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Exhibition History“Folk Art from Cooperstown,” Museum of American Folk Art, New York, NY, March 29, 1966 – June 5, 1966.
“Pennsylvania Almshouse Painters,” Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection, Williamsburg, VA, October 1, 1968 – December 8, 1968.
BibliographyA Shared Legacy: Folk Art in America : Berman, Avis et. al., Skira Rizzoli, New York, New York, 2014, pg. 71, fig 11.
Artist
John Rasmussen
(1828 - 1895)
View of the Berks County Almshouse
Date1881
MediumOil on zinc
DimensionsFramed: 39 1/8 × 45 15/16 × 3 1/2 in. (99.4 × 116.7 × 8.9 cm)
Sight: 32 3/8 × 39 1/4 in. (82.2 × 99.7 cm)
Object numberN0041.1961
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Stephen C. Clark
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextGerman-born John Rasmussen emigrated to America in 1865. He was listed as a painter when he was committed to the Berks County Almshouse in 1879. Like the almshouse painter Charles Hofmann before him, Rasmussen painted several highly detailed bird's-eye views of the complex for various staff members. The topographical, descriptive style was immensely popular in the 19th century, and was utilized in countless paintings and prints which met the popular demand for literal, accurate American views. Rasmussen died at the almshouse in 1895.Exhibition History“Folk Art from Cooperstown,” Museum of American Folk Art, New York, NY, March 29, 1966 – June 5, 1966.
“Pennsylvania Almshouse Painters,” Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection, Williamsburg, VA, October 1, 1968 – December 8, 1968.
BibliographyA Shared Legacy: Folk Art in America : Berman, Avis et. al., Skira Rizzoli, New York, New York, 2014, pg. 71, fig 11.
On View
On view
