Harvey Joiner 1852-1932
Born in Charlestown, Indiana April 8, 1852 Harvey Joiner showed artistic capability at an early age although he never received formal training or education in art. The family moved to Blue Lick, west of Memphis, Indiana, when Joiner was young. Harvey Joiner did many portraits for the first twenty years of his career including the first five governors of the state of Indiana. At age 16, he worked on a boat and began sketching scenes of African-Americans on the Mississippi River Boats, and by 1880, he had established a studio in Louisville, Kentucky and specialized in scenes of Kentucky beech woods mainly in Cherokee Park. He also painted allegorical subjects. His studio in Louisville, Kentucky had a fire and tragically he lost many of his paintings and sketches.
In the spring of 1874 he met a German portrait painter named Hoffman in St. Louis, and became his assistant and pupil. Joiner was a prolific painter, completing more than 5,000 paintings by 1929. He has become famous for his woodland scenes, especially of beech trees, and was exhibited all over the world. It is documented that he exhibited in a private gallery in Denmark in 1923. Joiner's works are noted for his unique use of light and shadow, recalling the great French landscape artists of the 19th century.
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