Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Reich, Jacques

REICH, Jacques, artist, b. in Waniskoltz, Hungary, 10 Aug., 1852. He was a pupil of William Adolphe Bouguereau and Robert Fleury, studied art in Budapest, and in 1873 came to the United States, where he continued his studies at the Academy of fine arts in Philadelphia. He has devoted his time to drawing in black and white, and has executed numerous portraits in charcoal. In 1879 he went to Paris for the purpose of continuing his studies, and remained under the instruction of the above-mentioned masters for a year. Returning to Philadelphia, he turned his attention to drawing in pen and ink lor illustrating books, and to etching. In 1885 he came to New York and made all the pen-and-ink portraits for Scribner's “Cyclopædia of Painters and Paintings,” as well as numerous others for periodicals. Early in June, 1886, he began to execute the sixteen hundred vignette portraits for this work, to which task he gave almost exclusive attention till it was completed in December, 1888. Eleven years later Mr. Reich prepared the portraits included in the present volume. He has also executed large etchings of Bryant, Lowell, Whittier, and other American poets.