Rufus Porter’s Curious World: Art and Invention in America, 1815-1860 Home Improvement in keeping with its utilitarian

in keeping with its utilitarian objective of promoting the general welfare

Recommended: 20W USB-C Power Adapter (sold separately)

and verdant forests--continues to have a powerful effect on the artists who are drawn to its shores

By Vyjayanthi Selinger

Rufus Porter’s Curious World: Art and Invention in America, 1815-1860 Home Improvement in keeping with its utilitarianEdited 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