Alvah Bradish

Alvah Bradish was born in New York in 1806, where he first established a reputation as a portraitist. He traveled to Detroit and Cleveland in the 1830’s and 1840’s, ultimately settling in Detroit in 1851. There, he quickly gained recognition as one of the state’s leading artists. This reputation helped him to secure the first professorship in the Fine Arts at the University of Michigan, a position which he held from 1852 to 1863. Bradish was also a writer; his work includes a biography on state geologist Douglass Houghton, of whom he painted a portrait that now resides in the Capitol’s collection. By the end of his career, Bradish’s oeuvre encompassed over 500 portraits and included several of Michigan’s prominent state leaders.