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John Henry Dick

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American naturalist and bird artist
John Henry Dick
BornMay 12, 1919
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedSeptember 18, 1995(1995-09-18) (aged 76)
Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
Alma materYale School of Art
Parent(s)William Karl Dick
Madeleine Force Astor
RelativesJohn Jacob Astor VI (half-brother)

John Henry Dick (May 12, 1919 – September 18, 1995) was an American naturalist and wildlife artist who specialized in birds.

Early life

Dick was born in at his parents' townhouse in Brooklyn, New York on May 12, 1919. His parents were William Karl Dick and Madeleine Talmage Force. Madeleine survived the RMS Titanic sinking where her first husband John Jacob Astor IV died, and had a posthumously born son named John Jacob Astor VI with him. Dick also had an elder full brother named William Force Dick.

He grew up in Manhattan and at the age of seven he shot a golden-crowned kinglet. He frequently visited the American Museum of Natural History where he met Frank Chapman, James Chapin, Robert Cushman Murphy and Roy Chapman Andrews. He was also able to observe Francis Lee Jaques work on paintings in the backgrounds of exhibits. His great-grandfather, William Dick, was an early investor in the National Sugar Refining Co., of which his father was a director. Dick went to Brooks School where his grades were poor but shortly before graduating in 1936, his headmaster Frank D. Ashburn had him paint a mural in the dining hall. He spent some time on Dixie Plantation in Charleston County near Meggett that his mother had come to own. Here, around 1937-38, he was tutored by John Moffett. He then studied at the Yale School of Art. His mother restored the home in Dixie Plantation, but it burned down in 1939 and his mother died shortly after. In 1941, he joined the United States Air Force during World War II, visiting the South Pacific Islands. When the war came to an end he was on Iwo Jima. After the war he went to live on Dixie Plantation where he built a house in 1947.

Career

John Henry Dick illustrated numerous books on birds including South Carolina Bird Life (1949), Florida Birdlife (1954), The Warblers of America (1957), A Gathering of Shore Birds (1960), Carolina Lowcountry Impressions (1964), A pictorial guide to the birds of the Indian subcontinent (1983) and The Birds of China (1984). He also published an illustrated autobiographical book in 1979 titled Other Edens: The Sketchbook of an Artist Naturalist which won a national conservation award from the Garden Club of America in 1984.

The Dixie Plantation estate beside the Stono River had a variety of habitats on 900 acres where he encouraged birds. Apart from bird art, he also took an interest in photography and lectured at the Charleston Natural History Society and travelled around the world to observe birds.

Personal life

Dick turned blind towards the end of his life and died on his estate which was then bequeathed to the College of Charleston.

References

  1. Sanders, Albert E.; Anderson, William Dewey (1999). Natural History Investigations in South Carolina: From Colonial Times to the Present. University of South Carolina Press. p. 199. ISBN 9781570032783. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  2. "SECOND SON TO MRS. DICK | Mother Was Widow of Col. John Jacob Astor, Lost on Titanic". The New York Times. 15 May 1919. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  3. ^ "WILLIAM DICK DIES; AN INDUSTRIALIST; Director of the National Sugar Refining Co., Best Foods, Inc., and Irving Trust Was 65". The New York Times. 6 September 1953. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  4. "MRS. FIERMONTE DEAD IN FLORIDA; Former Madeleine Force Was Married to Col. Astor, W.K. Dick and Italian Boxer SURVIVOR OF THE TITANIC Gave Up Fortune to Marry Again, Then Got Divorce to Wed Pugilist". The New York Times. 28 March 1940. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  5. Smith, Mac (2014). Mainers on the Titanic. Down East Books. p. 175. ISBN 9781608933051. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  6. "WILLIAM F. DICK". The New York Times. 5 December 1961. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  7. "ACCEPT OFFER BY DICK; Mrs. Fiermonte's Executors Agree to Compromise on Claims". The New York Times. 17 December 1940. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  8. Hutchisson, James (October 2011). "Finding Eden". Charleston Magazine.
  9. "MRS. DICK'S ESTATE LEFT TO 2 OF SONS; William F. and John H. to Get Principal of Age of 28". The New York Times. 10 April 1940. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  10. ^ "John Henry Dick journals, 1947-1987 SCHS 34/0655" (PDF). schistory.org. South Carolina Historical Society. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  11. "John Henry Dick (1919-1995)". www.internetantiquegazette.com. Internet Antique Gazette. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  12. Sanders, Albert E.; Anderson, William Dewey (1999). Natural History Investigations in South Carolina: From Colonial Times to the Present. University of South Carolina Press. pp. 228–229.

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