Henry Farny (1847-1916)

In 1884, the Ohio flooded again. And, once again, Farny produced illustrations for Harper’s Weekly, this time appearing in the February 25, 1884, issue. This image appears on page 121:…

In March 1884 one of the largest riots in American history took place in Cincinnati. The match that lit the crowd’s flame was a defendant who was charged with manslaughter…

The September 07, 1884, issue of the Cincinnati Enquirer, page 12, noted that Farny had been sketching in a government annex in D.C. for a piece to be published in…

The April 1883 issue of Century Magazine published an article on the Washington, D.C., capitol that included a picture by Farny. It’s highly likely Farny may have sketched this in…

The winter flood of 1883 was a historic event. Up and down the Ohio river water devastated cities and towns. Being on the scene in Cincinnati, Farny had two of…

Farny captured the grand procession of the Order of Cincinnator that was featured on the cover of the September 15, 1883, issue of Harpers Weekly.

The Cincinnati Dramatic Festival was held in the city’s Music Hall April 30-May 5, 1883. As early as late March that year, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Farny was at…

Joaquin Miller wrote a story called “Lost on the Plains” for the October 1884 issue of St. Nicholas Magazine. The story included two paintings by Farny. The first painting that…

The April 1883 issue of St. Nicholas Magazine includes a story called Onawandah by Louisa M. Alcott and an illustration by Farny on page 445.

In the Summer of 1883, Louisville, Kentucky, held a Southern Exposition. Farny attended both as an artist on behalf of Harper’s Weekly and an exhibitor, showing The Last Vigil and…

Farny did three illustrations for a story in the August 1883 issue of St. Nicholas Magazine written by Reverend Charles R. Talbot called “The Lady of Chingachgook“. The name Chingachgook…

In 1882 Farny completed an oil painting titled “After Many Days”. The painting, put on exhibition at Wiswells, is based on a poem by Heinrich Heine, a German poet. There…

The February 03, 1883, issue of Harper’s Weekly includes a broad look at a scene inside Cincinnati Opera House. The play is Lohengrin. The image below can be found at…

In September of 1885 the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette reported that Farny planned to spend a month traveling about Western New York and Warren, Pennsylvania. It seems likely he also visited…

Henry Farny and Eugene V. Smalley, editor at Northwest Magazine, had just completed a month long ride as part of Villard’s 1883 Last Spike Procession, taking them from St. Paul…

Eli F. Brown included at least ten illustrations of Farny’s in this book written for children on the harms of alcohol and tobacco. An advocate of both vices, one wonders…

The McGuffey Eclectic Primer wasn’t published until 1881, two years after most of the others were updated and published. Again, it’s likely Farny designed the cover, but I can’t locate…

Here’s another Eclectic Series book that Farny had a hand in designing, the McGuffey Eclectic Spelling Book. I can’t find a good enough cover pic to locate his Symbol signature,…

In 1878, Author Ebenezer Baldwin Andrews authored a text book on geology titled: An Elementary Geology: Designed Especially for the Interior States. Given Van Antwerp, Bragg & Company was the…

Here’s another project between Dr. William Venable and Henry Farny. The Teacher’s Dream came out to good reviews in late 1880 (though the book wasn’t published until 1881) and told,…

Farny’s design of Eclectic Series books included more than just illustrating images. In this book, thanks to the foresight of the American Book Company and the archives at Syracuse University,…

In February of 1890 the Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Farny’s newest illustration, “The Closing Hour” was displayed in Robert Clarke & Co’s window. Farny was hired to make the illustration…

In 1906, the Cincinnati Art Museum held its annual art exhibit. Included in that exhibit was Farny’s The Coming of the Fire Horse, according to an article in the July…

In 1915 the Cincinnati Museum featured a showing of Farny’s works two years before he passed away. There are some unique painting names that don’t appear in any other exhibits…

Below is a text version of the original 1943 Farny exhibition held at the Cincinnati Art Museum, interspersed with scans of the original document. HENRY F. FARNYAND THE AMERICAN INDIAN…

A Clevelander by birth, Frank Wiborg moved to Cincinnati, attending high school at the Chickering Scientific and Classical Institute. In 1878, he co-launched, with Levi Ault, Ault & Wiborg, a…

In early February 1895, a group of friends, acquaintances of Farny, met to ponder two paintings recently completed by Farny, one titled The Big Chief and the other The Medicine…

William Henry Withrow’s book The Native Races of North America was published in 1895 and included two images by Farny. However, both images had been previous used thirteen years earlier…

The December 09, 1882, issue of St. Nicholas Magazine featured Coasting on Lake Winnipeg, a tale from Edmund A. Struthers, a Canadian whose authoring history is little known. This was…

In either 1891 or 1892 Farny painted a picture showing two men navigating a river in canoes, with a man in a primitive shelter watching from the shore. Of note…