ANNA MARY FREEMAN'S ROOM:
WOMEN AND ART IN ANTEBELLUM AMERICA
by
Shauna Martineau Robertson
A thesis submitted to the faculty of
Brigham Young University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts
Department of Humanities
Brigham Young University
December 2004
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
GRADUATECO~TTEEAPPROVAL
of a thesis submitted by
Shauna Martineau Robertson
This thesis has been read by each member of the following graduate committee and by majority vote has been found to be satisfactory.
-----------------------------Date Allen J. Christenson, Chair
Date Kerry D. Soper
Date Edward C. Cutler
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
As chair ofthe candidate's graduate committee, I have read the thesis ofShauna Martineau Robert son in its final form and found that ( 1) its format, citations, and bibliographical style are consistent and acceptable and fulfill university and department style requirements; (2) its illustrative materials including figures, tables, and charts are in place; and (3) the fmal manuscript is satisfactory to the graduate committee and is ready for submission to the university library.
Date
Accepted for the Department
Accepted for the College
Allen J. Christenson Chair, Graduate Committee
Allen J. Christenson Graduate Coordinator
Van C. Gessel Dean, College of Humanities
ABSTRACT
ANNA MARY FREEMAN'S ROOM:
WOMEN AND ART IN ANTEBELLUM AMERICA
Shauna Martineau Robert son
Department of Humanties
Master of Arts
This thesis is a study of the conditions surrounding the artistic production by
women in antebellum America-specifically the two decades preceding the Civil War.
The life and work of Anna Mary Freeman provide the framework for the questions raised
and discussed as a result of my research, and her story serves as an example of both the
possibilities and limitations presented to women who desired to pursue art as a career
during this period.
This work is divided into three major sections that analyze the key factors that
contributed to a woman's ability to participate in the world of professional artists. The
first section is focused on the educational expectations and opportunities available to
women in America and England during the 1840's and 1850's. It will also examine the
relationship between educational reforms after 1850 and the increased artistic recognition
given to women.
The second section of this work will concentrate on the move during this period
toward increased participation by women in the business world. I will analyze the
obstacles faced by women who wanted or needed to earn their own income, but also new
societal demands that made increasing professionalism possible. A comparison between
the accomplishments of literary and visual artists will help demonstrate this movement.
The final section of my study will examine the philosophy of "separate spheres"
and how this overriding philosophical belief simultaneously oppressed and liberated
women. Within this paradigm of gendered performance many women found ways to
give expression to their creativity and their yearning for independence and self
determination.
The personal and professional decisions made by Anna Mary Freeman regarding
her chosen genre, clientele, and business practice reinforce current scholarship on women
and art during this period of American history, but also provide an intimate portrait of a
relatively unknown artist who found a measure of professional success and personal
freedom as a result of emerging opportunities for women in the first half of the nineteenth
century.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to express my deep gratitude to Dr. Allen Christenson for his
example and expertise; Dr. Edward Cutler and Dr. Kerry Soper for their support
and advice; Melissa Bush at the University of Georgia for her prompt and
efficient assistance with my research; and my husband, Bruce, who has always
gtven me room.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction Page
Room to Learn Page 9
Room to Earn Page 31
Room to Yearn Page 65
Conclusion Page 85
Illustrations Page 88
Appendix A Page 93
Appendix B Page 94
Appendix C Page 95
Bibliography Page 101
Vll
Introduction
In her 1928 e2say "A Room of One's Own," Virginia Woolf attempted to discover
why the artistic output of women was nearly non-existent in comparison with that of
men. She posed the question, "What conditions are necessary for the creation of works
of art?" She concluded that an artist must have money, time, and a room of her own
three things assumed to be largely unavailable to women prior to the 201h century. All
three of these criteria allude to the necessity of freedom. The money she referred to was
enough of a stipend to make her economically independent. The time she referred to was
unbroken periods during which she could focus entirely upon artistic production. Among
other things, she felt that motherhood, with its intense demands on a woman's most
energetic hours, was incompatible with the demands of art . Finally, .when she specified a
room of her own, she meant a physical space dedicated to her craft, but also perhaps an
emotional space that was separate from the demands and distractions of everyday life. In
this way, a room of one's own represents a boundary between the self and the outside
world. By designating a physical space over which one has complete ownership, control
over what happens in that space is also suggested. The money and time then become
vehicles that allow an artist to enter and utilize the creative space.
By making this final criterion-a room of one's own-the title of her essay,
Woolf inferred that this sense of both physical and philosophical space is, perhaps, the
most crucial factor in successful artistic endeavors. The concept of room, then, becomes
a metaphor for the entire artistic process. Woolfs theory about the dearth of important
art produced by women when viewed in this light becomes a critique of how women
2
historically, and of her own time, were prevented from functioning within self
determined boundaries.
More recently, art historian Linda Nochlin has echoed the question posed by
Woolf in an essay titled, "Who Are the Great Women Artists?" which was first published
in 1971. Although she does not specifically refer to Woolfs work in her essay, there are
clearly parallels between the two studies. It is important to note that the lapse of close to
fifty years between these two important studies shows recognition of both the persistence
of the problem originally highlighted by Woolf and also the lack of satisfactory answers
to her question. As Ann Landi observes in an update on the topic published in the March
2003 issue of ARTNews, Nochlin's essay "became a seminal document for its times"
(94).
Nochlin was writing as part of the feminist movement of the 1970's that sought to
expose artificial boundaries drawn for women and empower them to reconfigure the map.
At the heart of the essay, according to Landi, was a "plea ... for a closer evaluation of the
social structures surrounding the production of art" (ibid). Nochlin prompted a
resuscitation of the work and a reexamination of the careers of unknown or
underappreciated women artists. Her conclusion, like Woo If s, is that the challenge for
female artists is three-fold. She asserts that to be capable of producing great works of art,
a woman must have access to education, patronage, and a social structure that allows her
self-determination. In Nochlin's terms, this has historically meant being born white,
middle-class, and male. Essentially, her work is also a discussion of boundaries: who
determines them, who reinforces them, and who is willing to challenge them. Moreover,
beyond examining the boundaries imposed on the artists, her study also alludes to the
boundaries drawn around the art itself If a work is judged to be great, who determines
the standards by which it is measured? This question is a little more difficult to answer
but may very well be more important in the study of artistic production by women
working in the Western tradition. For her article, written after another thirty years of
production and discussion, Ann Landi chose to borrow Nochlin's title. Besides the
obvious connection to the earlier essay, Landi demonstrates that Woolfs original
question is alive and well in the twenty-first century. And although she concludes that
many boundaries have been erased and the playing field leveled in some significant ways,
the opportunities for artists and the standards for art are far from set.
Although the last thirty years have been favorable for including more female
3
artists in classrooms and in exhibition spaces, the central questions posed by Woolf,
Nochlin, and Landi regarding how and why art is produced and the impact of gender
remain as necessary and compelling as they were when they were originally posed. The
shifting criteria applied to art in assessing its greatness are partly to blame. In an
interview for Nochlin's article, Marla Prather, a curator for the Whitney Museum, points
out that "even when you pay attention to those careers that shouldn't have been lost in the
great shuffle of art history, it doesn't necessarily mean that our estimation of their work
increases" (Landi 94). Imbedded in this observation is a crucial point. There are artists
whose work will never be classified as great no matter what set of criteria is applied, but
whose careers provide a window through which we can study and evaluate the social
structures that foster and frustrate the production of art by women.
The consequences of assigning boundaries have already been alluded to, but for
the purposes of this study, some will necessarily be imposed. The historical window
4
through which I will study the artistic production by women will open mainly on
America during the two decades preceding the Civil War. Most of the study is centered
in New York, which emerged during this time as a center for both visual and literary art.
This represents a time and place where many different segments of society were
attempting to redefine themselves by articulating new goals and boundaries. Artists and
women joined in the effort to examine how the principles and values perceived as being
"American" informed this definition process for them. A unique situation emerged for
female artists as they were involved in both of these social questions and often had to
make compromises in one area if they expected to make gains in the other.
In the 1840's, most male artists in New York worked from cramped, poorly lit
studios that were often located in rooms above other businesses. Potential patrons would
make visits to these individual studios to view and purchase work. If women were
involved in artistic production at all, it was usually in the minor field of decorative art
and their work was completed within their own home. It would either be commissioned
by acquaintances or sold through membership in a guild, thus preventing women from
directly transacting business.
In 1858, a building was erected at 51 West Tenth Street in New York-the first
building in America constructed exclusively for the production, display, and sale of art.
Called simply the Studio Building, it provided various types of artists with studio space.
Additionally, it included a gallery that facilitated the display and sale of their work. The
idea of creating a central location was new and part of a strategy to make America more
of a player on the international art scene. Among the artists to use this address during
their careers were Frederic Church, Albert Bierstadt, Stirling Calder, Winslow Homer,
and William Merritt Chase.
Speaking of the first group of tenants to occupy the Studio Building, historian
Annette Blaugrund refers to "A Brotherhood of Artists" (23). It is interesting to note,
however, that among this brotherhood of twenty men was listed a lone woman-Anna
Mary Freeman. The few extant examples of Anna Mary Freeman's work fail to reveal an
overlooked master. A closer look at her professional and personal life, however,
validates many of Virginia Woolfs points about female artistic production and also
answers N ochlin' s challenge to examine the social structures that impact the production
of art.
5
The research reveals that Mary Freeman was driven by an economic need to
support herself that certainly impacted the type of art she produced. She appears to have
refused, however, to adhere to common social practices-including marriage-that
would have guaranteed her financial security. What emerges is the portrait of a woman
who defied social conventions, stood her ground with the influential men with whom she
had contact, and capitalized on her talent and her connections to be self-sufficient at a
time in America when the concept of an independent woman was just starting to be
articulated. Although different groups saw the role of women in different ways, each
sought to incorporate the idea of independence as part of a larger project of defining what
it meant to be American. I feel that Freeman capitalized on the fluidity of the social
rhetoric and elasticity of social boundaries to exercise a surprising amount of self
determination.
6
Freeman's father, George, recognized these qualities in his daughter at the tender
age of nine. Speaking of Anna Mary in a letter to his brother, he describes her as being
"very clever." He wrote, "I mean clever in the English and true sense, what you perhaps
in America call smart, talented, etc. But Mary is American clever too" (30 March 1835). 1
One might say that clever in the English sense meant accomplished within the bounds
established by society. But I think George Freeman also recognized, even at this young
age, that his daughter was proactive in challenging boundaries that determined personal
and social opportunities if they were unjustly or unfairly drawn. He also hints at the role
of gender in setting these boundaries since he was, in a way, justifYing the expense of
educating his daughter. His comments also reinforce the notion that there was an effort
during this time to articulate what it meant to be American. This American artist may not
have exhibited the type of artistic genius often ascribed to the "Masters," but she did
exemplifY the cleverness of a woman who exercised her artistic spirit in spite of the
obstacles alluded to by both Woolf and Nochlin.
Anna Mary Freeman is one of those artists that Marla Prather would call lost in
the shuffle of art history. Her inclusion in the new Studio building, however, and her
participation in the exhibitions staged there and at the National Academy of Design,
would indicate that her career was significant-at least significant enough to bring in
sufficient income to pay her studio rent in the absence of any familial support or stable
professional patronage. The aim of my study is to trace the path ofher career and
1 The majority of biographical information on Anna Mary Freeman is gleaned from two sets of letters. The frrst set contains letters from her father, George Freeman, to his brother Shubael. These letters are on file with the Smithsonian and are available on microfilm and arranged by date. The other set contains letters from John Howard Payne to a variety of correspondents. These letters span the years 1842-1850 and have been collected into four volumes that are on file at the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Georgia. These letters are also arranged chronologically with unnumbered pages. Each time these letters are quoted or referred to in this thesis, they will be identified by date and by author or recipient.
demonstrate that her choices, both personal and professional, reveal a great deal about
societal restraints placed on women regarding their personal and public lives during the
mid-nineteenth century, but also the new opportunities for participation and self
determination facing women in general and artists in particular.
