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<p>Lifelong Chagrin Falls resident Church is considered one of the great self-taught artists of 19th-century America. A painter, sculptor, and musician by passion, he offered his appearance and enthusiasms in this highly imaginative self-portrait, surrounding himself with a squadron of miniature winged muses. These figures represent not only the traditional arts of painting, sculpture, and music - but Church's profession of blacksmithing (identified as a crowned figure holding a hammer and anvil) as well.
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A savvy entrepreneur, Church launched the first commercial art gallery in northeast Ohio: Church's Art Museum, at Geauga Lake, in 1888. Its inventory consisted entirely of his own work.</div>
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Henry Church</div>
<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://clevelandart.org/art/2012.30">https://clevelandart.org/art/2012.30</a>