Keeping true to their commitment to historic women artists, Hawthorne Fine Art presents another fitting exhibition and sale, this one comprised of works that depict scenes of women engaged in activities of everyday life in the 19th and early 20th centuries. 

Women’s Work, which will be on view online from July 1 to August 10 consists of roughly 12 historic paintings in oil, watercolor, pastel and pencil. While the pieces are predominantly by women artists—among them Emma Lampert Cooper, Mary Lane McMillan, Anna E. Klumpke, Mary Cummings Browne, Rhoda Holmes Nicholls, Pauline Palmer and Martha J. Shaw—there are two notable exceptions.

Emma Lampert Cooper (1855-1920), Market at Siena, Italy. Oil on board, 61/8 x 8¾ in., inscribed with artist’s name and title on verso.

 

George Inness (1825-1994), Sunset Milking Time, Montclair, 1889. Oil on canvas 221/8 x 36¼ in., signed and dated lower left.

The centerpiece of the exhibition is George Inness’ Sunset Milking Time, Montclair, 1889, a major work by the artist with an impressive provenance. The fiery sunset scene depicts a farmer and his cow in the center foreground. Upon closer inspection, however, a milkmaid can be seen upon her stool working in the shadows. 

“Painted four years after the artist moved permanently to Montclair, New Jersey, Sunset Milking Time, Montclair…is a fine example of the artist’s later work,” says Hawthorne Fine Art research director Megan Bongiovanni. “Art historian Michael Quick notes in his catalogue raisonné that Sunset Milking Time, Montclair reveals the artist’s process of utilizing thin applications of black pigment and transparent colored glazes to build up color and light in his sunset paintings.” George Herbert McCord’s (1848-1909) Sketching Among the Irises, which depicts a woman artist before an easel in a garden, also makes for a complementary addition to the show. 

Anna E. Klumpke (1856-1942), Young Lady with an Accordion, 1899. Oil on canvas, 153/8 x 10¼ in., signed, dated and inscribed ‘Paris’ lower right.

 

Anna E. Klumpke’s (1856-1942), model for Young Lady with an Accordion, 1899. Photograph courtesy of Château de Rosa Bonheur, Thomery, France.

 

George Herbert McCord (1848-1909), Sketching Among the Irises. Oil on canvas, 20 x 16 in., signed lower left.

The women artists adhere to similar themes and portray women taking care of domestic chores such as sewing and housekeeping to agricultural work, creating art and music, and rearing children, providing insight into the roles and daily life of women in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Market at Siena, Italy by Emma Lampert Cooper (1855-1920) features a Tuscan market scene rendered in a warm palette with quick, textural brushstrokes. In it, women gather around a seated woman selling produce. 

In Anna E. Klumpke’s Young Lady with an Accordion, 1899, a young street musician in Paris performs beside a garden wall. A photograph of the model for Klumpke’s painting, in the collection of Château de Rosa Bonheur in Thomery, France, has been loaned to the gallery for the exhibit. 

Pauline Palmer (1867-1938), Mother and Child. Oil on canvas board, 10½ x 13¼ in., signed lower right.

 

Rhoda Holmes Nicholls (1854-1930), Woman Sewing beside a Window. Watercolor on paper, 13½ x 9¾ in., signed lower left: ‘Rhoda Holmes Nicholls’. 

Woman Sweeping, circa 1870 to 1880, executed in pencil on paper, attests to the talent and skill of Mary Cummings Browne (1861-1939). A sister of noted American impressionist Matilda Browne, the artists were raised in Newark where they were neighbors of Mary Nimmo and Thomas Moran.

“Collectively, the work reveals the multitude of roles women had in society from rearing children to farm labor and everything in between,” says Bongiovanni. “In today’s terms, women were the “essential workers” of the day.

To access the Women’s Work catalogue, please visit the gallery’s website to download a digital copy.

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