Skip to main content
Exhibition History“American 19th Century Painting,” Michigan State University, MI, January 30, 1966 – February 22, 1966.
“Is She or Isn’t He? Identifying Gender in Folk Portraits of Children,” Heritage Plantation of Sandwich, Sandwich, MA, May 13, 1995 – October 29, 1995.
“American Folk Art: Collection from the Fenimore Art Museum, Mona Bismarck Foundation, Paris, France, January 25, 2001 – March 24, 2001.
“American Treasures from the Fenimore Art Museum,” The Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, FL, February 11, 2004 – April 16, 2004.
“Little Women, Little Men: Folk Portraits of Children from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA, September 22, 2006 – February 4, 2007; Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA, October 29, 2005 – December 31, 2005; The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA, July 2, 2005 – October 16, 2005.
“Artist and Visionary: William Matthew Prior Revealed,” American Folk Art Museum, New York, New York, January 24, 2013 – May 27, 2013; Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY, May 26, 2012 – December 31, 2012.
BibliographyPaul S. D'Ambrosio and Charlotte M. Emans, Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association, (Cooperstown, NYSHA, 1987), pp.136-138, illus. as no. 82 on p. 137.
Jacquelyn Oak and Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Artist and Visionary: William Matthew Prior (exh. cat. New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2012).
Claire Perry, Young America, Childhood in the 19th Century, Art and Culture (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006).
Jennifer Yunginger, Is She or Isn’t He? Identifying Gender in Folk Portraits of Children (exh. cat. Massachusetts, Heritage Plantation of Sandwich, 1995).
Nina Fletcher Little, “William Matthew Prior,” Primitive Painters in America, 1750-1950, eds. Jean Lipman and Alice Winchester (New York: Dodd Head & Co., 1980), pp. 80-89.
Artist
William Matthew Prior
(1806 - 1873)
Child in Blue with Dog
Date1848
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsSight: 34 5/8 × 28 1/4 in. (87.9 × 71.8 cm)
Object numberN0254.1961
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Stephen C. Clark
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextThis portrait of an unidentified child standing beside a huge dog is one of Prior’s more complex and enigmatic compositions. The artist successfully captured the facial features of the small child who gazes directly at the viewer. The alert dog, probably a family pet, is almost as important as the child in the composition. The accessories and costume pose questions as to the gender of the child; both girls and boys wore dresses and feathered hats. Girls were usually depicted with center-parted hair and the coral necklace and bracelet were often feminine accessories. The whip, however, is commonly seen in portraits of boys and the inclusion of a table knife has puzzled scholars for decades.Exhibition History“American 19th Century Painting,” Michigan State University, MI, January 30, 1966 – February 22, 1966.
“Is She or Isn’t He? Identifying Gender in Folk Portraits of Children,” Heritage Plantation of Sandwich, Sandwich, MA, May 13, 1995 – October 29, 1995.
“American Folk Art: Collection from the Fenimore Art Museum, Mona Bismarck Foundation, Paris, France, January 25, 2001 – March 24, 2001.
“American Treasures from the Fenimore Art Museum,” The Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, FL, February 11, 2004 – April 16, 2004.
“Little Women, Little Men: Folk Portraits of Children from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA, September 22, 2006 – February 4, 2007; Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA, October 29, 2005 – December 31, 2005; The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA, July 2, 2005 – October 16, 2005.
“Artist and Visionary: William Matthew Prior Revealed,” American Folk Art Museum, New York, New York, January 24, 2013 – May 27, 2013; Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY, May 26, 2012 – December 31, 2012.
BibliographyPaul S. D'Ambrosio and Charlotte M. Emans, Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association, (Cooperstown, NYSHA, 1987), pp.136-138, illus. as no. 82 on p. 137.
Jacquelyn Oak and Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Artist and Visionary: William Matthew Prior (exh. cat. New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2012).
Claire Perry, Young America, Childhood in the 19th Century, Art and Culture (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006).
Jennifer Yunginger, Is She or Isn’t He? Identifying Gender in Folk Portraits of Children (exh. cat. Massachusetts, Heritage Plantation of Sandwich, 1995).
Nina Fletcher Little, “William Matthew Prior,” Primitive Painters in America, 1750-1950, eds. Jean Lipman and Alice Winchester (New York: Dodd Head & Co., 1980), pp. 80-89.
On View
Not on view
Related Object/Related Object
