Details
Title Otis, Bass
Date July 17, 1784- November 3, 1861
Description Bass Otis, Philadelphia portrait painter born July 17, 1784 in East Bridgewater, Ma., produced the first American lithograph in 1819. Son of physician Josiah Otis (1749-1808) and Susanna Orr (1752-1836), Otis worked as an apprentice to a scythe maker or a nail/tack manufacturer before entering the arts, possibly as a student of Gilbert Stuart in Boston. In 1808 Otis relocated to New York, purportedly studied with John Wesley Jarvis, and by 1810 had gained a reputation as an artist. Two years later, he arrived in Philadelphia and cemented his career in the field. Between 1812 and 1824, he was elected to the Society of Artists in the United States, Columbian Society of Artists, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he often exhibited.
During this period, the "ingenious and enterprising artist of Philadelphia," drew and printed the first extant American lithograph, a modest image of a mill that accompanied a six-page descriptive account of the process by University of Pennsylvania chemistry professor Thomas Cooper in the July 1819 edition of the "Analectic Magazine." The lithograph, for which he received $15 from the periodical, was drawn on Bavarian limestone borrowed from the American Philosophical Society for conducting "experiments in the art of lithographic engraving" by Otis and Dr. Samuel Brown, a physician and chemist.
Although Otis predominately focused on portrait painting after 1819, and worked and resided mainly in Philadelphia, he did draw a lithograph portrait for New York lithographer Albert Imbert in 1826. In addition, an undated lithographic stone signed by Otis with an image of "Christ Healing the Sick" is held in the collections of the National Historical Park, Philadelphia, Pa.
Otis was married in 1813 to Alice Pierie (1796-1842) with whom he had six children. During his residencies in Philadelphia, Otis lived in Center City, including the 500 block of Cherry Street during his experimentation with lithography. On November 3, 1816, Otis died in his residence at 805 Spring Garden Street and was buried in the cemetery of Christ Church.
Is part of Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
Call number Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
Bibliographic citation Census 1850, 1860
Groce & Wallace, 480
Jackson, "Some Notes Towards a History of Lithography in Philadelphia."
(Philadelphia, 1900), 11
Knoles, Notebook of Bass Otis (1993)
Library Company of Philadelphia research file
Peters, 303
Philadelphia Inquirer, November 4, 1861
WWWAA, 2485