SYLVESTER R. KOEHLER. 557 



two years its publication ceased, its projector modestly claimed that it bad 

 " quickened somewhat the forces at work iu the healthy development of 

 art in the United States." 



Contributions without number flowed from his pen to magazines and 

 journals in America, to the " Zeitschrift fur bildende Kunst" ami other 

 periodicals in Germany, ami to a few of the Loudon publication-. 



For a while he held the appointment of Curator of the Section of 

 Graphic Arts in the United States National Museum at Washington. 



When, in 1888, the Trustees of the Museum of Fine Art-, Boston, 

 found themselves under the necessity of appointing a Curator of the 

 Department of Prints, Koehler was the expert to whom they turned 

 without hesitation. His appoiutment to this curatorship gave him the 

 position for which his previous career had fitted him. To the years 

 passed in the Prang establishment he owed a mastery of every detail of 

 the technical processes used in the Graphic Arts. This technical knowl- 

 edge was supplemented by an artistic temperament, which Bhowed itself 

 also in his fondness for music, in his love of verse, and his skill, though 

 a moderate one, with the pencil. Years of study, too, had given him 

 an intimate acquaintance with the history of his art, and confirmed his 

 judgment. He was an admirable critic of work, both creative and tech- 

 nical. These were rare qualifications for the post offered. In it he not 

 only became the ultimate authority in the land of his adoption, but his 

 knowledge and judgment were held in gnat esteem in the art centres of 

 Europe. 



A man of strong individuality, of critical mind, interested in all prob- 

 lems of life and religion, a bold thinker on questions of social reform, a 

 sharp critic of public abuses, bitterly conscious of the injustices of tin- 

 world as compared with the ideal life he pictured in verse, he was a 

 radical in his views of bettering human institutions. Vet he was a sym- 

 pathetic friend, sociable, of quaint humor, and in the conduct of his 

 department distinguished for unfailing, unwearied courtesy to all seeker- 

 for information. 



At the Museum his career was one of ceaseless activity. Numerous 

 exhibitions were held, the catalogues of which offered the opportunity to 

 impart his knowledge in the introductions and in tin- copious nol 

 descriptive, explanatory, and critical, of the etched work of Rembrandt, 

 of Albert Durer, of Blake, Meryon, Seymour-Haden, the Cheneys, and 

 on various other occasions. Notable among these was thai tor an exhibi- 

 tion in 1892, " Illustrating the Technical Methods of the Reproductive 

 Arts from the XV. Century." -with special reference to the phot.,. 



