Albert Fitch Bellows, 'Albert Bellows', 'A. F. Bellows': An outstanding nineteenth century American landscape artist, A. F. Bellows first studied architecture. He then accepted the post of Principal of the New England School of Design, Boston, remaining there from 1850 to 1856. Albert Bellows then resigned to complete his studies first in Paris and then in Antwerp at the Royal Academy. A. F. Bellows was elected to the Royal Society of Painters in Belgium several years later. Upon his return to the United States he lived and worked mainly in Boston until the great fire of 1872, in which his studio and much of his work was destroyed.
During the last decade of his life, Albert Fitch Bellows opened a very successful studio on Fourth Avenue in New York. It was at this time that he devoted much of his time to the original art of etching, becoming a member of the New York Etching Club, the Philadelphia Society of Etchers and the prestigious Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, London, England. Albert Bellows was elected an Associate of the National Academy of Design in 1859 and a full member in 1861.
"American Art Review": Inspired by the European etched art of James McNeill Whistler, Charles Meryon, Sir Francis Seymour Haden and others, a large number of American artists became seriously interested in the art of etching by 1875. A primary catalyst to the etching revival in America was the journal, American Art Review (1879-1881). Founded and edited by Sylvester Rosa Koehler it commissioned American artists for original etchings. Contributing etchers included such famous artists as Thomas and Peter Moran, Otto Bacher, J. M. Falconer, Robert Swain Gifford, Henry Farrer, Samuel Colman, John Foxcroft Cole James D. Smillie and Albert Fitch Bellows.
Due mostly to its lavish production costs the journal lasted only slightly over two years. The finely printed etchings it produced, however, served as a cornerstone for the many great American etchings of the early twentieth century.