Frederick William Kost, ^

1861 - 1923  (61 years)

• Name	Frederick William Kost  [1, 2, 3]
  Suffix	^
  Birth	15 May 1861	New York, New York, NY   [1, 3, 4]
  Gender	Male
  Death	23 Feb 1923	Brookhaven, Brookhaven, Suffolk, NY   [3, 5]
  	Cause: [His obituary provided little useful family information.]
  Person ID	I3837	My Genealogy
  Last Modified	17 Jun 2024

  
  

  Father	Joseph Kost, >,   b. Abt Sep 1828, Coblentz, Germany d. Yes, date unknown
  Mother	Annae Catharina Eitert, >,   b. Abt 1830, Bavaria, Germany d. Yes, date unknown
  Marriage	7 Oct 1823	Liebfrauen Katholisch, Koblenz Stadt, Rheinland, Prussia   [6]
  Family ID	F3600	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Mary S. Van Zandt,   b. 1855, New Jersey, United States d. Yes, date unknown
  Marriage	7 Apr 1877	South River, Middlesex, New Jersey, United States
  Family ID	F1835	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	27 May 2025

  
  

• Notes

  Ronald Pisano notes: After some study in New York, including instruction from the landscape painter George Inness, Frederick W. Kost traveled abroad to complete his training in Munich and Paris. By the time he returned to New York, probably in the mid-1880's, he had developed a broad sketchy manner of painting and a tonal palette, which he used in painting local scenes near his home on Staten Island. In 1906 he purchased a summer home in Brookhaven, Long Island, near the Great South Bay, and began painting scenes of this area as well. "the country is flat, and fine trees are rare," reported writer Ernest Ingersoll. "In front of all stretches the broad, olive-green meadows of salt-marsh down to the shore of the still bay, beyond the low black line of the outer beach bounds the horizon." Poet Walt Whitman referred to the bay as an "inexhaustible sea-mine, full of treasures, that are really worth as much as the mines of California." By the time Kost reached Brookhaven, these treasures, especially the bay's shellfish, had been much depleted. One that remained along the shores of the bay was a plentiful supply of salt hay growing in the coastal marshes. This hay was shipped to markets, such as the Bushwick Hay Market in Brooklyn, and sold as packing material, fodder and bedding for cattle, and mulch for crops. Kost's painting depicts the technique of harvesting this hay from sailing vessels. Like many other artists who were attracted to Long Island, Kost chose to focus on its serene atmosphere and nostalgic traditions. In 1920 he retired to his Brookhaven home and remained there until his death three years later.

  
  

• Sources

  [S598] Ronald G. Pisano, Long Island Landscape Painting: 1820-1920 (A New York Graphic Society Book. Little, Brown and Company. Boston. c1985.), p. 132. [S599] Peter Hastings Falk, Editor-in-Chief, Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975 (Sound View Press. 1999), p. 1894. [S600] AskArt-The Artists Bluebook, AskArt.com online l [http://www.askart.com ], Biography of Frederick Kost by Geoffrey K. Fleming, Director, Southold Historical Society, Southold, NY.[ http://www.askart.com/askart/artist.aspx?artist=1659 ]. [S32] Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: NARA Original data: United States of America, B, Age 48. Series: T624 Roll: 1045 Page: 32. [S24] article, New York Times, New York, NY, Obituary. 24 Feb 1923, p. 11. [S2038] , Weber Family Tree (N.p.: n.p., n.d.)., Josephus Kost.