"Painting has been a smiling mistress to many, but she has been a cruel jilt to me. I did not abandon her, she abandoned me."
-Samuel F.B. Morse, 1834
-Samuel F.B. Morse, 1834
"MORSE FELT 'JILTED' BY THE PUBLIC'S LACK OF RESPONSE TO HIS GREAT WORKS." -Interview with PJ Brownlee, Terra Foundation for American Art |
"HE WAS APPALLED AND HURT. HOW COULD HIS FELLOW AMERICANS BE SO INDIFFERENT TO THE CHARMS OF GREAT ART?" -Interview with Paul Staiti, Author of Samuel F.B. Morse |
1834: A Strong Reaction
Gay Myers, Independent Conservator. 2012. Taylor Walsh
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"SAMUEL MORSE WAS JUST SORT OF TONE DEAF IN TERMS OF WHAT PEOPLE WANTED TO SEE."
-Gay Myers, 'Gallery of the Louvre' Conservator "SAMUEL MORSE WAS NOT AN ALTOGETHER SYMPATHETIC CHARACTER. HE KIND OF BECAME A GRUMPY OLD GUY. MORSE WAS VERY UNHAPPY WITH THE WAY THINGS WERE GOING IN AMERICA." -Interview with Gay Myers, 'Gallery of the Louvre' Conservator |
1835: Turning to the Telegraph
Following the public's rejection of Samuel Morse's 'Gallery of the Louvre,' Morse was passed over to paint one of the four historical murals inside the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Some believe Morse's outspoken anti-Catholic and anti-immigration views may have played a role. By 1835, Morse had turned all of his attention to work on the telegraph.
"While a professor of arts and design at New York University in 1835, Samuel Morse proved that signals could be transmitted by wire. He used pulses of current to deflect an electromagnet, which moved a marker to produce written codes on a strip of paper - the invention of Morse Code." - Mary Bellis