Family Tree1850–186022 1/4 × 18 1/4"Reverse painting and foil on glass with twelve applied ambrotypesGift of Kristina Barbara Johnson1992.17.80Large tree with short trunk, curling branches and oak like leaves rises out of a short green mound. Spaced symmetrically in the tree among the branches are two ambrotypes, evidently members of a family. At the top of the trunk is a rectangualr portrait of the mother and father. Surrounding them are ten oval portraits of their children: five girls/women and five boys/men. Rectangular wood frmae : gilted gesso with beaded rim.1529911106Artist unidentifiedPaintingsThe American Folk Art Museum believes this work to be in the public domain.United StatesPaintingsPAINTING
Family histories were often maintained through hand-drawn or embroidered records that documented generations of family members. Such records usually include names as well as birth and death dates. Tress, with their many branches, were favored symbolic element. This unusually large example combines freehand painting and ambrotypes of a family with ten children. Judging by the appearance and placement of four of the young men, there might be two sets of male twins.
Lee Kogan, "Family Tree," FOILED: Tinsel Painting in America (New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2013), 91Tinsel Painting18501860 1992 17 8 PAINTING
Family histories were often maintained through hand-drawn or embroidered records that documented generations of family members. Such records usually include names as well as birth and death dates. Tress, with their many branches, were favored symbolic element. This unusually large example combines freehand painting and ambrotypes of a family with ten children. Judging by the appearance and placement of four of the young men, there might be two sets of male twins.
Lee Kogan, "Family Tree," FOILED: Tinsel Painting in America (New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2013), 91Tinsel Painting