By Kate Hesseldenz, Curator
Liberty Hall Historic Site owns eight Paul Sawyier paintings. Six of these were likely collected by Brown family members. Though not born in Frankfort, Paul Sawyier (1865-1917) and his family moved to the capital city in 1870. While living in Frankfort, Sawyier created watercolor landscape paintings of his central Kentucky surroundings.
He also painted portraits and worked in oils. Sawyier was influenced by American Impressionism and studied with Impressionist artist, William Merritt Chase, in New York City in 1889.
Four of our Sawyier paintings appear on 1950s inventories, indicating they likely belonged to members of the Brown family. Also, two of our paintings depict the garden behind Liberty Hall and the Orlando Brown House. What were the connections between Paul Sawyier and the Browns?
Paul Sawyier Tintype, 1900
Sawyier knew several Brown family members including Mason P. Brown, Hord Brown and Sam Brown.
Mason Preston Brown (1873-1941), the great-grandson of John Brown, was Paul Sawyier’s close friend and a patron of his work. [i] Mason grew up in the Orlando Brown House and later owned the Frankfort Drug Company that was located on the ground floor of 238 West Main Street. He owned the company from 1905 until his death in 1941.
Mason was a member of the Elks Club and the grand commandery of Knights Templar, No. 4. [ii] Sawyier, too, was a member of the Knights Templar and he held exhibits at the Elks Club lodge and other local organizations. [iii] Prior to entering the drug business, Mason worked at Guy Barrett’s bookstore on Main St. Barrett was one of Sawyier’s close friends. [iv] During a re-matting project in 2018, the discovery of “Mr. Brown” written in pencil on what was likely the original mat board of the painting Path to the Creek, suggests that one of the Brown men originally owned this painting; it was likely Mason P. Brown.
Endnotes
[i] Coffey, William, Paul Sawyier Kentucky Artist: An Historical Chronology of His Life, Art, Friends, and Times from Old Frankfort to the Catskills. Frankfort Heritage Press (2010).
[ii] Mason P. Brown obituary, 1941, Liberty Hall Historic Site Collections
[iii] “Brought Home for Burial,” The Frankfort Roundabout, January 21, 1899 and Coffey, William, Paul Sawyier Kentucky Artist: An Historical Chronology of His Life, Art, Friends, and Times from Old Frankfort to the Catskills. Frankfort Heritage Press (2010).
[iv] Coffey, William, Paul Sawyier Kentucky Artist: An Historical Chronology of His Life, Art, Friends, and Times from Old Frankfort to the Catskills. Frankfort Heritage Press (2010).