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Exhibition History“Small Folk: A Celebration of Childhood in America,” Museum of American Folk Art, New York, NY, December 12, 1980 – February 1, 1981.
BibliographyRobin Jaffe Frank, Love and Loss: American Portrait and Mourning Miniatures (exh. cat. CT: Yale University Press, 2000).
Robert M Doty, By Good Hands: New Hampshire Folk Art (exh. cat. New Hampshire: University of New England Press, 1989).
Paul S. D’Ambrosio and Charlotte M. Emas, eds., Folk Art’s Many Faces (Cooperstown, NY: New York State Historical Association, 1987), pp.35-36.
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)
Charles Lewis Bingham
Date1844
DimensionsSight: 15 3/8 × 11 1/8 in. (39.1 × 28.3 cm)
Object numberN0287.1961
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Stephen C. Clark
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label Text
Bascom's renderings of children are among her most sensitive and imaginative interpretations. Here, the artist convincingly portrays Charles Lewis Bingham as a healthy baby boy. From Bingham's full, double chin and no neckline, to his oversized ears and round body, this likeness evinces youth and vitality. The rattle held in the subject's hand probably served to entertain the sitter while his likeness was being drawn. However, the prop also served conveniently as a decorative device for Bascom and is found in some of her other portraits of children. The inclusion of the subject's right arm and hand in the composition is an unusual feature of this artist's work.
Born in about 1844, Charles Lewis Bingham was probably the son of Rebecca and Charles Bingham of Fitchburg, Massachusetts. According to the federal census record of 1850, his father worked as a railroad agent. Such a transient lifestyle may explain the lack of information on this family found in Fitchburg.
Exhibition History“Small Folk: A Celebration of Childhood in America,” Museum of American Folk Art, New York, NY, December 12, 1980 – February 1, 1981.
BibliographyRobin Jaffe Frank, Love and Loss: American Portrait and Mourning Miniatures (exh. cat. CT: Yale University Press, 2000).
Robert M Doty, By Good Hands: New Hampshire Folk Art (exh. cat. New Hampshire: University of New England Press, 1989).
Paul S. D’Ambrosio and Charlotte M. Emas, eds., Folk Art’s Many Faces (Cooperstown, NY: New York State Historical Association, 1987), pp.35-36.
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.
On View
Not on view
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