Abigail S. Burnham1831–1832Sheet: 13 1/2 x 9 1/2 " (34.3 x 24.1 cm)
Frame: 20 7/8 x 27 1/2 x 1 1/2 " (53 x 69.9 x 3.8 cm)Watercolor, gouache, pencil, and ink on paper, with applied gold foilGift of Ralph Esmerian2013.1.1101547824014P1.2001.24B2013.24.11Samuel A. ShuteRuth W. ShuteDrawingsThe American Folk Art Museum believes this work to be in the public domain.Label on back from Whitney Museum, American Folk Painters of Three centuries. On frame in marker: E. Berman -965/Sold to RE Ritter.LowellLowellUnited StatesMassachusettsWorks on Paper LowellHelen Kellogg, "Found: Two Lost Painters," Antiques World, Volume I, Number 2 (December 1978) 43.
Jean Lipman and Tom Armstrong, eds., American Folk Painters of Three Centuries (New York: Hudson Hills Press, Inc., in association with the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1980) 168.Portrait of woman setting in stenciled Hitchcock-style chair, facing front and wearing gold earrings of applied foil paper. Hair is upswept with tortoise comb, wearing black dress with white coile collar and cuffs. [p] tight hand restong on leg, left hand crossed at waist and holding book. Against grayish horizontal wash background. Framed with portrait of Mr. Burnham.Self-taught artists proliferated during the presidency of Andrew Jackson, a self-made man, much to the chagrin of some critical writers who deplored these “cheap workmen” who afforded portraits to average Americans interested in demonstrating culture by adorning their walls and mantels with art. Dr. Samuel Addison Shute and Ruth Whittier Shute were among the artists whose affordable watercolor portraits captured a segment of society whose faces and lives might otherwise be unknown today. They began their unusual artistic partnership soon after they were married in 1827. Their respective roles in this collaboration are indicated on some portraits by the inscription “Drawn by R. W. Shute / and / Painted by S. A. Shute.” Most of the watercolors feature vigorous diagonal or horizontal strokes in the background. The Shutes also employed a number of unusual techniques and materials in their work. Watercolors were supplemented with pastel, gouache, pencil, collage, and gum arabic; areas of paper were even left blank to suggest transparency and other effects.
The small scale of the Burnham portraits is highly unusual; the Shutes typically worked on large-format paper. Ruth Shute may have known the Burnhams from her hometown of Dover, New Hampshire, where the Burnhams were married in 1827. Their families were further associated through Josiah Burnham’s work as a spinner at the Cocheco Mill in Dover, which was built on land owned by Ruth’s father. They may also have shared activities relating to music, as Josiah chose to include a music book in his portrait and it is known that Ruth was a musician.
Stacy C. Hollander, “Josiah C. Burnham/Abigail S. Burnham,” 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.orgP1.2001.24B2013.24.1118311832 2013 1 11 Portrait of woman setting in stenciled Hitchcock-style chair, facing front and wearing gold earrings of applied foil paper. Hair is upswept with tortoise comb, wearing black dress with white coile collar and cuffs. [p] tight hand restong on leg, left hand crossed at waist and holding book. Against grayish horizontal wash background. Framed with portrait of Mr. Burnham.Self-taught artists proliferated during the presidency of Andrew Jackson, a self-made man, much to the chagrin of some critical writers who deplored these “cheap workmen” who afforded portraits to average Americans interested in demonstrating culture by adorning their walls and mantels with art. Dr. Samuel Addison Shute and Ruth Whittier Shute were among the artists whose affordable watercolor portraits captured a segment of society whose faces and lives might otherwise be unknown today. They began their unusual artistic partnership soon after they were married in 1827. Their respective roles in this collaboration are indicated on some portraits by the inscription “Drawn by R. W. Shute / and / Painted by S. A. Shute.” Most of the watercolors feature vigorous diagonal or horizontal strokes in the background. The Shutes also employed a number of unusual techniques and materials in their work. Watercolors were supplemented with pastel, gouache, pencil, collage, and gum arabic; areas of paper were even left blank to suggest transparency and other effects.
The small scale of the Burnham portraits is highly unusual; the Shutes typically worked on large-format paper. Ruth Shute may have known the Burnhams from her hometown of Dover, New Hampshire, where the Burnhams were married in 1827. Their families were further associated through Josiah Burnham’s work as a spinner at the Cocheco Mill in Dover, which was built on land owned by Ruth’s father. They may also have shared activities relating to music, as Josiah chose to include a music book in his portrait and it is known that Ruth was a musician.
Stacy C. Hollander, “Josiah C. Burnham/Abigail S. Burnham,” 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