Rufus Porter’s Curious World: Art and Invention in America, 1815-1860 Under Armour BOWDOIN embroidery on left chest

BOWDOIN embroidery on left chest

Paul Getty Museum

its land and its peoples

and the definition of identity

and activist

Rufus Porter’s Curious World: Art and Invention in America, 1815-1860 Under Armour BOWDOIN embroidery on left chestEdited by Laura Fecych Sprague and Justin Wolff Once called the Yankee Da Vinci, Rufus Porter was an itinerant portrait painter and muralist, a publisher and author, an inventor of mechanical improvements, and an impresario who engineered an airship that promised to fly gold rush prospectors from New York to California in three days. Through his diverse interests in painting, mechanics, aeronautics, and publishing, Rufus Porter helped transform art