Women in the 19C United States of America: American Folk Art - Women & Their Children Attributed to George G. Hartwell 1815-1901

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

American Folk Art - Women & Their Children Attributed to George G. Hartwell 1815-1901

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributedChild Holding Doll and Shoe c 1845

George G. Hartwell was associated with the Prior-Hamblin group of painters. He was related to William Matthew Prior by marriage and he painted signs and portraits in Bridgewater, Massachusetts and Auburn, Maine. His flat style of painting is very close to that of William Matthew Prior, Sturtevant Hamblin, George Bailey Moore, and G. Alden. These paintings are attributed to him, because he did not sign his work.

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Young Woman in Grey Dress with Rose c 1840

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Young Boy in Grey

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Unknown Woman, probably New England, ca. 1840.

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Ann Maria Wilcox Holding a Rose

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Young Woman

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Girl with Rose

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Woman holding Red Book

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Child in Red Dress

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Woman in Blue Dress

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Boy in Scroll-Back Chair

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Mary Williams (Mrs. John Williams)

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Albert Winslow Trow

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Woman Holding a Rose

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Girl in Pink Dress

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Girl in Blue Dress

About this blog

In colonial America, men were considered superior to woman in all ways. In a strict patriarchal hierarchy, men controlled not only wealth & political power but also how their children were raised, religious questions, & all matters of right & wrong.

In the early part of the 19Cy, however, many Americans experienced a revolution in gender. The doctrine of “separate spheres” maintained that woman’s sphere was the world of privacy, family, & morality while man’s sphere was the public world -– economic striving, political maneuvering, & social competition. But women were interested in equality.

In 1848, New York passed the Married Woman’s Property Act. Now a woman wasn’t automatically liable for her husband’s debts; she could enter contracts on her own; she could collect rents or receive an inheritance in her own right; she could file a lawsuit on her own behalf. She became for economic purposes, an individual. By 1900, every state has passed legislation modeled after this, granting married women some control over their property and earnings.

In 1870 after the Civi War, the 15th Amendment was ratified, saying, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” African-Americans could vote, but women could not.

But it was not until 1920, that the 19th Amendment was ratified granting women the right to vote. “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”