John C. Van Dyke
John C. Van Dyke was a prominent American figure born on April 21, 1856, near New Brunswick, New Jersey, coming from a wealthy and influential family. After studying law at Columbia University and briefly working as a librarian, he became the first art history professor at Rutgers University. His interactions with cultural luminaries like Theodore Roosevelt and Mark Twain, as well as his role as an art advisor to Andrew Carnegie, positioned him within elite artistic circles. Van Dyke is perhaps best known for his book "The Desert," where he transformed perceptions of the desert landscape from a harsh environment into a site of beauty and inspiration. Despite some factual inaccuracies, the work became immensely popular and is credited with shaping desert literature and America's appreciation of nature. Throughout his career, he also made significant contributions to art criticism, publishing influential works that examined the beauty of art and its appreciation. Van Dyke's legacy lies in his unique ability to blend art and nature, influencing both literary and artistic movements of his time. His work continues to resonate as it reflects changing attitudes toward the natural world and artistic expression.
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Subject Terms
John C. Van Dyke
Fiction Writer
- Born: April 21, 1856
- Birthplace: Green Oaks mansion, near New Brunswick, New Jersey
- Died: December 5, 1932
- Place of death: New York, New York
Biography
John C. Van Dyke was born into a wealthy and influential family on April 21, 1856, near New Brunswick, New Jersey. After declining an appointment to West Point, he entered Columbia University where he studied law. Although he was admitted to the bar in 1877, he never practiced law. Instead he became a librarian at the New Brunswick Theological Seminary where he became interested in the art and culture of the time. By the time he was appointed as the library’s director, he had published two books on art and literature appreciation.
Several years after his appointment as director, he became the first art history professor at Rutgers University. With his reputation as an art critic already established, he became acquainted with important figures such as Theodore Roosevelt and Mark Twain, as well as with international art museums and influential art patrons. He worked for Andrew Carnegie as his art advisor, which put him in contact with the cultural elite. At the time, the wealthy chose to distance themselves from the less fortunate. One of the ways that they achieved this goal was the Art for Art’s Sake movement where beauty, especially the beauty of the natural world, was held in high esteem. When Van Dyke traveled to the Southwest for health reasons, he applied the principles of Art for Art’s Sake to the writing of his classic book, The Desert.
The Desert became extremely popular not just with the wealthy, but for the entire reading public. Van Dyke was the first writer to demystify the desert as a harsh, unforgiving place into a place where the beauty of nature was abundant. His vivid descriptions of the desert landscape were both romantic and informative. Although the book contains many factual errors about the desert environment and its inhabitants, this was forgiven because he was a poet and art lover, not a scientist. The importance of the book was its impact on how Americans viewed the West. In particular, his celebration of the desert as a place of endless beauty turned what was once despised into a national treasure. Van Dyke’s book was the inspiration for the entire genre of desert literature, and led the way for other desert writers such as Joseph Wood Krutch and Edward Abbey.
During his lifetime, Van Dyke was better known as an art critic. He published several books on the subject, including Principles of Art and Art for Art’s Sake: Seven University Lectures on the Technical Beauties of Painting, among others. He published numerous articles on art appreciation, nature writing, and travel in the trend-setting magazines of the day. Although his influence as an art critic overshadowed his accomplishment in the writing The Desert, more recently the book has been recognized because of the immediate impact it had on travel writing and on America’s fascination with nature.