Skip to main content
Charles Mortimer French was born probably in Vermont in 1826 or 1827. He died in Floyd County, Iowa on January or June 11, 1859, at the age of thirty-two years and six months, and was buried at Proctorsville New Cemetery in Cavendish, Vermont.
Exhibition History“The Flowering of American Folk Art,” M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA, June 24, 1974 – September 15, 1974; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, April 22, 1974 – June 2, 1974; The Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY, February 1, 1974 – March 24, 1974.
“Art of the Everyman: American Folk Art from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, CT, May 28, 2014 – September 29, 2014.
ProvenanceFound in Ludlow, Vermont; Mr. and Mrs. Howard Lipman, Wilton, Connecticut; Mr. Stephen C. Clark, Sr., Cooperstown, New York
BibliographyBlack, Mary and Jean Lipman, "American Folk Painting" (New York, 1966), p.57, illus. as fig 74 on p.78.
Lipman, Jean and Alice Winchester, "The Flowering of American Folk Art, 1776-1876." New York, 1974: illustrated as figure 59 on page 49.
D'Ambrosio, Paul S. and Charlotte M. Emans, "Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association," Cooperstown, NY: NYSHA, 1987: 131-132 and illustration number 77 on page 132.
Artist
Asahel Powers
(1813 - 1843)
Charles Mortimer French
Datec. 1832
MediumOil on wood panel
DimensionsSight: 34 3/4 × 20 3/4 in. (88.3 × 52.7 cm)
Object numberN0039.1961
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Stephen C. Clark
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextThis full-length portrait of six-year-old Charles Mortimer French is one of Powers' more intriguing and successful compositions. The artist's keen instinct for composition and color more than compensate for his unfamiliarity with naturalistic anatomy and perspective, and work to create a painting of extraordinary vitality. The back and seat of the bright yellow-painted chair in which French is seated are at impossible angles, as is the small table top on which the squeak toy precariously rests. Of further visual interest is the top of the painted footstool, which has an unnatural curvature seemingly to accommodate the sitter's feet. The result is a vigorous, chaotic group of interactive forms. The loose painting style of Powers' early career is evident throughout the portrait, particularly in the sitter's baggy suit and thickly painted face and hands. The heavy gray shading of the boy's features contributes to his haggard, aged appearance.Charles Mortimer French was born probably in Vermont in 1826 or 1827. He died in Floyd County, Iowa on January or June 11, 1859, at the age of thirty-two years and six months, and was buried at Proctorsville New Cemetery in Cavendish, Vermont.
Exhibition History“The Flowering of American Folk Art,” M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA, June 24, 1974 – September 15, 1974; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, April 22, 1974 – June 2, 1974; The Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY, February 1, 1974 – March 24, 1974.
“Art of the Everyman: American Folk Art from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, CT, May 28, 2014 – September 29, 2014.
ProvenanceFound in Ludlow, Vermont; Mr. and Mrs. Howard Lipman, Wilton, Connecticut; Mr. Stephen C. Clark, Sr., Cooperstown, New York
BibliographyBlack, Mary and Jean Lipman, "American Folk Painting" (New York, 1966), p.57, illus. as fig 74 on p.78.
Lipman, Jean and Alice Winchester, "The Flowering of American Folk Art, 1776-1876." New York, 1974: illustrated as figure 59 on page 49.
D'Ambrosio, Paul S. and Charlotte M. Emans, "Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association," Cooperstown, NY: NYSHA, 1987: 131-132 and illustration number 77 on page 132.
On View
Not on view
Related Object/Related Object
