SALA BOSWORTH (1805-1890)
Sala Bosworth is one of Ohio's most prolific and earliest known artists. Thirteen years after Ohio became a state, Bosworth's family settled in Marietta. He began his formal training as an artist when he went to Philadelphia to study painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1827. Upon his return to Marietta a few years later, he found himself to be in great demand as a portrait painter. Typical of many painters during this period, Bosworth traveled to nearby communities like Athens, Chillicothe, and Belpre in search of commissions, though he always returned to Marietta.
In addition to portrait painting, for which he is most well-known, Bosworth also painted landscapes of the Marietta area and completed a series of drawings for Samuel P. Hildreth's book Pioneer History of the Ohio Valley. These paintings and the drawings, both created from early Marietta settler's reminiscences as told to Bosworth, are a unique combination of oral history and artistic interpretation.
Later in life Bosworth began to lose his eyesight and turned to watercolors instead of oil paints. It was during this period that he opened a wholesale grocery store. Bosworth also served as Washington County Auditor (1846-1854) and as Marietta Postmaster (1861-1870). He died in Cincinnati at his daughter's home in 1890.
exhibit painting ||
other Sala Bosworth items ||
exhibit introduction
Email questions or comments regarding this exhibit to the History Collections staff, kfeinknopf@ohiohistory.org
HOME || INDEX || TOP OF PAGE
http://www.ohiohistory.org/resource/audiovis/exhibit/artists/bosbio.html || Last updated 18 January 1997
For questions or comments on the website itself, email webmaster@ohiohistory.org
Ohio Historical Society - 1982 Velma Avenue - Columbus, OH - 43211.2497 - 614.297.2300
© 1996 All Rights Reserved.