Mother and Child in Gray Dresses

By: Michelle Murdock, Curator of Exhibitions
Ammi Phillips is recognized as one of the most successful and prolific American portrait painters from the first half of the 19th century. Phillips was born in 1788 in Connecticut and by 1811 he had begun a lifelong career as a portraitist, working in western Connecticut, Massachusetts, and in the neighboring counties of upstate New York. In 1813 Phillips married Laura Brockway (1792-1830) of Schodack, New York, and they settled in nearby Nassau before moving to Troy about 1817. Unlike many itinerant artists of his day, Phillips moved his growing family for years at a time into the communities where he hoped to find potential patrons. By becoming a member of the community he served, Phillips became the logical choice for local portrait commissions, limiting the need to advertise.

Phillips’ painting style evolved over his 50 year career, and scholars classify his works into five time periods. Mother and Child in Gray Dresses is an excellent representation of Phillips’ Realistic Period (1820-1828). During this period, Phillips’ style reflects the conventions of academic painters with whom he came into contact. His palette changed from soft hues to richer colors and dark backgrounds. He cleverly expressed his appreciation for juxtapositions of light and dark color by painting the sitters in white-gray dresses that contrast sharply with the dark gray background. A single light source from the left of the canvas casts the sitters into partial shadow. The artist conveyed his delight with fabrics as he painted the woman's dress with rays of light falling on her sleeves and drenched her fichu (scarf) in more light, making it shimmer and appear transparent.

Mother and Child in Gray Dresses is on view in American Treasures from the Permament Collections until May 6.

Mother and Child in Gray Dresses, ca. 1825, attributed to Ammi Phillips (1788-1865), oil on canvas, gift of Stephen C. Clark, N0267.1961

John and Abigail Adams - Reunited!

By: Michelle Murdock, Curator of Exhibitions

My colleague Paul D’Ambrosio recently posted a blog about an exhibition we installed in the Great Hall at Fenimore this spring. Two of the artifacts in this exhibition are especially interesting to me: a bronze bust of the second President of the United States, John Adams, and a painting of his wife, Abigail Adams. Although we’ve had these pieces in our collection since 1961 and 1955, respectively, they have never been on view together. It’s so nice to have them reunited once again!

The bust of John Adams was rendered by John Henry Isaac Browere when Adams was 90 years old. In the early 1800s, Browere aspired to create a portrait gallery of national heroes. Through a process of casting the faces of living people, Browere made life masks of famous men and women. Browere worked nearly 50 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and captured the likenesses of the Revolutionary War generation just as age and time were taking their toll. John Adams played a leading role in persuading Congress to adopt the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776. He served two terms as George Washington’s Vice President before being elected to the highest office himself in 1797.

First Lady Abigail Adams was the wife of John Adams and the mother of the United States’ sixth President, John Quincy Adams. When the capital moved to Washington in 1800, Abigail became the first First Lady to preside over the President’s House, later called the White House. John Adams frequently sought Abigail’s advice on many governmental and political matters ranging from advocating for women’s rights to the abolition of slavery. Their letters have been most recently published in My Dearest Friend, Letters of Abigail and John Adams, edited by Margaret A. Hogan and C. James Taylor. This portrait by an unidentified artist reflects the stateliness and beauty of a First Lady so powerful that her political opponents called her “Mrs. President.”

Photos: John and Abigail Adams installed in American Treasures:

John Adams (1735-1826), Second President of the United States, Age 90. Cast November 22, 1825, in Quincy, Massachusetts by John Henry Isaac Browere (1790-1834). Bronze, Gift of Stephen C. Clark, N0201.1961.

Abigail Adams (1744-1818), ca. 1795. Artist Unidentified. Oil on canvas, Bequest from the Estate of Frances J. Eggleston, Oswego, New York, N0150.1955.

American Treasures: Installation

By: Paul D'Ambrosio, Vice President and Chief Curator

Life is good when business travel takes you to Palm Beach in February. That’s exactly what happened a few years ago when we sent an exhibition of the Fenimore’s permanent collection to the Society of the Four Arts. It was a big hit at the height of the winter cultural season; there were three nights of gala events with live music and dancing under a big tent on their lawn. The Society members were enthralled with our art collection – our Hudson River School landscapes and great folk art – and were equally entranced by the ocean breeze and 80 degree weather.

When we saw an opportunity in this year’s spring exhibition schedule, we thought it would be fun to bring many of these great artworks back together for a reunion. The result is the American Treasures exhibition, opening in the Fenimore’s Great Hall on April 1st. You’ll find some old friends along with some surprises, together in one gallery for the first time since the showing in Palm Beach.

Seeing these works together again – especially with the February snow blowing on the other side of the Great Hall window – brings back thoughts of a brief sojourn in a tropical paradise. And seeing how much the works were admired by a new audience recalls the continuing process of rediscovery that we hope to offer to all of you in the spring.

Right: Assistant Curator of Exhibitions Nisha Bansil installing Benjamin West’s portrait of Robert Fulton in American Treasures in the Fenimore Art Museum’s Great Hall.

Left: Laying out the title panel, featuring George Durrie’s Cider Making in the Country.