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River Townscape with Figures
Prudence Perkins (dates unknown)
Possibly Rhode Island, United S…
River Townscape with Figures
River Townscape with Figures
Prudence Perkins (dates unknown)
Possibly Rhode Island, United S…
River Townscape with Figures Prudence Perkins (dates unknown) Possibly Rhode Island, United States c. 1810 Watercolor on paper 18 1/4 x 22 1/4" Collection American Folk Art Museum, New York Gift of Ralph Esmerian, 2005.8.48 Photo by John Bigelow Taylor
Photo © 2000 John Bigelow Taylor, New York
Record Details

River Townscape with Figures

Artist ((dates unknown))
Datec. 1810
Place/RegionPossibly Rhode Island, United States
MediumWatercolor on paper
Dimensions18 1/4 × 22 1/4"
Credit LineGift of Ralph Esmerian
Accession number2005.8.48
CopyrightThe American Folk Art Museum believes this work to be in the public domain.
Description

America as a republican ideal was equated with the classical idyll from the earliest national period. The idea was promulgated at the turn of the nineteenth century through the language of rhetoric on a large scale and through more personal mediums that touched individuals in their domestic lives. Schools were often instituted in pastoral settings that evoked Arcadia, removed from the corruption and complication of the city. The notion was further introduced into schoolgirl arts in various guises, such as this river townscape by Prudence Perkins in which the “shepherdesses” view the material world from a safe distance across a cleansing river.

Mourning needleworks and watercolors also drew on this association between nature and grace and housed the funerary elements in a natural setting, far from the earthbound aspects of the town. The influence of the needlework aesthetic and of mourning pieces is clearly at play in this watercolor, both in composition and technique. The town seen in the distance, the trees delineated in stitchlike strokes, and the combination of willows, oaks, and evergreens recall the visual iconography and religious symbolism of mourning art.

Stacy C. Hollander, “River Townscape with Figures,” exhibition label for Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum. Stacy C. Hollander and Valérie Rousseau, curators. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2014.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information. 

To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.org


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