regional stores.After his father's death in 1895, Bucklin continued running the cannery. His business sense was not good, and the cannery gradually declined until its bankruptcy in 1909. William Bucklin then moved with his wife, Anne M. Ashton (1861-1941) to Riverside, Connecticut, located near Greenwich and Cos Cob. Bucklin returned to the Phalanstery property numerous times and operated a small studio and gallery on the premises for many years. He died at the Phalanx on May 3, 1928, at the age of 77. His nephew, Alexander Wollcott, noted that "the last to go was Uncle Will. He had been born there and did his first toddling in that pretty ravine of which he painted the beech trees all his days."

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