Joseph Dwight Strong, Jr. (September 15, 1853, Connecticut - April 5, 1899) was an American artist. The son of a minister, his childhood was spent in Honolulu with his family for a few years before moving to Oakland, California in 1859. He later enrolled at the California School of Design. Residents of Oakland, California raised funds to send Strong to Munich for four years of further study under Carl von Piloty and Alexander Wagner. He was also an early photographer. There are photos of Berkeley attributed to J.D. Strong. After his return in 1877, Strong briefly shared a house in Monterey with his sister Elizabeth, but was soon back in San Francisco where he was much sought after as a portraitist. In 1879 he married Isobel Osbourne, the step daughter of the writer Robert Louis Stevenson. Stevenson described him in "The Silverado Squatters" as a great omelet maker. The couple traveled to Hawaii in 1882, where they lived for several years. In 1886, King David Kalakaua appointed Joseph Dwight Strong government artist to the Kaimiloa expedition to Samoa. His child, Austin Strong (who became a playwright) was born there. The Strongs had a second boy, but he died before his first birthday. When Stevenson and wife (Fanny) and Isobel's brother Lloyd came to visit in Hawaii, Joseph was invited to go island hopping in the South Pacific. His wife and young son were sent to Australia while Strong went off with Stevenson. Once the Stevsensons were settled in Samoa, Strong and his wife joined them there in 1891. Strong had an affair with a Samoan girl which resulted in his divorce from Isobel and his rejection by Stevenson. His son Austin was legally adopted by Stevenson. Much of the diaries and letters published by Stevenson and his family after the divorce deleted Joseph from from their records. Several photographs were destroyed or altered. In 1895, he returned to San Francisco. Joseph Dwight Strong died April 5, 1899. The Honolulu Academy of Arts and the Oakland Museum of California hold works by Joseph Dwight Strong.
Paintings
 'Japanese Laborers on Spreckelsville Plantation', oil on canvas painting by Joseph Dwight Strong, 1885 |
 Joseph Dwight Strong's oil on canvas painting 'Hawaiian Fisherman near Diamond Head', 1895, 10 x 22 in. |
 Joseph Dwight Strong's 'King Kalakaua Jubilee Mural' |
References
- Forbes, David W., Encounters with Paradise: Views of Hawaii and its People, 1778-1941, Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1992, 174-212.
- Moors, H.J., With Stevenson In Samoa, Small, Maynard & Company, 1910.
- Stevenson, Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson, Our Samoan Adventure, Harper & Brothers, 1955
- Field, Isobel, This LIfe I've Loved, Longmans, Green And Co, 1937
