By Christine Snyder
This week’s featured American folk artist is Eunice Pinney, one of the first known watercolors artists in the country. She was born into a wealthy family in Connecticut, and she and her seven siblings often entertained themselves by performing plays for friends. This dramatic flair can be found in the watercolors she created later in life once she began painting at age 39. While painting still lifes, landscapes, and portraits was a common pastime for educated women in the nineteenth century, Pinney’s style was distinct. Many art scholars believe her atypical use of bold colors for the time was the result of being self taught and having the confidence that comes with age. Her compositions were unusual, as were the variety of her subjects. Wanting to help, she sent her youngest daughter, an art teacher in Virginia, examples of her work to assist in teaching the students. Eunice Pinney certainly is a role model–not only for being known as one of the first American watercolorists and beginning a new career at age 39–but because even in the 1800s, she knew the importance of strong female representation and uplifting others.
Lolotte and Werther
Allegorical Figure
Mother and Child
