John F. Carlson Salmagundi Club Thumb Box Oil Painting c. 1920

Originally called the New York Sketch Class, and later called the New York Sketch Club, the Salmagundi Club had its beginnings in 1871 when a group of artists, students, and friends at the National Academy of Design, gathered weekly on Saturday evenings. The roster of its members reads more like a "Who's Who in American Art," rather than a group of local friends who enjoyed social camaraderie, and includes such notables as Howard Pyle, William Merritt Chase, Maynard Dixon, Thomas Moran, Augustus Saint Gaudens, Howard Chandler Christy, Dean Cornwell, John Philip Sousa, Childe Hassam, Stanford White, Gari Melchers, Emil Carlsen, N.C. Wyeth, Frank Tenney Johnson, Eanger Irving Couse, and Edgar Payne. Today the Club offers programs including art classes, exhibitions, painting demonstrations, and art auctions throughout the year for members and the general public.

The first mention of the Thumb Box exhibition appears in an April 1908 edition of the New York Times. The Charles Vezin Prize of $100 was first instituted in 1911 for best sketch and in 1912, the second year for the prize, Carlson's submission won. It now hangs in the Salmagundi Club. Submissions for the Thumb Box exhibit often numbered in the hundreds and it's safe to say that a painting entered into the exhibit represented the artist's best work.

Item ID: 4049JFC