Tuesday, April 21, 2020

American Folk Art - Prior-Hamblen School


Prior-Hamblen School Portrait of woman attributed to EW Blake c 1845

Here are paintings attributed by curators or sellers of folk art to the Prior-Hamblen or Hamblin School. Five artists are general identified as being part of the Prior-Hamblin School who were influenced by artist William Matthew Prior:

Sturtevant Hamblen or Hablin (1817-1884), Prior's brother-in-law, whose family the Prior family lived with in Maine, & in Boston, during the 1830's - 1840's;

George Hartwell (1815–1901), whose niece Elizabeth Hartwell married a Hamblen son, James Hamblen, and who also lived in Boston during the time that Prior lived there. Hartwell returned to his home state of Maine, living in Lewiston, where he was a respected portrait, sign, window-shade, & banner painter. He moved to the home of his nephew Harry Hartwell in the neighboring town of Auburn, about just before his death at the age of 86. ;

J. (Jacob) Bailey Moore (1815-1893) of Candia, New Hampshire.  For a brief time he worked in Boston before returning to New Hampshire.   During his life he worked as a journalist, which was the profession of his father, and as a phrenologist as well as an itinerant artist;

William W. Kennedy (1817-1871), was born in New Hampshire & worked as a portrait painter in New Bedford, Massachusetts; Ledyard, Connecticut; and Berwick, Maine from 1845-1847. He moved to Maryland in 1849 or 1850, living at various locations in Baltimore with his wife & 3 children until 1869.  No direct relationship to Prior has been found, other than that he published an advertisement in New Bedford similar to advertisements used by Prior;

E. W. Blake was listed in the Boston City Directory as a physician at the Boston Lunatic Hospital living on Beach Street near Harrison Avenue in Boston in 1843. From 1844-1849, he was listed at 28 Harrison Avenue. Both locations were within easy walking distance of Prior's residence on Marion Street. Blake was apparently influenced by Prior, as he frequently used a small-size format similar to that used by Prior and had a simple style, not realistic. Blake's portraits, except for 2 known signed paintings, have usually been attributed to Prior or to the Prior-Hamben School.
Prior-Hamblen School
Prior-Hamben School 1840s
Prior-Hamblen School Baby Boy with Pencil c 1835
Prior-Hamblen School A Rhode Island Woman attributed to William W Kennedy
Prior-Hamblen School Sarah Gray 1843
Prior-Hamblen School
Prior-Hamblen School Young Girl with Black Braids
Prior-Hamblen School 1840s
Prior-Hamblen School Baby
Prior-Hamblen School Young Woman c 1840
Prior-Hamblen School Baby Girl with Ribbons
Prior-Hamblen School Dark Haired Young Woman with Bow-Knotted Pearls and Brooch
Prior-Hamblen School Girl in Blue Dress c 1840
Prior-Hamblen School Rosy-Cheeked Young Girl Wearing a Lace-Trimmed White Dress
Prior-Hamblen School Young Girl with Flowers
Prior-Hamblen School Young Girl Holding Flowers
Prior-Hamblen School attr to Sturtevant Hamblen (American painter, 1817–1884) Adelaide Endora Smith, Waterville, ME, 1852
Prior-Hamblen School Young Woman
Prior-Hamblen School Baby
Prior-Hamblen School
Prior-Hamblen School Young Girl in Blue c 1835
E W Blake of the Prior-Hamblen School, Boy With Rocking Horse 1846