ART & ARTISTS: American Folk Art

Monday, 28 November 2016

American Folk Art - part 16

Continuing a major series on American Folk Art featuring 21 postings. Folk Art encompasses art produced by artists and ordinary folk with little or no training in the arts, and is traditionally utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic. The period I’m covering is the C18th and C19th.
See parts 1-15 also for earlier works.

Note: Follow me on Twitter for notice of updates @poulwebb

This is part 16 of a 21-part post on American Folk Art:

“Puffy Sleeve Artist” (active 1830 – 1831)

We don’t know who the Puffy Sleeve Artist was, but he or she left behind a legacy of unique naïve silhouettes with hollow-cut heads on watercolour bodies. The dresses are always painted, usually in blue or black. Women always face left, and men to the right. Books often bear the initials or age of the sitter, and a date.

1830 Portrait of a Woman Holding a Flower Sprig hollow-cut silhouette head with watercolour painted body
inscribed "Sarah Jackson - My grandmother taken when she was eighteen / just the head - the body was put on to make a more complete picture / 1829 18yrs old / Abby Elizabeth Kelly Carroll / nana's niece"
8.9 x 6.7 cm

1830-31 Double hollow-cut Silhouette of Mr. and Mrs. Coombs
ink and ink wash on paper 8.9 x 14.9 cm

1830-31c Portrait of a Woman Holding a Book
inscribed "DW"

1830-31c Portrait of a Woman Wearing a Blue Scarf and Holding a Book
hollow-cut with watercolour, gouache and ink in period red-washed frame 11.1 x 7.62 cm

1830-31c Portrait of Henrietta Wakefield wearing a Red Gown and holding a Fan
hollow-cut with watercolour, gouache and ink 10.8 x 8.9 cm

1830-35c ( attributed to ) Silhouette in Brilliant Teal Dress
hollow-cut with watercolour on paper over black fabric backing 13 x 11.1 cm

1830c Portrait of a Gentleman
hollow-cut with watercolour and pen

1830c Portrait of Eliza Carter in a Red Dress and Holding Flowershollow-cut with watercolour and pen

1831 Portrait of a Woman in Holding a Book inscribed "Aged 29 1831 H.R."hollow-cut with watercolour and pen

n.d. Portrait of a Woman holding Three Roses
hollow-cut with watercolour and pen

n.d. Portrait of a Woman in a Bonnet, holding a Floral Bouquethollow-cut with watercolour and pen

n.d. Portrait of a Woman in Black with White Lace Collar and Red Ribbons, holding a Sprig of Mosshollow-cut with watercolour and pen

Portrait of a Man Holding a Walking Canehollow-cut with watercolour and pen

Portrait of a Gentlemanhollow-cut with watercolour and pen

Portrait of a Woman with a Blue Dresshollow-cut with watercolour and pen 13.3 x 11.3 cm

Silhouettes by other artists:

1800s ( attributed to E. Howard )
hollow-cut silhouette of a gentleman with curlicue cut-outs

1800s ( attributed to William Chamberlain 1790-1860 )
hollow-cut silhouette

1800s Hollow-cut silhouette of a gentleman on black silk with watercolour body

1838 Silhouette by James Hosley Whitcomb (1806-1849)
inscribed "June The 5 1838, Jonathan L. Stone aged 39 Was Born The 25 1799"

Everet Howard ( attributed to) ( 1797-1833 )
Portrait of a Girl

Everet Howard
Portrait of a Gentleman inscribed "Liennel Tucker"

James Hosley Whitcomb ( attributed to ) ( 1806-184 9)
Silhouette of a Gentleman

James Hosley Whitcomb (1806-1849)
Silhouette of a Gentleman

n.d. Hollow-cut Portrait of a Woman
black silk with watercolour body

W.H. Brown ( attributed to ) Elizabeth Osgood Holt
hollow-cut silhouette10.8 x 8.2 cm

W.H. Brown ( attributed to ) Jeremiah T. Holt
hollow-cut silhouette 14 x 12.1 cm

Horace Bundy (1814-1883)

Horace Bundy was an untrained painter born in Hardwick, Vermont, 22 July 1814. He received his introduction to painting as a decorator of sleighs. In 1837, while residing in Lowell, Massachusetts, he married Louisa Lockwood. By 1841 the Bundys had moved into a house in North Springfield, Vermont, built for the couple by Louisa's father. They had eight children.

Bundy almost always signed and dated his portraits, often including a place of execution, thereby providing a record of his travels. His itinerancy was likely as much a result of his religious calling as of his artistic one. In 1842 he converted to the Advent faith and thereafter spent an increasing amount of time preaching throughout New England. By 1850 he was painting, and certainly speaking as well, in Townshend, Vermont; Hancock, Nashua, and Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire; and Winchendon, Massachusetts. He accepted portrait commissions through at least 1859 and was listed as a painter in the 1860 census of Springfield, Vermont. In 1863 Bundy was appointed pastor of the Second Advent Church, Lakeport, New Hampshire, where he was recorded as an important leader.

In 1883 Bundy journeyed to Jamaica, where he is reported to have executed several paintings for a wealthy planter and to have made studies of tropical scenery. He died of typhus shortly after his return to the United States in the same year.