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Exhibition History“Folk Roots, New Roots: Folklore in American Life,” Museum of Our National Heritage, Lexington, MA October 16, 1988 – June 25, 1989.
“The Kingdoms of Edward Hicks,” Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, Williamsburg, VA, June 4, 2000 – September 4, 2000.
“Folk Art Masters,” Mennello Museum of Art, Orlando, FL, September 19, 2001 – January 6, 2002.
“Folk Art and American Modernism,” American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY, July 8, 2015 – October 1, 2015; American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY, September 18, 2014 – December 31, 2014
"Once Upon a Time in America: Three centuries of US-American Art," Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Cologne, Germany, November 23, 2018 - March 24, 2019.
"Arrivals," Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY, October 3, 2021-January 23, 2022.
Bibliography"Arrivals: October 3, 2021-January 23, 2022," Katonah Museum of Art, Curated by Heather Ewing, p. 3
Kornhauser, Elizabeth Mankin, "American Paintings Before 1945 in the Wadsworth Atheneum", Yale University Press, New Haven & London, Vol. 2., pg. 460-462.
Artist
Edward Hicks
(1780 - 1849)
Peaceable Kingdom
Date1830-1835
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsSight: 29 1/8 × 33 1/2 in. (74 × 85.1 cm)
Object numberN0038.1961
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Stephen C. Clark
Conservation in 2018 made possible by the American Folk Art Society.
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextEdward Hicks was born into an Anglican family with Tory leanings. After his mother's death and father's forced seclusion during the Revolution, he was taken in and raised by a Quaker family. In his teens, Hicks apprenticed to a coach maker and learned the craft of decorative painting. He was accepted into the Society of Friends and became highly regarded as a minister. As Quaker ministers were not compensated for their work, Hicks continued to paint to earn income, and in about 1820 he developed his peaceable kingdom formula which he painted dozens of times. The inspiration for this picture came from a Bible engraving by Richard Westall that illustrated Isaiah 11:6-9. In the background, Hicks incorporated a vignette of William Penn's treaty with the Indians, derived from a painting by Benjamin West, to further symbolize the Quaker values of peace and harmony.Exhibition History“Folk Roots, New Roots: Folklore in American Life,” Museum of Our National Heritage, Lexington, MA October 16, 1988 – June 25, 1989.
“The Kingdoms of Edward Hicks,” Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, Williamsburg, VA, June 4, 2000 – September 4, 2000.
“Folk Art Masters,” Mennello Museum of Art, Orlando, FL, September 19, 2001 – January 6, 2002.
“Folk Art and American Modernism,” American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY, July 8, 2015 – October 1, 2015; American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY, September 18, 2014 – December 31, 2014
"Once Upon a Time in America: Three centuries of US-American Art," Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Cologne, Germany, November 23, 2018 - March 24, 2019.
"Arrivals," Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY, October 3, 2021-January 23, 2022.
Bibliography"Arrivals: October 3, 2021-January 23, 2022," Katonah Museum of Art, Curated by Heather Ewing, p. 3
Kornhauser, Elizabeth Mankin, "American Paintings Before 1945 in the Wadsworth Atheneum", Yale University Press, New Haven & London, Vol. 2., pg. 460-462.
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