Women in the 19C United States of America: 19C American Women - Folk Art - Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire (1804-1841)

Sunday, February 14, 2021

19C American Women - Folk Art - Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire (1804-1841)

attributed to Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire, 1804-? ) Woman in Veil c 1825

Several New England artists shared a unique painting style during the 1820s-30s. Women depicted by these artists exhibit several similar characteristics - pale, sculptural faces; prominent thin, delicately arched eyebrows; small bowed mouths; & elaborate classical Greek hairstyles of tight curls intertwined with jewelry, flowers, & other adornments. The paintings are usually watercolors. The artists paint strong features, sharply defined, with arched, curved eyebrows. The watercolors are similar to fashion plates appearing in magazines such as Ackerman’s Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions & Politics, published in London in 1809 through 1829.

Emily Eastman was one of these painters who was also from New Hampshire. When Emily Eastman was born on February 16, 1804, her father, David Eastman (1763-1824) was 41, and her mother, Ruth Carter (1763-1822), was 40. They had three sons and four daughters. Emily Eastman married Albert Merrill in 1822 in Conway, New Hampshire. They had three children during their marriage. She died on April 2, 1841, in Conway, New Hampshire, at the age of 37.

Between about 1820 & 1830, Eastman completed several portraits of women, drawn in graphite and then completed in watercolors, in high fashion dress with tightly curled hair. An issue of the contemporary The Lady’s Magazine, described popular fashion of the period, “Our fair females are covered with transparent shawls, which float and flutter over their shoulders and upon their bosoms, which are seen through them. With gauze veils, which conceal half of the face to pique our curiosity.” A likeness of a young girl is also included here.

attributed to Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire, 1804-? ) Lady's Coiffure with Flowers and Jewels

Eastman reportedly was born in Loudon, New Hampshire, 75 miles northwest of Boston, Massachusetts. She married Dr. Daniel Baker in 1824.

attributed to Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire, 1804-? ) Feathers and Pearls

Eastman rarely signed her paintings, but those that are unsigned display similarities such as prominent thin, delicately arched eyebrows; small bowed mouths; & elaborate coiffures of tight curls intertwined with jewelry, flowers, & other adornments.

attributed to Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire, 1804-? ) Girl Bedecked with Flowers

attributed to Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire, 1804-? ) Attributed to Eastman - Woman Holding a Bible

attributed to Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire, 1804-? ) Lady's Coiffure with Spray of Wheat and Wild Flowers

attributed to Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire, 1804-? ) Young Woman with Flowers in Her Hair c 1820-30

attributed to Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire, 1804-? ) Young Lady in a Gold Colored gown, her hair dressed with flowers and pearls c 1820

attributed to Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire, 1804-? ) Girl in Blue Dress

attributed to Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire, 1804- )

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.”