SILVESTER R. KOEHLER. 557 



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

 " 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 iu America, to the " Zeitschrift ftir bildende Kunst" and other 

 periodicals in Germany, and to a few of the London publications. 



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 Arts, 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 appointment 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 showed 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 great 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 pul)lic abuses, bitterly conscious of the injustices of the 

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

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

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

 department distinguished for unfailing, unwearied courtesy to all seekers 

 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 the copious notes, 

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

 of Albert Diirer, of Blake, Mcryon, Seymour-Haden, the Cheneys, and 

 on various other occasions. Notable amonc; these was that for an exhibi- 

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

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



