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Exhibition History“Folk Art from the Collection of the New York State Historical Association,” Museum of American Folk Art, NY, January 11, 2000 – February 18, 2000.
BibliographyPaul S. D'Ambrosio and Charlotte M. Emans, "Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association," Cooperstown, New York 1987, pp. 33-35, illus. as no. 11, p. 34.
Jones, Agnes Halsey and Louis C., "New-Found Folk Art of the Young Republic" [exhibition catalog], Cooperstown, NY: NYSHA, 1960: 24-25, numbers 52A and 52B, illustrations 52A and 52B.
Robin Jaffe Frank, Love and Loss: American Portrait and Mourning Miniatures (exh. cat. CT: Yale University Press, 2000).
Jack Larkin, Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser, and David Jaffee, Meet Your Neighbors: New England Portraits, Painters, and Society 1790-1850 (exh. cat. Old Sturbridge Village, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1992), pp. 61, figs.18-19; pp.74-75, 84-85, 100-101, 111, 119.
Robert M Doty, By Good Hands: New Hampshire Folk Art (exh. cat. New Hampshire: University of New England Press, 1989).
Jean Lipman, Flowering of American Folk Art, (New York: Viking Press, in cooperation with the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1974).
Peter H. Tillou and Paul Rovetti, Nineteenth century Folk Painting: Our Spirited National Heritage (The William Benton Museum of Art, 1973), p.165.
Jean Lipman and Alice Winchester, Primitive Painters in America, 1750-1950 (New York: Dodd, Mead, and Co., 1950), p.31-38.
Artist
Ruth Henshaw Bascom
(1772 - 1848)
Subject
Horatio Gates Henshaw
Horatio Gates Henshaw
Date1839
DimensionsSight: 18 1/8 × 13 1/4 in. (46 × 33.7 cm)
Object numberN0260.1961
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Stephen C. Clark
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextRuth Henshaw Bascom is an example of an artist whose work progressed from a hobby to a professional career. As a minister's wife, Bascom began drawing as a pastime, but was soon traveling to other areas to draw portraiture on commission. She kept a daily journal in which she recorded making over a thousand portraits for money, services in kind, and as tokens of affection. Bascom rendered all her portraits in life-size profile. In order to create a realistic image, she first outlined a cast shadow of the sitter on her drawing paper. She then colored the picture using pastel crayons. The portrait of her brother, Horatio Gates Henshaw, is one of Bascom's more compelling character studies with the heavy lined brow and strongly contoured nose. A more sensitive likeness, Eliza Jane Fay features a mourning necklace.Exhibition History“Folk Art from the Collection of the New York State Historical Association,” Museum of American Folk Art, NY, January 11, 2000 – February 18, 2000.
BibliographyPaul S. D'Ambrosio and Charlotte M. Emans, "Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association," Cooperstown, New York 1987, pp. 33-35, illus. as no. 11, p. 34.
Jones, Agnes Halsey and Louis C., "New-Found Folk Art of the Young Republic" [exhibition catalog], Cooperstown, NY: NYSHA, 1960: 24-25, numbers 52A and 52B, illustrations 52A and 52B.
Robin Jaffe Frank, Love and Loss: American Portrait and Mourning Miniatures (exh. cat. CT: Yale University Press, 2000).
Jack Larkin, Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser, and David Jaffee, Meet Your Neighbors: New England Portraits, Painters, and Society 1790-1850 (exh. cat. Old Sturbridge Village, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1992), pp. 61, figs.18-19; pp.74-75, 84-85, 100-101, 111, 119.
Robert M Doty, By Good Hands: New Hampshire Folk Art (exh. cat. New Hampshire: University of New England Press, 1989).
Jean Lipman, Flowering of American Folk Art, (New York: Viking Press, in cooperation with the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1974).
Peter H. Tillou and Paul Rovetti, Nineteenth century Folk Painting: Our Spirited National Heritage (The William Benton Museum of Art, 1973), p.165.
Jean Lipman and Alice Winchester, Primitive Painters in America, 1750-1950 (New York: Dodd, Mead, and Co., 1950), p.31-38.
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