AFA 18th Anniversary

18th Anniversary 116 www.afamag.com | w ww.incollect.com Anna Webster Worthington Bull (Mrs. Isaac Bull) and Her Daughter, Rebecca Reed Bull Artist unknown, Kent County, Md., 1827 Oil on tulip poplar panel, 30¼ x 24⅜ in. Museum purchase (1964.100.6) Probably the most common misconception about folk painting is that itinerant artists carted canvases of pre-painted bodies around the countryside, filling in the heads from life later. While artists may have sketched in overall compositions to start, they worked up heads thoroughly before turning to the detailed development of other parts. Heads were considered the most critical aspects of portraits and their satisfactory proportions, placements, and renderings drove all other decisions related to the finished images. This composition of Anna Bull and her daughter is an affectionate statement of maternal love and childhood innocence. Jane A. Fort Van Rensselaer (Mrs. Henry Peter Van Rensselaer) Artist unknown, Claverack, N.Y., 1820–1825 Oil on canvas, 34½ x 28⅜ x 2¾ in. Museum purchase (1958.100.36) One erroneous assumption often made about folk portraiture is that the subjects are displeased because they appear not to be smiling. To the contrary, the vast majority of nineteenth-century subjects wished to be shown with pleasant facial expressions, and artists gladly accommodated them. The misinterpretation comes from the absence of broad grins exposing the subjects’ teeth, a norm today. Such an extreme expression was associated with an unbecoming lack of self- control during the period. Portraitists and their sitters instead strove for an agreeable countenance that was fit for posterity. To some viewers, Jane Van Rensselaer might appear to have a scowl on her face, but more than likely, her facial features are simply depicted in their natural resting position.