McClees Galleries

ESTABLISHED 1845

EARLY HISTORY SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

EARLY HISTORY

James E. McClees, founder of McClees Galleries, was born in 1821 in Chester City, PA. He began his career as a photographer in 1844 by working for M. P. Simons. The first daguerreian shop he opened was in 1845 at 80-1/2 Walnut Street in Philadelphia with a partner, Washington L. Germon. The gallery moved several times along Chestnut Street throughout the 1850s and 1860s. In 1853, McClees purchased Whipple’s patent for making crystalotypes (salt prints from albumen negatives), and in 1854, McClees went to Boston to take lessons from John W. Black. He then wrote a 40 page pamphlet entitled “Elements of Photography” which described his photographic processes and how much he charged for them.

“Destructive Fire

Philadelphia, Thursday, March 1

About 1 o’clock this morning a fire broke out in Fisher’s block on Chestnut-street, below Seventh. It commenced in the room occupied by Messers Bright and Weller as a publication office, who lost $5,000. The whole upper part of the building was destroyed. The following is the amount of loss: McClees and Germon, daguerreotypists, $8,000 … The fire is said to have occurred from a defect in the flue of the furnace.” From New York Daily Times, March 2, 1855

By the late 1850s, McClees & Co. was a thriving business. Dubbed “The Philadelphia Photographic Imporium”, McClees employed 14 people, including 6 artists and had a mail order business.

“We call attention to Mr. McClees’s Advertisement of Photographs. His workmanship is very fine. The portraits in his gallery are lifelike, and present their subjects under their best aspects. We have been repeatedly asked for our portrait. Those who desire it will learn by the advertisement where it may be had. Our readers will pardon this personal reference, but it seemed to be necessary.” From National Era, December 30, 1858

In 1867, James McClees became a dealer and collector in oil paintings. His son took over the gallery and ran it until his retirement in 1920.

“Philadelphia, Feb. 1 – James E. McClees, art collector, former head of the the J. E. McClees & co. Art Galleries, died today of heart disease at the age of 75. He became associated with his father, founder of the art galleries in 1875, became director of the firm in 1887 and headed it until his retirement in 1920. He served with the Pennsylvania National Guard during the riots in Pittsburgh in 1877 and was a member of the First Regiment Veterans Corps, N.G.P.” from New York Times, February 2, 1934

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

1916: “Philadelphia’s First Exhibition of Advanced Modern Art”

1930, October:

Turkish-born artist David Paige exhibited his series of paintings of the exploits of Admiral Byrd and expedition to Antarctica. Although he had never been to the polar regions, he was able to paint the region from descriptions.

1923: Mary Cassatt

1924: Mary Cassatt

1931: Mary Cassatt

1932: French Art

McClees was the first gallery in America to represent Mary Cassatt while she lived in France. She participated in exhibits in 1923, 1924, 1931, and in an exhibition of French art in April, 1932. The survey of French covered 3 generations of artists, from Rococo and Claude Jean Baptiste Horn, Peirre Bonnard and Andre Dunoyer de Segozac, to Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Cezanne, Renoir, Van Gogh, and Seurat.

1933, May:

Pennsylvania Impressionist Walter Emerson Baum, had his first one man show at the gallery. On view were 38 works, mostly landscapes that he painted in the preceding 3 years. He received good reviews from the Philadelphia papers. The Inquirer referred to him as the "artist, critic, and arch-apostle, in his art, to the countryside of Bucks, Montgomery, Berks, and Lehigh counties, where, in truth, much simple homely beauty is to be found. He has a fine flair for those atmospheric differences . . . among the seasons."

1944, March: Peale Family Exhibition

RETURN TO TOP