While her work may not secure her place in the annals of art history, Anna Mary
Freeman's life and career are worthy of further study-a study that becomes a valuable
tool for understanding the role of women and the development of art in New York in the
two decades preceding the Civil War. It could be successfully argued, however, that
Freeman did achieve a measure of artistic greatness if contemporary art critic Dave
Hickey's definition of the term is applied. In an interview for Ann Landi's 2003 essay,
he asserted that "we judge greatness by its consequences" (95). The consequences he
refers to are cultural; great art challenges and expands the cultural dialogue. As a result,
great art not only affects the artist, but the audience as well. If, as Landi's work asserts,
the cultural value of the art produced by women in the twenty-first century has been
raised, it is a consequence of the work of artists who have come before. Unfortunately,
the failure to locate evidence in Freeman's own voice beyond her poetry and a few letters
presents a limited opportunity to study the personal consequences of her choices.
Anna Mary Freeman, it appears, was a woman who, by 1858, had found the type
of room that Virginia Woolf wrote about. A synthesis ofWoolfs and Nochlin's
assertions about women's artistic opportunities still falls under the call for a "room of
one's own", but it can be expanded and clarified. In addition to possessing a certain
degree of talent, a successful artist, regardless of gender, time period, or culture, requires
room: room to learn, room to earn, and room to yearn. Since Freeman's name is absent
7
8
from the list of'"great artists," it indicates that she had limited access to one or more of
these essential rooms. The purpose of this study is to take a closer look at how each of
these rooms impacted the artistic careers of Freeman and other visual and literary artists
of her time. It will seek to determine whether their absence from a crucial room was
determined by their own choices or the restrictions imposed by others. Finally, I hope to
show that whether or not the work of female artists prior to our time meets our current
ideas of greatness, the fact that they found a way to enter these rooms at all is a measure
of artistic accomplishment in and of itself
9
Room to Learn
Education, as Linda Nochlin concluded, is a key factor in the development of a
noteworthy artist. Although educational opportunities did start to expand for women in
the early nineteenth century, most reform movements began after 1850 in England and
after the Civil War in America. It may seem ironic that Virginia Woolf did not include
education as part of her essay on what is necessary to the production of art since the essay
was prompted by her experience of being denied access to a college education, but it
must be remembered that Woolf was speaking specifically of literary art. Young women
of the middle and upper classes on both continents had been taught to read and write for
quite some time. Beyond that, however, their opportunities for education beyond the
basics were limited and firmly grounded in expectations tied to gender.
Much of what is known of Anna Mary Freeman's early years and education
comes from the letters between her father and his brother. Mary was born in London
early in the year of 1825. Her father, George Freeman, was a self-taught portrait painter
who had left America in 1816 with his new bride, Lydia V. Burr. Commissions in
America were scarce and George was unsuited to the farming that sustained the rest of
his father's family, so he went to Europe to study and to make a name for himself.
Although George promised his brother to try to arrange visits to America with his new
family, the cost was prohibitive and Lydia was afraid the commissions in England would
dry up in their absence. It is unclear how much artistic training George received in
England from his letters, which mostly discuss commissions and farming concerns.
10
By 1832, the family had relocated to Bath, where Lydia managed the growing
family and George traveled to complete portrait commissions. In a letter dated April 2 7,
1832, George wrote, "my daughter Mary (God bless my little Mary) just seven years, as
beautiful as an angel," and also mentioned the additions of sons George Lloyd and
Thomas Henry Skiff. As a young adult, Mary assumed some of the financial burden of
providing for this family. In letters written between 1848 and 1850, John Howard Payne,
one of Freeman's most ardent supporters, frequently mentioned the fact that it was
Mary's financial contributions that were keeping her brother Henry in college-a
privilege that would not have been extended to her because of her gender. According to
Linda Kerber, it was not that uncommon for daughters to be working while their brothers
attended school. The longer boys could be kept out of the workforce, the greater chance
they had at social mobility. To make this possible, many women, both mothers and
daughters, began to work for pay ( 45). Most of these women worked as domestics or
took in boarders, but others entered the public sector as a means to secure employment.
George Freeman saw to it that all of his children received an education. Since his
letters referred to his children being away from home, it appears they weren't wealthy
enough to hire a governess or a tutor to come into their home. At one point, George
Freeman wrote that the cost per year of educating his three children was over five
hundred dollars, but didn't begrudge the sum since his boys"[ were] of good capacity"
and "Mary, dear little darling, now 9 years old, [was] very clever" (30 Mar. 1835). It is
in this same letter that George distinguished between the previously mentioned British
definition of clever and what he refers to as ''American clever." There is a distinction
between the kind of knowledge that can be taught or learned in school and what we may
call "street smarts"-an ability to create novel solutions or original ideas.
Based on the cost of tuition, it is likely that Mary Freeman attended one of
England's more fashionable boarding schools. Aimed mainly at the upper and middle
classes, this type of "finishing" school was found in London and the major resort towns
such as Brighton, Clifton, and Bath-where the Freeman family was living. According
11
to a study of women's education in England during this same period by June Purvis, the
curriculum at this type of school covered the following: deportment, drawing,
calisthenics, foreign languages and English, with alternate weeks of memorizing history
and learning geography (69). Even though drawing was part of the curriculum, these
young women were not being prepared for any profession outside of being a wife and
mother. As one student lamented, "Nobody dreamed that any one of us could in later
life be more or less than an 'Ornament of Society'. That a pupil in that school should
ever become an artist, or authoress, would have been looked upon ... as a deplorable
dereliction" (Purvis 69). This quote illuminates some key attitudes toward women's
education during the period that Freeman was growing up. The first was that women
should become accomplished in those areas that would increase their ornamental value.
The second, less obvious but certainly more detrimental to an aspiring artist, was that any
desire to expand one's experience outside of this narrowly defined scope was heartily
discouraged. Thus, upon leaving one of these British boarding schools, a young woman
like Mary Freeman would be "finished" in more ways than one. She would be worthy
and ready for marriage, but her opportunities to study and learn were also finished.
12
Specific details about the lives and activities of his three children are scarce in his
letters, but George Freeman always referred to his only daughter in terms of endearment
and also mentioned her beauty and her delightful personality. While it appears that he
encouraged Mary in her artistic interests, from a very early age he also focused on those
qualities that would make her successful in a traditional way. The comments about
Mary's physical appearance, personality traits, and talent might be dismissed as a father's
biased ramblings about his only daughter, but John Howard Payne also refers to both her
· talent and her beauty in his letters. For both men, it is as if they must constantly remind
their correspondents that although she possessed intelligence and skill, she also had the
qualities of personality and beauty that will help her fulfill her destined role as a woman.
Efforts to find a portrait of Anna Mary Freeman for this study in order to support
or refute her physical beauty have been largely unsuccessful. Although standards of
beauty change, a contemporary portrait might assist research into how her appearance
would have opened or closed doors of social, professional, and personal opportunity.
There is one portrait completed by George Freeman during his years in London that is
speculated to be of his daughter (fig. 1). Because of the age and uncertainty of the
identification of the sitter, this portrait is not much help for the purposes previously
stated, but it does demonstrate the artistic skill of George Freeman and indicates the level
of expertise Mary would have been exposed to in her early years.
George did finally return to America alone in 183 7 to complete a commissioned
portrait of President Martin Van Buren. This connection, along with a social climate
more conducive to the production and sale of art, made the idea of returning to America
with his family seem more of a possibility. Upon his return to England in March of 1841,
George completed the most important commission of his career. He was the first
American to be invited to paint Queen Victoria from life. George increased his
reputation and career opportunities not through continued education, but through sitters
of increasing prestige. That summer, he and his family returned to America for good.
With his connections to Van Buren and the artistic clout of his portrait of the Queen, he
felt assured of enough commissions to support his family.
13
Anna Mary Freeman was sixteen years old when she set foot on American soil for
the first time. She often accompanied her father on his painting trips while the rest of the
family stayed at home. Although Mary received a traditional English boarding school
education, she probably refined her painting skills at her father's side. During the fall of
1 84 2, Mary accompanied her father on a painting trip to Baltimore while the family
remained in Hartford, Connecticut. George Freeman seems to have determined that the
formal education of his seventeen year-old daughter was complete since she was free to
travel extensively at this time of year. A few years later, Mary would be working to earn
the money that would keep her brother Henry in college. It is unclear whether Mary also
painted during their travels, or whether she simply provided support and companionship.
Nevertheless, it is certain that she learned the business side of art first-hand.
There is one allusion to Mary's art education in an article for the New York
Mirror penned by John Howard Payne in 1848. He wrote, "It is touching indeed to see a
lovely young girl spontaneously seeking to make the fortune of genius and education a
source of worldly independence" (8 Nov. 1848). Payne seems to be advocating the
philosophy that to be truly successful as an artist, one must have both genius and
education. The three essays I have chosen to frame this discussion of artistic production
14
by women all speak to this issue. As Landi points out, defining "genius" is just as
problematic as defining "greatness" (95). Woolf promotes the idea of genius as she
speculates in her essay about what would have happened if Shakespeare had had a sister.
She concludes by asserting that women of that time and up into her own time may have
been born with the seeds of genius, but by itself it is not enough. Nochlin, however,
completely refutes the idea of a mysterious, magical power that is imbedded in the artist
in favor of exploring how a society can create and foster such creativity. More recent
scholarship by Barbara Groseclose examines what she calls "artist-narratives" and shows
that in the history of the European tradition of art, "artists-to-be from Giotto (1267-1337)
to Thomas Cole give off a glimmer of their greatness in childhood" (27). It is hard to say
if Anna Mary Freeman fits into this narrative in the absence of a detailed biography.
Although clearly taken with his only daughter, George Freeman's letters never make
specific mention ofher possessing artistic talent. Woolf's story of the fictional sister of
Shakespeare does have a point, however. If fostering special gifts in female children is
not part of a society's agenda, those gifts may never be noticed.
Linda Nochlin explores the historical implications of educating women in depth
in her 1971 essay. Most significantly for visual artists, women, throughout the 19th
century, were kept from studying the nude of either gender-a practice considered
integral to art education and a genre considered to be the greatest form of art. It is
interesting that although the art world in America was very proactive throughout the
nineteenth century in establishing itself as a significant international player, the
academies that rose up in major cities like New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago
were all reluctant to use nudes with male students and nearly all were adamantly opposed
to using them with women. Groseclose attributes the great number of American artists
that left to work in Europe during this time specifically to this fact. She asserts,
"American art students training in Paris were there because American academies had
been unable to initiate or maintain working from the nude as part of their curriculum"
15
( 17). Whether or not Freeman would have been in a position to take advantage of
educational opportunities in America, the number of expatriate artists during this time
reflects upon the consequences of censoring opportunities to paint from life. The
perceived lack of educational scope or quality available in America may have also served
to diminish the perceived quality of the work of American-trained artists.
There could be a number of reasons for reluctance on the part of American
schools to utilize nude models. The easy, but too simplistic, answer is America's
puritanical roots. The prevailing emphasis on extolling a woman's virtues and denying
her sexuality during the antebellum period surely contributed to the cultural disdain for
either posing or painting from a nude if you were female. But this underlying societal
restraint would also extend to the audience who, especially during this time of increasing
capitalism in America, were also the consumers of art.
The importance of the audience cannot be underestimated. The first Academy of
Arts in America, established in New York in 1802, was established by patrons rather that
executers of art. Most professional artists were working in England or other European
countries during that time. These early academies were founded to teach art
appreciation-not art. In his history of the National Academy of Design, Eliot Clark
points to the fact that '1he New York Academy had little concern with the practicing
artist. .. it was an endeavor to bring together men of social distinction" ( 5). If the earliest
16
professional arts organizations were created to cultivate one as a "gentleman," it is not
surprising that women were left out. As Barbara Groseclose echoes, "a group of wealthy,
well-bred men professed themselves willing to take charge of the cultural education of
the masses, who were made of 'malleable stuff'" (1 0). The organization eventually
disbanded, but gave rise to the National Academy of Design-a group founded in 1826
by some of the most prominent artists of the day. Unlike their predecessor, this Academy
sought to provide real training for artists on this continent. They did, however, still
recognize the importance of educating their audience through exhibitions and
publications.
