Edward William Clay the early to mid 19th century artist and engravers prices have doubled in the last decade. He's known for Philadelphia satirical paintings drawings and prints detailing the poor blacks in the south and he's also known for his political commentary etchings and his Methodist Camp Meeting Rare Stone lithograph where none in the last 50 years have sold. His political commentary prints of Andrew Jackson are also in big demand though there only a few scarce ones left. Just in the last decade they've gone from $5,000 to nearly $14,000 for a single print. Heritage just recently sold one for $13,750.
Edward William Clay is also known for his drawings and etchings of silhouette figures in the Victorian era but they command $100 to $500 in price for them. What is amazing is the taking off in price of his political Prints.
Methodist Camp Meeting by Edward Williams Clay and Henry R. Robinson, 1836
Camp meetings were a popular form of Protestant worship throughout the 19th century. Lasting several days, these open-air events often involved ecstatic communal prayer. Hundreds and even thousands came from miles around for preaching and worship, and to enjoy the festival-like atmosphere. In this hand colored print a large crowd in a clearing in the woods. The foreground scene depicts a quiet, peaceful group of men, women, and in this print two boys. A Black couple are depicted in the lower right near the two children. There is a muzzled dog depicted in the lower left. Some sedately sit on benches, while others kneel on the ground in prayer, stroll about in conversation, or stand listening to a minister. The minister with five men standing behind him is preaching from a covered platform on the left side of the print. This platform is a wood box-like structure, open halfway from the men's waists to the roof to form a commanding pulpit. In the background under a copse of tall trees and a jewel toned teal blue sky are several white tents with numbers and letters listed on them, and one lists Brooklyn No. 5, another A.R. No2. These presumably correspond with congregations from various locations.
The print was drawn by artist/lithographer Edward Williams Clay and printed and published in 1836 by Henry R. Robinson. Edward Williams Clay (1799-1857) came from a large, well off Philadelphia family. He began working as a political caricaturist in 1828 and was throughout his artistic career an engraver, lithographer, etcher, and portrait painter. Before his career as an artist began in earest Clay was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar, but quickly left to pursue art, first in Philadelphia starting in 1819 and then in in New York City. His step-father, who was a jeweler and silversmith appears to have fostered his artistic nature in design.Clay and Robinson specialized in political caricatures particularly Major Jack Downing,.in theater portraits, and sheet music. By the mid 1830's he was working in New York and partnering frequently with Henry R. Pobinson, who published much of his work through 1838 and then from 1843-1856. He worked with John Childs from 1838-1844. After losing his eyesight, he retired from art and held minor office in Delaware before his death in December of 1857.
Henry R. Robinson, was a caricaturist and lithographer in New York City. He was listed as a carver and gilder from 1833-34, as a caricaturist from 1836-43 and as a lithographer and print publisher from 1843-51, though he published Edward Williams Clay's work often from 1834-1856. Henry Robinson was known for political prints that championed the causes of the Whig Party (which later merged with the Republican Party) and satirized the opposing Democratic Party. New York state historian Peter C. Welsh has called Henry Robinson the "Printmaker to the Whig Party".
