Last of the Orchard (Burning Brush in the Orchard)

Period1909

Place MadeColts Neck, New Jersey, U.S.A.

MediumCharcoal and graphite on paper mounted on cardboard

Dimensions10.25 × 5.88 in. (26 × 14.9 cm)

Signed"Last of the Orchard / W.S.B. '09" lower right corner. On verso, "Burning Brush in the Orchard" written in pencil along the top left corner.

ClassificationsDrawings

Credit LineGift of Rockbridge Regional Library, 2023

Object number2023.9.46

DescriptionA dark and moody scene in graphite and heavy charcoal on paper, appearing to be a night scene with small bonfires or brushfires scattered around a dark and flat landscape.
Curatorial RemarksThe North American Phalanx consisted of 673 acres which included the large residence building, the even larger Phalanstery building completed in 1847, barns, outbuildings, small workshops and production buildings. The NAP operated numerous money-making businesses and craft shops, including a working farm, a flour mill, a cannery, and a laundry. Eighty acres of the property were devoted to apple and peach orchards, which provided the produce for the Phalanx's small yet successful canning production business. In a small booklet written by William's brother, Charles Sears, in 1886, Charles noted that "a fair proportion of the land was appropriated to fruit culture, including the peach, apple, pear, grape, quince, etc., and the apple plantations are still among the finest orchards in the state." Phalanx members could opt to sign up to work in one of four agricultural areas, of which "Orchard" was one. The Phalanx also produced some of the earliest boxed cold cereal for the market. This dark and moody scene by William Savery Bucklin appears to capture the end of the old orchards, with slowly dimming bonfires of piles of apple and peach wood.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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