At the major art academies in the United States, students were taught the figure
from both casts of classical Greek sculpture and from life. It wasn't until after the Civil
War, however, that women began to be a real presence in these drawing classes, and their
study of nudes usually came in a group of only females. American artist Thomas Eakins,
after pushing his superiors to the brink on other occasions, lost his teaching position at
the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts for revealing a male nude model in a class of
mixed students. Barbara Groseclose gives a telling conclusion to this event:
Another. .. explanation is that he lost his job not so much because he
offended women art students by revealing a male nude (there seems to
have been no outburst of condemnation from women in the P AF A) but
because he offended men. In this reasoning, which gives credence to the
idea that one who looks holds power over one who is looked at, women in
an art school gazing long and hard at a naked man-naked and so
defenseless--Dbtain a position of dominance over the male body, a
situation that insulted men and may have scared them too (22).
17
According to Nochlin, the lack of training in drawing the nude resulted in aspiring
female painters "restricting [themselves] to the 'minor' fields of portraiture, genre,
landscape, or still life" (160). There are some problems with this statement, however,
for artists in general and Anna Mary Freeman specifically. There were male painters
working in all of these 'minor' fields who are today considered to be great artists. The
fact that Anna Mary Freeman chose portrait miniatures may be due in part to educational
shortcomings, but her choice of genres was also likely a result of the example of her
father.
If it is true that Freeman's father was her greatest artistic influence, it leads into
another ofNochlin's theories about the artistic education and training of women:
"I can point to a few striking characteristics of women artists ... generally all, almost
without exception, were either the daughters of artist fathers, or, generally later, in the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries, had a close personal connection with a stronger or
more dominant male artistic personality ( 169). It is ironic that Nochlin fails to give these
mentors credit for challenging societal expectations.
Training, whether obtained by a self-taught, apprentice-trained, or academy
educated artist, typically commences with copying or emulation. If women were
generally denied access to a master or an academy, it makes sense that those with artist
fathers would emulate the work of their parents. In fact, one of the few women
mentioned in the gallery reviews and advertising of The Crayon along with Anna Mary
Freeman was Jane Stuart, daughter of Gilbert Stewart.
18
One significant illustration of this training pattern is the family legacy of Charles
Willson Peale. It is not surprising that someone who named many of his seventeen
children after famous artists would become part of an American artistic dynasty. In 1997,
an exhibition was created to celebrate the artistic contributions of this remarkable family.
The show highlighted ten artists-three of whom were women. As stated in the press
release published by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, "Although the works of
the male members are well known, the exhibition reveals that the female members of the
family also excelled and achieved a status that no other women artists in American had
previously known." Charles had one daughter, Angelica, named after his favorite female
artist, whom he instructed in drawing and who achieved recognition for her work. Two
ofhis granddaughters also rose to prominence: Mary Jane, the daughter of Rubens Peale;
and Rosalba, daughter of Rembrandt Peale. In addition, Charles' brother James, himself
an art framer and miniaturist, produced three influential female artists: his daughters
Sarah, Anna, and Margaretta. All of these women were the beneficiaries of a rich artistic
heritage. Their chosen genres included still life, portraiture, and miniatures-reflective
ofboth their time and their gender.
The story of this family also reinforces the importance of instruction and casts
doubt on the supremacy of genius in creating a great artist. The entire concept of genius
gains much of its power by how rarely, and therefore more preciously, it is bestowed.
Surely there must be a better explanation for a family so prolific in its production of
artists. Peale himself, after acknowledging that the prevailing opinion during his time
was that great artists were born with a specific gift, said, ''Now there are proofs of men,
that shew an equal readiness to acquire knowledge to a fme Soil, in which every thing
19
will grow, that is sown therein. But remember cultivation is absolutely necessary" ( 41 ).
"The Lamplight Portrait, James Peale" (fig. 2) is a painting by Charles Willson Peale that
is rich in contributions to the discussion of genre, gender, and guidance that informed
Anna Mary Freeman's world. Peale completed the painting in 1822, at the age of 81.
The subject is his brother James, now retired from painting, looking at a miniature
completed by Charles' own daughter Anna. The subject of the portrait is Rosalba,
Rembrandt Peale's oldest daughter. The portrait shows examples of two popular genres
of painting-portraiture and miniatures. It also demonstrates the relationship between
mentor, artist, and subject. As exemplified in this portrait and the family upon which it is
based, training appears to be more of a factor in producing artist greatness than genius,
and gender does not inherently diminish the capacity of the learner. Additionally, the
example of the Peale family would also suggest that the quality of the instruction was
more important than where it was obtained. This has significant implications for an
argument like Nochlin's that asserts the importance of a formal, academy or university
based education on producing artistic greatness.
William Morris Hunt, brother of the designer of the Studio Building and one of its
original tenants, was one who often provided art instruction to women-the first
American master to do so. Most of these lessons took place in his studio or in his home.
After moving to the Studio Building, his pupils would not only have had access to the
work and techniques of their mentors, but also exposure to the work of other Studio
artists. Although documentation of a teacher-student relationship between Hunt and
Mary Freeman is unavailable, her proximity to him and so many other prominent artists
20
of the day once she had space in the building provided Freeman with a rich educational
expenence.
When Hunt first made the decision to open his studio for instruction, he
assembled a class of forty women. In answer to the question of why he taught women, he
responded, "Because they came and asked me to show them, and offered to pay me for
my time. I have told the young men again and again that I would do the same for them, if
they would get a large room and all work together. But some of them would not be as
teachable as the women are" (Hunt 140). He realistically acknowledged that most of the
women would not become professional artists, but educating the audience was also part
of his agenda. Although he and his brother received their artistic training in some of the
finest academies of Europe, Hunt's vision for art was much larger than the tight
curriculum of the academies. He preferred the atelier system, where you learned to paint
by painting. He taught, "The way to educate artists is to bring them up in studios. This
plan of the Art-Museum School will produce teachers and people skilled in academical
drawing,-not painters" (136).
Hunt's philosophy of training refutes Nochlin's claims regarding the necessity of
University or Academy access in creating a great artist. It does, on the other hand,
reinforce Woolfs requirement that an artist needs time to create. Like Nochlin, however,
Hunt did reject the idea of genius. In a wonderful definition, he said, "Genius is nothing
but love. If you love to paint, if you love to sing, if you love to black boots, you are a
genius" (83). During the time Anna Mary Freeman was training and working, she did
take advantage of opportunities to learn from the men who were willing to teach. The
fact that these males were not afraid to educate their female children or clients beyond the
surface societal requirements of refinement made more room for women in the training
system for artists.
Mary Cassatt, one of the first American women to be recognized for her artistic
greatness and one of the few to be considered a master, was the beneficiary of this
21
gradual process of instructional expansion. In an essay on her education, Andrew Walker
notes that Cassatt began her art education in 1860 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the
Fine Arts, where the curriculum included copying Old Master and contemporary work
(Barter 21 ). At the heart of this essay is Cassatt's realization that she needed to copy the
best work and study with the best artists to become a true professional, and she spent her
life in pursuit of opportunities to do so. She took advantage of both formal and casual
forms of instruction. Unlike the Peales or Mary Freeman, however, Cassatt did not have
the support and example of her father. In fact, in a conversation with her biographer she
recollected that her father's reaction to her decision to return to Europe to pursue a career
in art was to say he would rather see her dead (Mathews 12).
A collection of letters edited by Nancy Mowell Mathews between the members of
Mary Cassatt's inner circle gives us a good sense of her training and her attitude towards
art. The first set of letters is written by seventeen year-old Eliza Haldeman, a classmate
and friend of Cassatt's at the Philadelphia Academy ofFine Art. She vividly describes
the pros and cons of their training. In a letter to her father from 1860, she describes how
she is being taught to draw. She explains that she and the other "young ladies" had been
assigned to particular teacher. Rather than receiving instruction at the Academy, the girls
went to his studio with a week's worth of drawings to receive his critique. Students,
regardless of gender, were not allowed to paint until extensive study and copying of
22
classical works of painting and sculpture (24). Although there were a fair number of
female students, Haldeman still distinguished between those who were amateurs and
those who were professionals. Several years later, Mary Cassatt wrote of a traveling
companion, "[F]or although my friend calls herself a painter she is only an amateur and
you must know we professionals despise amateurs" ( 61 ). Academy training did facilitate
the desires of potential 'professional' artists, but also served as a type of finishing school
for less artistically serious young women.
Eliza Haldeman was very clear in her letters to her father that both she and Miss
Cassatt were serious about art. After another two years at the Academy, she claimed that
although the Academy had emolled many more female students, she and Cassatt were
"still at the head" (26). If the theory about artistic genius holds true, by this time Mary
Cassatt's talent should have been evident. And although Haldeman did note that they
were at the top of their-class, she mentions that they both had much to learn and
possessed different artistic strengths. As her classical subject during December of 1862,
Cassatt was working on a rendition of the Atlas while Eliza was getting ready to start a
Laocoon. Haldeman wrote of their abilities, "We keep pretty nearly together. She [is]
generally getting the shading better and I the form, she the 'ensemble' and I the
'minutia"' (26). Although she may be an umeliable source, Eliza Haldeman doesn't
seem to perceive any manifestation of genius on the part of Cassatt.
Cassatt, having received the fullness of artistic instruction that America had to
offer, left for Paris in 1865. Throughout her career, she sought to attach herself to other
artists, almost exclusively men, who would help her develop not only her technique, but
her style as well. Although as a student in Philadelphia she dreamt of finding someone to
23
buy a painting of hers for a thousand dollars, for. her, financial gain was a by-product of
her efforts-not the goal. She traveled extensively to hone her talent and reputation and
refused to be contained or contaminated by conventional approaches being taught in
America and France at this time.
Her financial security was not the only factor that freed Cassatt to search out the
best possible instruction. Like Mary Freeman, Cassatt's status as a single woman
allowed her to travel unencumbered by the responsibilities of a family. Unlike Freeman,
however, Cassatt had access to her family's wealth to finance her education and career.
Although specific information on Anna Mary Freeman's education proves elusive, it is¥
clear that when she arrived in America at age sixteen, Mary spent most of her time using
whatever skill she had acquired in her early years to earn a living and may not have had
time to pursue her artistic education with the passion displayed by Cassatt. If William
Morris Hunt was correct in asserting that one became a better painter by simply painting
without regard to mistakes or public critique, then an artist like Freeman, after
completing commissions that would please perhaps a less enlightened client, may have
had little time to experiment and get better. Although Cassatt always had her eye on
becoming a professional painter, most women at this time would be content with amateur
status to serve their own domestic needs. An education in art for many was a means of
refinement, not a professional pathway.
Mary Cassatt had time, money, education, studio access, and growing patronage
on both sides of the Atlantic. The most important condition driving her success,
however, was her unfailing passion for improving and seeking out opportunities and
connections that would augment her inherent talent. Her goal from day one was to be a
24
professional artist and that, more than anything else, may have been the key ingredient to
her success. Mary Cassatt benefited from an increasing respect and tolerance for the
artistic production of women at the end of the nineteenth century, but in spite of the few
fathers and mentors who nurtured women's careers, the first half of the century still
marked a period where "women were deprived of encouragements, educational facilities
and rewards" (N ochlin 163). Thus, Woo If and N ochlin were correct in identifYing the
need for multiple conditions to exist and combine in the production of great art.
One of these conditions that has not been directly addressed, but was certainly a
side benefit of formal educational opportunities, is that of an increasing network of
professional colleagues. As previously mentioned, most artists working in America
during the early nineteenth century worked in relative isolation. They may have been
aware of masterworks of art through their own studies, but did not have much of a chance
to exchange ideas with their peers. This, combined with other factors, probably retarded
the progression of the art movement in America. William Morris Hunt recognized the
importance of this as he lamented young men's willingness to work in groups. The label
applied to the group of artists working from the Studio Building at the time of Freeman's
occupation-the Hudson River School-highlights recognition of instruction and artistic
progression and innovation even though it was not a formal "school." Mary Cassatt was
able to use her network of colleagues and patrons to great advantage throughout her
career. Even if some of her educational experiences were frustrating or ordinary, each
change in location introduced her to a new group of contemporaries. As evidenced by the
Impressionist group of which she became a part, there were tremendous opportunities for
experimentation and dialogue that grew out of these associations. Arid her classification
25
in recent years as a great artist is due, at least in part, to her being a part of this innovative
group.
Anna Mary Freeman, however, did not have the social-at least early on--or
educational benefits possessed by Cassatt. Without evidence in Freeman's own voice, it
is impossible to determine her level of artistic passion or to pinpoint her artistic
intentions. Samples of her work are few, and samples of her thoughts are even fewer.
She may have used her talent to earn money and never aspired further than that. If
economic survival were her only motivation, however, she wouldn't have been so quick
to dismiss the proposals of marriage referred to in the letters from John Howard Payne.
During the period of their correspondence, Freeman was in her mid-twenties-an age at
which many young ladies were already married and settled. The freedom to produce art
may have been one reason she rejected marriage until later in life, but a general sense of
freedom of self-determination may also have played into her choices. Nevertheless, if
her desires and her talent would have led her in the direction of greatness under other
circumstances, her relative poverty and sense of responsibility to the support of her
family would have been a barrier to her pursuit of that goal. Bound by the need to satisfy
the patrons she depended upon for money, and the time she had to consume in order to do
so, may have left the artist unable to push the boundaries and take the risks that seem to
be one of the enduring criteria that defines artistic greatness.
Even if there had been room for women in the area of artistic education during
Freeman's formative years, her economic situation may have made that opportunity
elusive. Her desire to occupy the Studio Building, however, may point to a determination
on her part to expand her artistic education, whether that was directly or indirectly
26
accomplished. Because a permanent studio, especially of the size of the spaces in the
Studio Building, would be an unnecessary expense for a miniature artist, Freeman seems
to have been trying to transcend the limitations that had up to this point been imposed
upon her career. She may also have seen a perfect opportunity to associate and learn
from some of the most important and innovative American artists ofher time. The timing
of its opening in 1858 also found her brothers older and more established, so she was
freed from much of her familial responsibility. For a serious artist, the open,
interconnecting studios of the Tenth Street building would have provided a richer
educational experience than any academy could have offered.
The importance of academy or institutionalized education in the success of an
artist also changes over time. For example, by the end of the nineteenth century, formally
educated artists were dismissed as unimaginative and unoriginal and self-trained artists
began to have increasing success. In a recent study, Barbara Pollack shows that in
today's art world there is still a distinction between contemporary artists who have
"M.F.A~s and major gallery representation" and artists known as "outsiders" who have
been self-taught (92). Formal education may not be an essential ingredient in the making
of a great artist, but for women of Anna Mary Freeman's time, access to education
provided a vision of what could be accomplished and provided a technical, historical, and
cultural base from which women could build a reputation and find an artistic space to
occupy.
At this point, it is necessary to make a distinction between literary and visual art.
When Virginia Woolf posed her question about making art, she was referring specifically
to writing, although many of her conclusions apply to all types of art. In antebellum
27
America, women writers enjoyed more acceptance and economic success than artists
working in other media. Novels, advice and etiquette manuals, religious tracts, and
journalistic endeavors written by women proliferated during this period. Writers like
Lydia Sigourney, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Catharine Beecher, and Louisa May Alcott
began to exert a measure of cultural recognition and power. Examining the reasons for
this helps illuminate the problems faced by Anna Mary Freeman and other women at this
time.
Linda N ochlin claims that because most middle and upper class people were
literate, authors did not face the same obstacles of education and training in their field of
endeavors as visual artists, and that is why they were more successful. In addition,
literary art was typically privileged during the colonial period in America and up through
the Civil War. Art historian Neil Harris points out that "[b ]efore Americans made
pictures they used words" (2). This reverses the way a society typically evolves, but is
characteristic of colonization. It did, in fact, produce a distrust of the visual in conveying
societal values that hampered artists of both genders during the first half of the nineteenth
century.
William Morris Hunt addressed the relationship between literary and visual art.
His comments are of great significance in addressing the questions raised by Woolf and
Nochlin. He pled, "Children should learn to draw as they learn to write, and such a
mystery should not be made of it .... As it is, every child shows some disposition to draw
early" (9). He explained that because children experiment on any surface they can find or
they waste "whole sheets of paper", this early and natural affection for the visual is
discouraged and buried. Thus, it is specifically the notion of genius that hampers a
28
developing artist. Because reading and writing was valued and encouraged in nineteenth
century America, it shouldn't be surprising that great authors of both genders were
produced.
Literacy-a necessity in a successful democracy-is an interesting term in that it
addresses the skill of both producer and consumer. I would agree with Nochlin's
assertions regarding the educational limitations for female visual artists, but as previously
mentioned, her argument needs to be extended to the artist's audience. Appreciation and
access to fine art was available mainly to the upper classes. In many respects, the fine
arts, both historically and now, depend upon an educated audience. Even if the lower
classes could learn to appreciate fine art, public museums were still a new development,
and the purchase of original art for display in their homes was typically not an option.
One other problem that is exposed when visual and literary art is compared is the
perception that the function of art is a strictly aesthetic one. Many viewers, even today,
fail to realize that part of what makes a work of art great is what is has to say.
Unfortunately, visual literacy did not make the list of necessities for a nineteenth century
American, and rarely makes the list for one of the twenty-first. Once again, the wisdom
of William Morris Hunt simply but beautifully exposes this dilemma: "Drawing should
be considered not an accomplishment, but a necessity. Any one who can make the letter
D can learn to draw. Learning to draw is learning the grammar of a language. Anybody
can learn the grammar, but whether you have anything to say, that is another thing" (64).
It would have been difficult for any artist during Freeman's time to say something
meaningful to an audience who, in large measure, did not speak the language.
29
Any person literate in reading and writing, however, could buy a newspaper,
journal, or book. Although women were largely excluded from higher education, basic
literacy was encouraged and expected. And women, within their domestic scope, had the
time and motivation to consume the vast amounts of literature produced during this time
of mass circulation. To keep up with the demand, both in number and content, it was
economically necessary to patronize writers who were women. Thus, it wasn't so much
an example of recognizing the talent of women, but of recognizing their profit potential.
The economic considerations of artistic production leads into a discussion of the next
area where women during the first half of the nineteenth century sought room-the room
to earn.
Room to Earn
"I am glad that a new order of woman is arising ... who are evidently sufficient unto themselves, both as it regards love and bread and butter" (Fern 295).
This praise comes from the popular nineteenth-century writer who went by the
pen name Fanny Fern. The quote indicates that for women of Anna Mary Freeman's
generation, the ability to earn a living granted to them both economic and emotional
31
independence. Virginia Woolf argued that this type of independence was required for the
successful production of works of art and that social expectations for women interfered
with the process. What requires further examination is the effect upon women who chose
to strive for economic independence--or mere survival-through the production of their
art rather than having the luxury of economic security that has already been assured.
Born Sara Payson Willis, the author Fanny Fern overcame many of the obstacles
facing women of her time and chronicled her path to financial independence in her first
novel, Ruth Hall. This thinly veiled autobiography graphically portrays many of the
issues about the creation of art raised by Woolf and Nochlin. Sara Willis appeared to be
on a traditional path early in her life. She wasn't an exemplary student, but loved to
write. She returned from Catherine Beecher's boarding school in 1831 with recognition
for her writing talents, but regret at her having largely failed in the areas of social
refinement for wmch Beecher was famous. Like the title character in her novel, Sara
Willis started out on the domestic path of wife and motherhood, but the death ofher
husband left her in a precarious social position. Her own parents refused to support her,
claiming that her late husband had mismanaged funds. Her in-laws refused to support
32
her, claiming she had squandered her husband's wealth. The real Sara Willis, like the
fictional Ruth Hall, turned to the only thing she could do well-she started to write.
In 1855, Willis-now known as Fanny Fern-would sign a contract making her
the highest paid newspaper writer of her time. Women readers made up a profitable
portion of the reading market, and during this time women's magazines and advice
manuals proliferated. Although many of the notable authors from this period reinforced
the oppressive domestic view of women, Sara Willis made her fortune with Fanny Fern's
biting satire against these prevailing views.
There are some very telling parallels between the lives of Sara Willis and Mary
Freeman. The first is that they were required by their circumstances to earn a living.
Because both women belonged to the middle class, their options for earning were
hampered by the social expectations for a "lady" that dictated not only what a woman
could do, but where she could do it. By 1846, both women had people dependant upon
them for financial support. For Freeman it was her brothers, but for Willis, now a widow,
it was her two children. The very different expectations placed upon a sister as opposed
to a mother created a sense of urgency for Willis that was perhaps absent for Freeman.
Willis tried two of the most acceptable ways for a single woman to fmd financial
security. The first was teaching, but she failed to pass the exam. Finally, at the urging of
her father, she remarried in 184 9.
By this same time, Freeman had rejected proposals from John Howard Payne and
also at least one other man. Payne and Freeman met in New York during the summer of
1848 where Mary was living and working. He fell in love with her and became her
unofficial art dealer. In a letter dated July 25, 1849, Payne reminds her that when their
relationship first started, the disparity in their ages (he was almost thirty-five years her
senior) was not an issue. He claimed that she "even said she liked older men." In the
same letter, however, he laments that his lack of a job at the moment makes it so "he
can't provide for her so she didn't have to provide for herself" This comment is
significant. It shows that marriage to this man would not necessarily have produced any
measure of financial security. It also verifies that, while it was true she was contributing
towards her family's support, Freeman's main concern was her own sustenance. This
allowed her the luxury of refusing to marry while Willis felt bound to do so.
33
Sara Willis found her second marriage to be a disaster, and in an affront to
propriety, divorced in 1851. It was at this time that she decided to survive doing the only
thing in which she felt competent: writing. And following her trials, she certainly had
plenty to say. Her first article, published in Boston's Olive Branch in 1851, was titled
"The Model Husband." After her lengthy description of the ideal husband, she concludes
with the word "unpossible!" (Fern 216). The most foreign idea to her contemporary
audience she saved until last: "[H]e says women will do as they like-he should as soon
think of driving the nails into his own coffin, as trying to stop them."
John Howard Payne is a good example of the general attitude about marriage and
the relationships between women and men at this time. While he often expresses
admiration for Mary Freeman's talent, it is only commendable because it is at present
useful. Independence was never intended as the goal for demonstrating talent and ability.
Rather, it was these qualities that made women a desirable companion for men-a union
that, ironically, typically served to smother those same qualities.
34
Sara Willis' second marriage changed her ideas about the balance of power in a
relationship. In another of her early articles, she made the following observation: "Catch
a regular, smart, talented, energetic woman, and it will puzzle you to find a man that will
compare with her for go-aheadativeness. The more obstacles she encounters, the harder
she struggles, and the more you try to put her down, the more you won't do it" (Fern
226). She wrote this in reply to an article written by a man advising young women that
men are far superior to them and if they don't remain attentive the men would be forced
to tum from their "insignificant love." Willis seems to be speaking directly to John
Howard Payne when she argues that if the love of a young woman is so insignificant,
"Why does a man offer himself a dozen times to the same woman?" (ibid).
Sara Willis and Anna Mary Freeman were both able to achieve self-sufficiency
outside the bonds of marriage. They both chose avenues for earning that were socially
acceptable, but referring back to a statement by William Morris Hunt, there may be an
explanation why one was historically and socially significant, while the other seems to
have worked in relative obscurity. Willis had a significant message that was shared by
vast numbers of women. Her failed second marriage came in the wake of the first
women's rights convention held at Seneca Falls, New York in I 848. The climate in
America in the I 840's and I 850's saw a significant challenge to existing boundaries
placed on women. Although Sara Willis was often criticized for the "unfeminine" bite of
her satire, her participation in the profession was viewed as acceptable. Her ideas
resonated with much of her audience because they spoke her language. Freeman, even if
she had something significant to say, would have found it difficult to make a statement
with her painting, both because her training was insufficient and her audience was not
fluent in a visual language. Additionally, although Willis started her career in a state of
poverty, she eventually enjoyed the type of compensation that would have allowed her
freedom of experimentation and risk-taking that are characteristic of great artists. Up
until her later marriage, Freeman worked steadily, but never achieved the status and
attendant compensation of most of her male contemporaries. This may have prohibited
her from creating the kind of art that separates the good from the great by existing
societal standards.
There is another interesting link between Sara Willis and Anna Mary Freeman.
35
When Willis first decided to try publishing her work in 1851, she turned to her brother,
Nathania! P. Willis for help. He was, at the time, the editor of the New York Home
Journal. Sara Willis' biographer, Joyce Warren, explains that although he had helped
launch the careers of other female writers, he refused to help her. In fact, he expressed
shame that any of his peers in the publishing world would know that anything so 'vulgar'
-and 'indecent' had been written by his own sister. He felt the only appropriate avenue for
her fmancial survival was to write religious tracts (Warren 14). It was to this same N. P.
Willis that John Howard Payne, Mary's friend and mentor, wrote on September 8, 1848
to try to get public praise for Freeman's painting published. She had a piece included in
the Art Union's exhibition, but it had apparently been moved to an inconspicuous
location. Payne hoped that public notice of her work would result in a more prominent
display. There is no record of Willis' response to Payne, if any, but it appears from later
letters written by Payne on the topic that Willis failed to print the notices. He sent for
another copy of the favorable review since it appeared that "Mr. Willis never received the
verses" (18 Sept. 1848). It took another month to procure the article and forward it back
36
to Willis. Payne wrote requesting publicity for Freeman on a few more occasions during
the following year, but never acknowledges whether any of it was published.
The collection of Payne's letters, added to those of her father, gives a new
perspective-although still a male one--on Mary Freeman's life and activities. The
correspondence between Payne and Freeman cover the period from September of 1848 to
May of 1850. Unfortunately, for our purposes, this is a one-sided conversation read from
Payne's point of view. There are a few details, though, regarding the nature of their
relationship that help flesh out her professional life during this period.
The first letter in which Payne mentions "Miss Freeman" is dated August 1, 1848.
Payne is arranging a commission for Mary Freeman with his sister-in-law for a portrait of
her daughter. The painting would require three separate sittings. For unstated reasons,
these sessions needed to be done in secret, and in the letter Payne is trying to come up
with excuses that will place artist and sitter together during the time of the most
advantageous light. During this time, however, Mary and her brother are described as
being so destitute, that all they have had to eat for four days is plain bread. Payne speaks
of their need to keep up appearances in spite of their current poverty, and endeavors to
aid in preserving Mary's dignity at all times. In the same letter he wrote, "I also wish
much you would give Eloise part of the pay and let her imagine some graceful manner of
handing it to Miss Freeman at the first sitting." The letter refers not only to the necessity
for Mary to support herself, but also to help her father's family and to contribute to her
brother's education. Payne wrote to Mary that she must not shrink "from permitting it to
be seen that [she] must work" (1 Aug. 1848). During the two years Payne and Freeman
corresponded, rather than living at a permanent residence, Mary moved frequently and
stayed with various clients, with acquaintances, or in rented rooms.
37
Virginia Woolf recognized the impact of poverty on women in general and those
who must or choose to earn a living in her essay titled "Professions for Women," written
in 1931. In speaking of how she spent the first money she received for her own writing,
she said, "But to show you how little I deserve to be called a professional woman, how
little I know of the struggles and difficulties of such lives, I have to admit that instead of
spending that sum upon bread and butter, rent, shoes and stockings, or butcher's bills, I
went out and bought a cat-a beautiful cat" (388). In this essay, Woolf elaborated on the
importance of a sufficient income to an artist. She also addressed the particular financial
constraints faced by visual artists. She first remarked that because other, earlier writers
had paved the way by the quality of their work and the acceptance of women writers that
ensued, she had a relatively smooth path into writing. She then explained:
Thus, when I came to write, there were very few material obstacles in my
way. Writing was a reputable and harmless occupation. The family peace
was not broken by the scratching of a pen. No demand was made upon the
family purse. For ten and sixpence one can buy paper enough to write all
the plays of Shakespeare-if one has a mind that way. Pianos and models,
Paris, Vienna,and Berlin, masters and mistresses, are not needed by a
writer. The cheapness of writing paper is, of course, the reason why
women have succeeded as writers before they have succeeded in the other
professions (388).
38
Woolf alludes to the more modem idea that "it takes money to make money." Freeman
and other artists of her day who were not financially independent relied on commissions
and the promised compensation that accompanied them. And because the content and
format of these paintings were subject to the desires and expectations of the client,
experimentation or boundary-challenging would be extremely detrimental to business. It
would cost a writer next to nothing to experiment with their craft, but for a painter it
could get very expensive.
John Howard Payne was having financial difficulty of his own. He had been an
ambassador to Tunisia under President Polk, but lost his job with the change of
administration in 1844. He had some land he was unable to sell and was awaiting the
election of 1848 to change his fortunes. In the collection of his personal letters, he is
often writing to borrow money or extend loan payments. Prior to his diplomatic
assignments, he had been an actor and dramatist of some note, although probably not
quite up to his own pronouncement of his status as "The American Hamlet." Following
are excerpts from another letter where Payne made an assessment of Mary's talent and
offered an explanation for her choice of genres at this time:
The daughter of a very eminent artist here, who is herself an artist, is
making a most creditable effort to assist in the support ofher father's
expensive family, - including the completion of a brother's education, now
in his senior year at Columbia College. She is young and handsome and
highly principled and accomplished; and, in addition to all the rest, draws
admirably and makes perfect likenesses .... Miss Freeman, the young lady
in question, paints on ivory as well as on paper; but in order to obtain
employ readily, and to make her powers known, now principally confines
herself to water colour sketches on paper, at ten dollars each; though, of
course, she would execute ivory miniatures, if she could find customers
able and willing to pay. One of the latter description by her, was lately
praised very earnestly in the Tribune ( 19 Aug. 1848).
From this letter it is clear that Freeman needs to work, and to work in the manner that
will most readily produce needed cash. In this same letter, Payne described her need in
what would become his signature style of using her financial woes to elicit sympathy
which will help secure the commission, but also to excuse her for working. He referred
39
to her here as a "suffering genius" (his emphasis). This idea was part of an effort at
constructing the image of an artist during this time. Not only does the term equate artistic
greatness with genius, but that same rare, transcendent gift also becomes an almost
uncontrollable force that takes over the individual's life. The image of the suffering
genius or the starving artist implies that a true artist would sacrifice all for her muse
rather that pollute her work by catering to the whims and tastes of the unrefined masses.
By using this term to describe Freeman, Payne was trying to elevate her from the working
class who work out of necessity, and to place her along with those who are compelled to
create as a result of a special gift.
At first the reference to her praises in the Tribune might give more credence to his
assessment of her talent, but later letters and common practice make it likely that the
notice was authored or ordered by Payne himself In one ofthe letters toN. P. Willis,
Payne exhorted the publisher to print verses of praise for Mary's work written by a Mrs.
Green. He even invited Willis to embellish the notice with "some remark of your own,
40
given with that delicacy and grace of which no one is more capable" (8 Sep 1848).
Almost two months later, Payne again wrote to Willis, sending another copy of the
verses-the first copy must have been lost since it had not yet been published-and a
request for an introductory paragraph. He then provided a "sketch" of what he calls the
facts to "help" Mr. Willis with his introduction. What follows is over a page of carefully
worded prose praising both Mary and her father. He referred to George Freeman's "high
fame" and mentions that the quality of Mary's work "would almost induce us to believe
genius inheritable." The overall tone of the letter suggests that this is a perfect
opportunity for enlightened souls of both sexes to give financial support to a talent
"struggling and only in the dawn of destined eminence" (8 Nov. 1848). 2 The cultural
power of making artist and genius synonymous is evident in his careful choice of words.
Because of Payne's tendency toward exaggeration and his own feelings toward
Mary, his assessment of her work is suspect. At one point, in an effort to secure a
commission from the actress Fanny Kemble Butler, he wrote, "There is a young lady
artist in New York, in whose fortunes I take much interest; for she is full of talent and not
very full of money, which she wishes to earn ... The daughter is likely to become the first
female artist in America" (29 March 1849). While we may not be able to trust his
assessment of her talent, one conclusion that could justifiably be drawn is that, up to this
point, no American female had distinguished herself as an artist.
Whatever her personal feelings toward him were, Mary appears to have needed
or at least appreciated-his help professionally. She had made professional room for
herself to earn a living, but was not able to fully conduct her own business. Like Sara
Willis, at first she had to seek and accept the help of men. After completing a
2 Full text of this sketch is found in Appendix A
41
commission arranged for by Payne, he WI"ote to her about negotiations for setting a price
for some additional pieces for the same client, Mr. Riggs. He quoted Riggs as saying,
"Well, I can't talk to a woman about money" (1 0 July 1849). In letter after letter, if
Payne was not imploring his connections for money, he was seeking commissions for
Mary. His motive may have been love or a genuine interest in art, but he never charged
or withheld any type of fee. In spite ofhis own financial woes, Mary's success would not
change his own fortunes unless they were married. In one letter to her, Payne is
responding to an offer from Freeman to lend him money for a trip. He wrote that he
"wouldn't do it even if she were his wife" (29 Jul 1849). His sincerity could be
questioned, though, since if they had married at that point, she was the only one earning a
steady income. He did pride himself on his knowledge and patronage of the fine arts, but
his tenacity at securing commissions for Miss Freeman was exceeded only by his
repeated but futile attempts to make her his wife.
Whatever Payne's true motives were, he was relentless in arranging commissions
and promoting her work by word of mouth and through the local press. Some of that
motivation may have been a perceived need to protect Freeman from the "dangers" of the
public sphere of men. At times Payne sounded like a husband, and at other times
especially in letters to George Freeman-he assumed the role of surrogate father. This is
in keeping with the contemporary ideal of men as the protectors of women. In an article
written for Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science reflecting on
changes in the expectations for and behaviors of women, the author acknowledged that
"to preserve the effect of being a rare and beautiful creature carefully guarded in elegant
seclusion, [a young lady] must really be secluded from healthful knowledge of the world
42
and genuine experience of life" (A. W. P. 625). According to the article, physical
protection during Anna Mary Freeman's time had been coupled with emotional and
intellectual "protection." What is interesting to note about this observation, however, is
that the author attributes this change not to a new recognition of the abilities and intellect
of women, but to societal progress. The article goes on to state: "[W]hat has come to
girls in the nineteenth century is a good thing for them to have,-the unafraid air which
means, not that they have shaken off the protection of fathers and brothers, but that there
is no longer in society that from which they need to be protected" (ibid). Payne's letters
support this perception that Freeman's participation in public affairs required his support
and protection. As he once wrote to Freeman, "To permit a delicate female to be
harassed by worldly cares, is a fault in any man who can prevent it" ( 1 Sept. 1848).
According John Howard Payne's letters and those ofher father, Mary spent much
ofher early adulthood chasing commissions. The letters from Payne between 1848 and
1850 reflect a variety ofNew York, Connecticut, and Washington addresses, usually in
the care of a host. Often, the change of address would coincide with a new commission,
and would also reflect where Payne was staying. While he was in Washington trying to
gain access to President Taylor, he arranged for Mary to work there and she enjoyed
steady work for several months. Although Payne brought with him a host of new
connections, she was able to keep busy and financially afloat both before and after their
friendship. Unfortunately, the source material to uncover whether she was able to make
her own arrangements at this point is not available. In light of Mr. Riggs' comments
about conducting business with women, it would have been an obstacle to success unless
she had the help of other men. This situation extended outside the world of visual art, as
even very successful authors like Sara Willis still had to rely on male editors and
publishers to conduct their business.
43
Anna Mary Freeman worked within the societal confines dictated for women at
that time, and also chose a genre that was very traditional. Like her father, Anna Mary
Freeman worked mostly in miniature portraits. This is a fascinating genre that had its
start in England. It was, however, seen more as a craft than an art, so when America was
trying to exert artistic influence and increase the public stature of the artist, the popularity
of this genre began to wane towards the middle of the nineteenth century. During the
colonial period, the hard work of nation building and the Puritan philosophy of austerity
created what Neil Harris calls an "artistic vacuum" (6). As American artists began to
travel back to Europe for training and to bring back an expanded view of art, the portrait
miniature started being replaced by more "significant" works of art. It also began to lose
its societal function as a symbol of reverence, remembrance, or attachment to another
person due to the increasing use of photographic processes-a much more time and cost
efficient processes than painting.
There may be several reasons why the painters of these portraits failed to achieve
the same stature as other types of painters. First, miniature paintings were often
classified as a decorative art. Part fine art and part craft, the smaller, earlier versions of
these portraits were often worn as jewelry. The actual portrait was usually executed in
watercolor on ivory and then set into some type of frame. Miniature portraits had
reached their peak of popularity in America by the tum of the nineteenth century. In
addition to the reasons outline above, the age of industrialization and relaxed social
mobility helped temper some of the Puritan-based aversion to ostentation. The first
44
American-born miniature painter of record was Benjamin West, but artists of this genre
often remained anonymous. West's first miniature was a self-portrait as a gift to a girl
who ended up refusing him. This gift was never intended for public display-thus
emphasizing the private nature of the genre. For Freeman, as well as for other female
artists, this privacy would protect their modesty in both the execution and display of their
work.
In a companion work to a recent show of American portrait miniatures at Yale
University, Robin Jaffe explains the unique nature of these works of art: "The portrait
miniature stands apart from any other art form in its highly personal associations.
Whereas easel portraits present a public self meant to face outward, portrait miniatures
reveal a private self meant to face inward ... As such, they invite inquiry into the particular
bonds between sitter and beholder that they were made to commemorate, and by
extension into a lesser-known aspect of American private life" ( 1 ). In the few examples
of Freeman's work and the outline of commissions in Payne's letters, her sitters are
mainly women and children. In light of Jaffe's comments, execution of a miniature by a
woman would also protect the modesty of her sitter. Although many men, including her
father, also did portraits, the perception of intimacy between painter and subject may
have helped protect part of the client base for women. Perhaps it was also felt that
women, being more sensitive, could render a better likeness of another woman because
they shared the same cultural space.
Another aspect of miniature portraits that enhances their intimate and personal
nature is that often they were a reflection of mourning over the loss of a loved one. In
larger portraits painted for public viewing, the sitter was often depicted wearing a
45
miniature of a lost loved one. In family groupings, this technique allowed for the portrait
to be of the complete family. While Anna Mary Freeman was working in Washington
during the summer of 1849, John Howard Payne wrote her an urgent letter on behalf of a
woman whose husband was very ill. She wanted his likeness painted immediately and,
when informed of Freeman's prices, replied that "she would rather give any sum, than
fail to have the picture" (25 Jul 1849). Unfortunately in this instance, the man died
before the request could even be delivered to Freeman. Because a painting of a deceased
loved one was considered a fitting tribute, it may seem at first that the death of the subject
would be inconsequential to the portrait. One explanation for the commission being
cancelled may have been the prevailing view of the delicacy and frailty of women that
would have made the activity difficult to bear. Although some artists would paint from
sketches done after a person's death, they would often double their fee for this service
(Mattison Ch. 3).
Although the business side of seeking and securing commissions may have
belonged to the public sphere dominated by men, miniature portraits were uniquely suited
to the private world commanded by women. Portraits were often painted in the client's
home, thus giving a sense of intimacy between the subject and the artist. Additionally,
the finished product was intended for private display either in the home or worn on the
body. Thus, Anna Mary Freeman chose to work in a genre that had already made room
for women-as artists, clients, and subjects.
The intimate nature of portrait miniatures may also explain why they often failed
to receive public recognition. There is both historical and literary evidence that
miniature portraits were often exchanged by secret lovers or by the participants in extra-
46
marital affairs. In an effort to further conceal their identity, the portraits were often a
close-up of one cherished feature, such as an eye or hand. Daniel Webster reportedly
carried a portrait of his artist/mistress, Sarah Goodridge, that only showed her bare
bosom from her neck to her ribcage (Frank). In Flaubert's Madame Bovary, Emma gives
her miniature likeness to her lover as a gift.
In his letters, John Howard Payne often referred to one or more "likenesses" that
he carried of Anna Mary Freeman in her absence. He identified one as a miniature,
probably painted by Mary herself, and he speaks of wearing it next to his heart. In one
letter to her he wrote, "I have no consolation for your departure, but to look upon all of
your image that I possess; and I love you even there, although even there you tum away
from me, as if absorbed by something paramount & overwhelming" ( 1 Sept. 1848).
Rather than exhibiting a direct gaze, the eyes in the portrait he referred to are looking
away, which he often construed in his insecurity (well-founded) as her failure to truly
love him. Understanding the role this miniature would play, Freeman knew her likeness
would be the object of Payne's gaze and perhaps meant to reinforce this message with
him.
There is much discussion in recent years of the implications of gaze in gender
studies and how it relates to power and oppression. Portraiture in general is loaded with
implications since you have the gaze of the artist that is required to execute the painting,
the gaze that emanates from the subject once the painting is complete, and the gaze of the
viewer as the portrait is viewed. For miniatures specifically, their purpose was to
perpetuate a specific and very private relationship. As an illustration, later in his letter of
September I, 1848, Payne described in great detail the power of gaze contained within
these intimate portraits. He wrote:
47
Stay-I must tell you about your miniature. I took a glance at it last night,
after I got into bed, and by some singular effect of the light, there appeared
two images, the one like a daguerrotype [sic] but the other flung off at a
distance and enlarged and looking so real that it startled me with delight,
and then there came over me a sort of sadness and disappointment to think
that there were four and twenty hours of hard traveling between us & long
rivers & railroads &, I suppose, mountains. Your face is now on my desk
as I am writing, and there seems a slight flush upon the cheek, and the lip
almost appears ready to quiver with a sigh-Oh, that it would turn round
& not eternally remain thus averted and unsmiling!
The details of this experience demonstrate that miniature portraits were created for a
unique and very specific gaze, a condition which perhaps makes them seem out of place
in a public venue such as a museum and may account for so many of them being lost to
art historians.
The private nature of the business itself may also be an explanation for the
comparative lack of recognition given to miniaturists. Even if the desire for recognition
had arisen, due both to size constraints and focus on the subject, many of these portraits
were unsigned. Unless Freeman's portraits were shown at a public exhibition, it is often
difficult to find a record of who her sitters were and where her work might be. Robin
Jaffe points out another problem related to the size and function of the portraits:
48
The very function of miniatures as familial and loving tokens frustrates an
evaluation of their importance in the evolution of portraiture, material
culture, and social history in America. Small, private, fragile, and
portable, miniatures were easily damaged or lost as they accompanied
family members through the dislocations of revolution, immigration,
migration, the Civil War, and the passage of time (303).
Looking at an exhibition of miniatures in 1934, a reviewer observed, "Most of them have
had adventurous existences, surviving war and fire and flood, treasured, but sharing the
family fortunes almost like individuals and possibly all the more loved for any resulting
blemish" (Jaffe 305). Returning to the idea that great art is judged by its cultural
consequences, the fact that most of these paintings had personal consequences may
explain why so many of their artists remain unheralded.
This discussion of the status of portrait miniatures raises an important question.
Although society may have considered miniature artists to be merely craftsmen, how did
portrait artists define themselves-as aspiring or functioning master painters, or as
talented craftsmen earning a living? As mentioned previously, history has named Mary
Cassatt as a great painter, but that status was her stated aspiration from the very
beginning of her career. Anna Mary Freeman exhibited and advertised, but possibly only
as a way to increase her business and her income. Perhaps she never achieved artistic
greatness because that was not her aspiration. Her choice to work in portrait miniatures,
however, must not be attributed to a lack of desire for larger recognition. We can look no
further than to her father, George Freeman, who worked in miniatures but still hoped
for-and fully expected-international recognition.
49
About the same time Mary Freeman came on the scene, the tradition of portrait
miniatures was undergoing drastic changes. Miniaturists Henry Inman and Thomas
Cummings were among the fifteen men who founded the National Academy of Design in
1826. The American art market was becoming increasingly competitive and Cummings
sought to place miniatures on an equal stature with larger format easel paintings. This
change of focus from a private to a more pubic sphere altered the aesthetics, marketing,
and social function of miniatures. Still small in size, miniature portraits were now more
often rectangular rather than oval-shaped and intended for display on a wall or in a
cabinet grouping and not to be worn on the body (Jaffe 273). The record of Freeman's
exhibition entries shows that she did adjust to this change in the market. Examples of her
work are undated (figs. 3 and 4 ), but the one that reflects increased technical skill is
almost double the size of other portrait miniature. Freeman's move to the Studio
Building also indicates a move toward working in new directions.
Traditional painters were not the only competition for the miniature portraitist.
Photography also provided the same sentimental keepsake at a much more affordable
price. According to Jaffe, in 1855 a hand-colored daguerreotype might cost from $3 to
$6. Miniatures by a prominent artist ranged from $50 to $218. (296) These prices are
consistent with the ones quoted to Anna Mary Freeman by John Howard Payne during
the two years he endeavored to secure commissions for her. Some families still
commissioned painted portraits as an expression of their status, but since sitting for a
photograph was so much less intrusive on the subject's time, many aspiring capitalists
and republican mothers preferred the relative speed of photography.
50
These feelings are expressed in a letter to Anna Mary Freeman via John Howard
Payne from a Mrs. Fanny Butler. It reads:
The desire you express that I should sit to Miss Freeman for my picture, is
one of six applications to the same effect made to me within the last three
weeks-some of them by and for personal friends. I merely mention this
to give more weight to the reason which compels me to refuse your
request i. e: that my time is so extremely engrossed with multiplied
engagements, that it is entirely out of my power to devote any of it to such
a purpose-! have been obliged to decline from this cause the very
summary process of Daguerreotype portrait-making, and a miniature, as
you know, is the longest of all pictorial performances ( 6 Apr. 1849).
Photography demanded less overall time, but for the time it took for an image to be
captured, the subject had to remain perfectly still. This led to unnatural and often
unpleasant facial expressions in early photos. Painters were able to give their subjects a
more natural look, but in that and many other ways, paintings were much more subjective
than photographs. One way painters incorporated the advantages offered by photography
was by painting from photographs instead of from life. Thus, they rendered a portrait
enhanced in expression and color but with no additional time or inconvenience to the
sitter.
The introduction of photography freed many artists to work from a studio rather
that traveling to the homes oftheir clients. Not only did the process of producing a
portrait shift from a private to a more public setting, the works themselves were more
geared to a public rather than a private audience. This shift corresponds to the time that
51
Anna Mary Freeman sought for a more permanent studio space rather than moving from
one client's home to another.
Mary Freeman made the shift from the private to the public sphere in a very
methodical manner. In John Howard Payne's letters during the first half of 1850, he was
trying to find adequate space for her to rent. She eventually took up a studio space at
New York University. In light of the constraints ofher chosen career just a few years
earlier, this new activity represents some key shifts in both the marketing of her art and
her growing self-reliance. Rather than depending upon friends like John Howard Payne
and his associate Mr. Butler to secure commissions from among their circle of associates,
Mary began using the growing newspaper industry to seek her own opportunities. She
had learned the value of advertising early from her father. On the first painting trip they
took together after arriving in New York, George Freeman milked his portrait of Queen
Victoria for all of the publicity and business it could generate. In a letter to Lydia
Sigourney, he spoke of taking it to Canada, where "she [would] be more in her element at
the same time tho [sic] I am sure she would not excite more admiration" (19 Sept. 1842).
Like many of the successful female authors, Anna Mary Freeman found a voice in the
many print journals of the day. In January of 1855, the following advertisement began
running in The Crayon, one of the first New York periodicals dedicated specifically to
art:
ANNA MARY FREEMAN Miniature Painter,
No. 4 New York University At Home on Saturdays.
52
Her address changed to different rooms at NYU and eventually to the Tenth Street Studio
Building, but the ads ran continually for the next few years. Mary had established herself
as a professional and independent artist. Although not a member-very few women
were-she was included in the annual exhibitions of the National Academy of Design
beginning as early as 18463, the Art Union exhibition of 1848, and the exhibitions staged
at the Studio Building during her occupancy. Although women were not often included
in professional organizations, they were well-represented in exhibitions. This exclusion
may be attributed in part to gender expectations and limitations, but it could also be
argued that membership in these groups did little to enhance the opportunities for the
individual artist. There were separate groups for women, but like the male-centered
organizations, their main purpose was in promoting the execution, exhibition, and
appreciation of American art, not to further the careers of particular artists.
The ability to exhibit and advertise freed Mary from a dependence on well
connected men, but also increased her potential pool of clients beyond those to whom she
could trace a line of personal connection. This is one more example ofthe shift away
from the private and intimate. The advertisements not only reached a wider audience in
terms of numbers, but also appealed to a larger audience in terms of social class.
By 1857, studio visits were a common way for potential clients to familiarize
themselves with an artist and his or her work in the absence of the more traditional
personal connections. According to Carrie Rebora Barratt in her study of the making of
New York into a center for art during the second quarter ofthe nineteenth century, "A
reporter for Putnam's Kaleidoscope recommended giving New York the epithet 'the
Artist City, or the City of Studios,' in recognition of the more than three hundred spaces
3 See Appendix C for a complete list ofNAD exhibition entries.
53
for artists open for independent business each day. Many artists shared room in buildings
dedicated to such studios" (61). Such was the case with Anna Mary Freeman in her
University studio.
Rooms in the four towers of the University Building at NYU were rented to artists
to generate money. This arrangement obviously benefited the school, but also the
tenants. Having several artists housed in one building made it more convenient for
buyers, but also allowed for association and collaboration among the artists. "Artists'
studios played a central role ... providing a convenient meeting ground for painters,
literary figures, merchants, professional men, and potential patrons. In New York, much
of this activity centered on the University Building at New York University ... "
(McCarthy 9). Other buildings in the area ofNew York University also accommodated
groups of artists. One of these was Dodworth's, a dancing school with rooms for artists
on its upper floors. This space also allowed artists to display several pieces at evening
receptions (Blaugrund 14). These receptions were another way for artists to appeal to the
public for both recognition and remuneration. According to Blaugrund, "[b ]y mid
century, then, the artist's studio had become a signifier of status, acculturation, taste, and
success, besides being a functional work space. As such, it was a crucial marketing tool"
( 15). Not only did the associations among artists have the positive effects described by
Blaugrund, they also served to advance the education-and by extension the
"greatness" --of artists by encouraging discussion, collaboration, and innovation. This
educational benefit would also extend to the audience as they gathered to view the works
at an exhibition.
54
At the time Freeman worked out of her University studio, the National Academy
was "still the city's principal gallery of contemporary art, both for exhibitions and sales.
The intitution had never been stronger. Housed in an appropriate building of its own at
the comer of Tenth Street and Fourth Avenue ... the venerable Academy had a high
profile among New York's community of artists, collectors, and viewing public" (Barratt
61 ). The move toward a more public forum for art corresponded with a push for public
museums and galleries.
One of the tenants at New York University during the years Mary had her studio
there was William Morris Hunt. Hunt had returned to America in 1855 after studying in
Paris. One of his first projects after returning was to assist his brother Robert to design a
building dedicated solely to the needs of visual artists. This building was also located on
Tenth Street, and was known simply as "The Studio Building." A review written in The
Crayon to coincide with the opening of the building stated:
This structure is an experiment, intended to provide studios for artists,
accompanied with an exhibition-room, wherein the works of the occupants
of the building can be visible at all suitable hours. There are about
twenty-three studios (large and small) in the building, which occupies a
space of ground one hundred feet square, besides a number of small
rooms, etc. that can be used as required. The studios range in size from
about fifteen feet by twenty feet to twenty feet by thirty feet. The
exhibition-room is a prominent feature of the building, being in fine
proportion, and beautifully lighted ... we would point to it as one of the
evidences of an increasing estimation of Art in our midst" (23).
55
According to Blaugrund, who has done an extensive study of the one hundred
year history of the Tenth Street Studio, the main criterion used to determine who received
space in the building was his or her connections. This leads to an important question
regarding Anna Mary Freeman-the only woman among the first group of tenants and
one of only a few women to hold a spot there during its entire history. Whom did she
know? What circumstances combined to allow her to join this prominent and
increasingly influential group of artists? In light ofBlaugrund's identification of the
importance of connections, it is unlikely that it could have been a simple case of first
come, first served. The fact that the building opened with an extensive waiting list for
studio space combined with the desire to centralize and strengthen the international
position of American art and artists points to the likelihood that some effort at selectivity
in tenants would have been employed.
It is difficult to document relationships with men or women who would have had
the connections to secure Freeman's place in the Studio. Although A. B. Durand was
probably familiar with her literary and visual work through his association with the
Crayon, it was not unusual for that weekly paper to discuss and promote the work of
women. Freeman is frequently mentioned, but my no means in a prominent or favored
manner. Of her documented commissions, none seem to be of the stature in the art world
to allow her entry. Perhaps she used some ofher father's connections, but in the only
biography of George Freeman, actual relationships with the first tenants are merely
conjecture.
One of her father's acquaintances, the author Lydia Sigourney, may have
influenced or assisted Freeman. Sigourney was a native of Hartford and was familiar with
56
the entire Freeman family. She also sat for at least four portraits by George Freeman,
some of which were published along with her literary works. Sigourney was a very
public figure in her time, being an accomplished writer. Like so many others, though,
she understood the concept and the comfort of separate spheres. Those boundaries
dictated that for women to venture into the public sphere, it must be for a cause with
underlying domestic ties. For Sigourney, this meant writing advice for women,
promoting the moral values upheld and instilled by Republican mothers, and educational
tracts meant for consumption by the schoolchildren sent forth into the public school
system.
Like some of the other writers discussed in this paper, Lydia Sigourney found a
way to manipulate the very system her work promoted to be successful in the public
sphere. Although at first she published her work anonymously to placate her proud
husband, once her authorship was made public in 1833, she took credit for everything she
wrote. One might be tempted to congratulate Mr. Sigourney on his enlightened attitude,
but his willingness to let his wife take public credit for her success was probably more a
function of his increasing dependence on her earnings as his economic position fell.
Even if Sigourney was not the direct link who opened the doors of the Studio
building to Mary, the close relationship between the two families evidenced by the
George Freeman letters must have exposed Freeman to a host of influential people. It is
likely that Sigourney' s example of carefully navigating the public sphere while
maintaining her status as a "lady" made an impression on Mary. While access to a studio
may have been the biggest hurdle because ofher gender, once she got in she would have
needed a certain amount of self-assurance and aggressiveness to stay there.
57
William Morris Hunt was another important figure with whom Mary Freeman
enjoyed an acquaintance. It was a relationship that is referred to as early as 1848 by John
Howard Payne. According to his letters, on at least two occasions Hunt supplied Mary
Freeman with drawing boards. Later they simultaneously worked from the University
studios. One characteristic of the buildings with dedicated artists' spaces was frequent
gatherings of their tenants; Freeman and Hunt surely knew each other. The details of their
relationship are not documented, however her thirst for learning and his favorable attitude
towards female artists is evident. If Hunt was the one who opened the door for Freeman,
it may be an indication that among the women he had observed and taught, she
distinguished herself as possessing professional potential.
William Morris Hunt was well-born and, upon his return to American in 1855,
secured a marriage that advanced his social position. In tracing his influence on the
education of women, Kathleen McCarthy notes, "Hunt's impeccable social credentials
and his personal wealth enabled him to do as he chose, and what he chose to do was to
start a painting class for some of the city's most cultured and prominent young women.
His classes filled a special place in the city's artistic landscape, providing training for
upper-class students in a suitable refined milieu" (86). This quote not only highlights his
influence as a mentor, but also demonstrates the freedom that comes with wealth, and the
importance of maintaining the cultural expectations for women's behavior.
While Anna Mary Freeman is not specifically mentioned as one of his students, it
is clear, as previously mentioned, that Hunt endeavored to promote promising female
artists. Hunt's favorable attitude toward women who ventured into the public sphere,
however, was not the prevailing one. Whether it was Hunt that paved the way for
58
Freeman's tenancy in the Tenth Street studios or someone else, her selection was
probably met with great resistance by some. Blaugrund's description of a "brotherhood
of artists" does not merely refer to gender, but also the behavioral expectations associated
with it. As McCarthy points out, "Studios, clubs, and salons were considered male
cultural terrain" (9). The admission of a woman into this fraternity was surely
problematic, at least for some. This only serves to indicate a certain stature for the person
responsible for her good fortune.
Not all of these clubs excluded women, however. A group ofNew York
newspaper writers-both men and women-began meeting regularly at Pfaff's saloon on
Broadway in the late 1850's. The group formed around Henry Clapp, editor ofthe
Saturday Press and expanded to include other types of writers. They became known as
the Bohemians of Pfaff's, and Clapp was anointed their king (Rawson APS Online). But
the group also needed a queen, and found one in the lively and brilliant author and actress
Ada Clare. In addition to her presence at the Pfaff gatherings, Ada Clare also held more
refined salon gatherings in her home on Forty-second Street. In an 1896 article reflecting
on this extraordinary group of individuals written for Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly,
A. L. Rawson wrote, "Ada Clara was the atmosphere of the place in which those young
men, nearly all bachelors, and young women, nearly all maids, grew into a society of
intellectual pleasure-seekers, who were not bound by conventional rules, nor fettered by
the rigidities of customer, but harmonized by fine feeling" (ibid). Rawson includes a
partial list of Ada Clare's friends, which includes poets, musicians, dramatists, several
artists, and even Walt Whitman, who also dropped in on Pfaff's Bohemians from time to
time. Rawson goes on to explain that Clare always had a female companion, one of
which was "Mary Freeman, who was later Mrs. Goldbeck, a genius in water-color
miniatures" (ibid).
59
Freeman's association with this group may not be the direct link to the Studio
building tenants, but it does place her in an important position both socially and
professionally. It proves that she was part of the discussions about American identity and
the role of art in that process of self-definition. Her relationship with Ada Clare would
have provided her with a role model who managed to maintain the respect and admiration
ofher influential friends in spite of the fact that she was outspoken, independent, and
very much a part of the public sphere. Perhaps it is merely coincidence, but Freeman's
later marriage to a much younger composer, Robert Goldbeck, resembles an earlier affair
Ada Clare had with the composer Louis-Moreau Gottschalk that resulted in the birth of
an illegitimate son.
In spite of her social connections, there remains a question about Anna Mary
Freeman's work that could hold the key to her inclusion in the initial group of Studio
Building artists--did she do any other types of art? An extensive search for this study
has so far yielded very few extant examples of her work and all are portraits. All
exhibition entries are also listed as portraits of various sizes. The evidence in all the
primary sources gathered for this study indicates that portrait painting was the way she
made her living. But did she ever experiment with other genres--Dnes that would
necessitate significant studio space? In all of the sources examined for this study, there is
only one passing reference to any other type of work. In February of 1850, John Howard
Payne wrote her a letter apparently arranging for her to move to Washington. He spoke
of the competition she would encounter, and then he referred to some "season" pictures
60
she had completed. Although at the beginning of the nineteenth century landscapes were
considered a less important genre than history painting or portraiture, by the middle of
the century, romanticism and transcendentalism had brought a new respectability and
significance to paintings of nature. The fact that she was at least dabbling in this genre
may point to an effort to broaden her artistic ability and influence.
Regardless of the circumstances that eventually brought her there, what was it like
at the Tenth Street Studios? In New York, people from a variety of backgrounds sought
to bring civilization, or citizenship, and urbanity to their city and its residents. Art was a
significant part of the city's efforts at self-definition because it brought with it a sense of
culture and refinement (Upton 4). It is clear that the opening of the studio building
signaled an increased awareness of the cultural importance of a nation's art, and by
extension, the importance of the artist. This effort at self-definition and self-promotion
was not limited to the arts. As Alan Trachtenberg points out in The Incorporation of
America, the antebellum period laid the foundation for the economic incorporation that
transformed all aspects of American life in the post-Civil War age. It was a time when
"controversies over the meaning of America symbolized struggles over reality, over the
power to define as well as control it" (8). IfNew York and America as a whole could
become a significant player in the art world, the level of civilization it implied would
extend to all other aspects of American life. As an experiment in new ways of looking at
art and artists, the Studio Building was a crucial step forward in this image construction.
Annette Blaugrund identifies several features of this building that would have
had a particular effect on Mary Freeman. First, the studios were interconnected and
readily accessible to patrons, reviewers, and other artists. This layout would have
61
fostered collaboration and competition-both of which would have been problematic for
any women, let alone a single one
While it has been mentioned that William Morris Hunt and a few others
welcomed the opportunity to work with and mentor women, many men felt that women
should restrict their artistic endeavors to the domestic realm. The layout of the building,
however, would have allowed Freeman access to the ideas and experimentation of the
other Studio artists regardless of their own personal willingness to share them. The list of
the first tenants includes the names of some very prominent and influential artists of the
day, including Frederic E. Church, who would later be joined by other artists who made
up the Hudson River schoo I. i4
Another advantage available to Freeman and the other Studio artists was
increased exposure. In addition to her advertisements in The Crayon, Freeman's work
was often mentioned and reviewed in connection with regular studio visits by
contributing journalists. The large central exhibition space also gave her the opportunity
to show her work. Although there were other locations in the area for group exhibitions,
for its time, the Tenth Street Studio was the most exclusive. The annual exhibition at the
National Academy of Design attracted "almost every major and minor artist," and
Dodworth allowed any artist to exhibit (Blaugrund 80, 69). Regardless of what
reputation she was able to build prior to 1858, Freeman's inclusion in the Studio group
would surely have enhanced her marketability.
4 The ful1 list of original tenants, according to Dr. Blaugrund, is as follows: William F. Atwood, George H. Boughton, Jame R. Brevoort, Frederic E. Church, Sanford R. Gifford, Regis F. Gignoux, William M. Hart, Wi1Jiam J. Hays, John H. Hill, Richard W. Hubbard, John La Farge, Louis R. Mignot, Edward W. Nichols, William J. Stillman, James A. Suydam, Eliphalet Terry, George Q. Thorndike, Henry F. White, and Theodore Winthrop, Richard Morris Hunt, and Anna Mary Freeman
62
There are several factors that combined to intensify the marketing of art in New
York during the antebellum period. As previously discussed, the embellishment of
private spaces was a way to signify social status. This mindset would lead to the
conspicuous consumption of the Gilded Age. Although at first, European paintings were
preferred, starting with the founding of the National Academy ofDesign in 1826, there
was a shift in preference to American painters. Not only did studio visits allow potential
buyers to "shop," but it also assured them that they were purchasing an original work of
art. Blaugrund points out that Robert L. Stuart, an important collector who patronized the
Tenth Street artists, actively collected American art in the 1850's and 1860's because it
decreased the chances ofbuying a fake (78).
There is also evidence that Freeman was experimenting with other earning
opportunities at the same time she worked out of the Tenth Street building. The year
1858 was an exciting one for Mary Freeman, both professionally and personally. In
addition to being established as an artist and enjoying the benefits provided at that
location, she was also writing poetry. A few of her poems were published in The
Crayon. 5 Also in 1858, Musical World Print published a song titled, "Let Me Weep."
(Appendix C) Anna M. Freeman is credited with the lyrics and Robert Goldbeck, a
young German composer, wrote the music. In December of 1858, Anna Mary
collaborated with Mr. Goldbeck once again, this time for an evening of performances at
Dodworth's Rooms on Broadway in New York. Goldbeck was giving his second concert
in a series, performing his original "Trio." In conjunction with this event, Freeman ran
the following advertisement in the New York Times: "Anna Mary Freeman, artist, takes
this method of informing her friends that she will have the honor of giving her first
5 For the text of published poetry by Freeman, see Appendix C
63
recitation, in public, at Mr. Robert Goldbeck's second Concert on Thursday Evening,
Dec. 9, at Dodsworth's Rooms." In addition to this ad, there is also one from Mr.
Goldbeck and one from the promoters of the event, mentioning the fact that tickets for the
event could be purchased for one dollar at local music stores. According to the paper,
the dramatic reading that Mary gave was of a recently completed poem by Elizabeth
Barrett Browning titled, "Rhyme of the Duchess May." Although she was participating
in other facets of the fine arts, it is important to note that in the ad, she still thought of
herself primarily as an artist.
The relationship between Miss Freeman and Mr. Goldbeck apparently turned
from professional to personal. Although George Freeman's biographer, Wilma Keyes,
lists 1859 as the year Anna Mary Freeman married, his letters do not mention her
marriage until1861. Additionally, there was a brief review in The New York Musical
World of"a series of 'Popular Lyric Recitals"' hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Goldbeck.
At the time she would have been thirty-four years of age. There are discrepancies in
Goldbeck's exact date ofbirth, but at the time of the marriage he was between the ages of
twenty and twenty-four-significantly younger that his bride in any case. It appears from
the tenant roster that Mary gave up her studio in the Tenth Street building in 1860, but
there is evidence that she remained in New York for at least another year. After that,
details ofher whereabouts are difficult to come by. According to her father's letters, she
had a son named William Freeman Goldbeck in February of 1861. In keeping with the
prevailing attitude toward the responsibility of married women, marriage and/or
motherhood were probably the reasons Freeman gave up her Tenth Street studio.
64
Information about Anna Mary Freeman's life is scarce in the years following her
marriage to Robert Goldbeck. She had entries in the National Academy exhibitions in
1861, 1862, and 1863. She also entered a piece in the 1868 exhibition titled "In
Memorium." This may have been a tribute to her father, who died on March 7, 1868.
Clues to her activities after she left the Studio building are few. Other than the NAD
exhibitions through 1868, there are only two poems published in 1871 and 1873
published under the name of Anna Freeman Goldbeck. Although the evidence verifies
the marriage between Freeman and Goldbeck, she is not mentioned by name in his brief
biography.
That our perception of Anna Mary Freeman is filtered through the lens of the
influential men in her life reflects the social climate in which she lived and worked.
Women during the first half of the nineteenth century were relegated to a very closely
defined and defended role-a role defined by men and often defended by women in a
play for social and cultural power. Many women, however, were unable to survive
within its constraints. For some, this survival was more philosophical, but for many
like Sara Willis-it was very literal. As the women's movement escalated in the two
decades preceding the Civil War, more and more women sought room to satisfY the
yearning to pursue their own dreams and define their own lives.
65
Room to Yearn
To yearn is to have an earnest desire for something, but the word also hints that
there will be major difficulties or obstacles encountered in its fulfillment. During the first
half of the nineteenth century, both the rate and nature of changes to the fabric of society
and their impact on daily life created or intensified yearnings in many women.
When George Freeman brought his family to America in 1841, his daughter was
sixteen years old. In many ways, the country itself was in a period of adolescence with
all its attendant change, growth, angst, and search for identity. And it was in New York,
the city that would become her home, that the growing pains were most pronounced. The
population ofNew York doubled between 1844 and 1850 (Goldsmith 139). More and
more Americans abandoned an agrarian lifestyle where the home was the workplace and
the goal was economic self-sufficiency and providing the means for each family member
to perpetuate this lifestyle. Construction of canals and, later, railroads allowed families
access to goods that could never be self-produced by the family farm. The appetite for
commodities outpaced the impetus for familial self-reliance, leading many to abandon the
plow and pursue occupations that promised the means to feed this new appetite. Among
the many results of this seismic shift were some that directly and dramatically affected
the lives of women. The first was the creation of a middle class. This was not, however,
simply a new social category to which people were assigned. It was a stepping-stone in a
social mobility that made the higher classes available, at least in principle, to all.
66
As Mary Ryan articulates in her book Cradle of the Middle Class, it is within this
traditional nuclear family that the middle class was created. As Wendell Garrett explains,
by 1850 in northwestern Europe and North America, "the extended family became the
nuclear family: marriages arranged by parents for economic reasons gave way to
marriages arranged by spouses themselves based on sexual attraction and romantic love;
family life, previously lived largely in public, became a private affair in a single-family
dwelling" (1 ). It was a precarious place at first for women. With an eye on social
mobility, the home became a place to showcase social status and refinement. More
importantly, the home became a sphere from which women could assert power and
influence.
Out of this recognition of the private sphere as a source of individual and
communal power grew the cult of the "True Woman." Although unable to actively
participate in the political process (supposedly by her own choice), women found a public
voice through what was termed Republican Motherhood. By marrying and having
children, and raising those children to be good citizens, it was suggested that women
were able to participate in the American dream. If the ultimate expression of influence
was in the bearing and raising of children, however, how could unmarried, widowed, or
divorced women access this power? This question would have had great significance to
Mary Freeman since she remained unmarried until her mid-thirties. Was it possible to
earn a living and still retain one's status as a true woman? Nicole Tonkovich has done an
interesting study on the cult of domesticity centered on four influential literary figures:
Catherine Beecher, Sarah J. Hale, Fanny Fern, and Margaret Fuller. The title ofher
work, Domesticity with a Difference, hints at this same question and, at the same time, its
67
answer. All four of these women lived, at least for a period of time, outside of the
marriage relationship seemingly required of a "True Woman." Not only that, but they all
earned a living in the very public profession of publishing. Tonkovich demonstrates that
by drawing the boundaries of separate spheres, they could then use the rhetoric of
domesticity to challenge the very boundaries they created without encountering the
resistance from men that would have been encountered by full frontal attack. As long as
they were writing for women, publishing in women's magazines, and writing about
domestic concerns, the very radical nature of what they were doing remained largely
undetected.
The same year that Mary Freeman arrived in New York, Catherine Beecher
published her Treatise on Domestic Economy. This was the first comprehensive, written
articulation of the concept of separate spheres. "That the book was read by several
generations of women nationwide suggests that the domestic practice it encoded as
foundational to an American identity in 1841 continued to be viable as the nation
expanded westward." (Tonkovich 92). The idea of separate spheres specifies that the
workplace, or public life in general, is the domain or sphere of men. By default, it may
appear, the home or private life is the woman's sphere. This is not, however, a mere case
of women receiving the leftovers as a modem sensibility may want to assign to this
concept.
Beecher ran a finishing school for young ladies, so there was an eager, ready
made audience for her ideas. Although on the surface, Beecher seems to be advocating
the subordination of women, a closer look indicates otherwise. She had to carefully craft
her rhetoric so as not to offend those fmancing the education of those girls and thus cut
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off both her livelihood and her access to America's young women. Catherine Beecher
did believe women were the equals of men, but with a qualifier. As she wrote:
In this Country, it is established, both by opinion and by practice, that
women have an equal interest in all social and civil concerns, and that no
domestic, civil, or political institution, is, that sacrifices her interest to
promote that of the other sex. But in order to secure her the more firmly
in all these privileges, it is decided, that, in the domestic relation, she take
a subordinate station, and that, in civil and political concerns, her interest
be intrusted [sic] to the other sex, without her taking any part in voting, or
in making and administering laws ( 4) .
At first this seems like a paradox-that through subordination a woman could secure her
own equality. But there is a very subtle condition. The woman chooses the subordinate
position; it is not assigned to her by men. Beecher understood the importance of women
being able to enter the rooms occupied by men, but also understood that the path of least
resistance was through the back door. Subordination, she felt , was a natural condition
exemplified through the subordination of man by God. That extended, in a natural way
to the parent-child relationship. She then explained, "In most other cases, in a truly
democratic state, each individual is allowed to choose for himself, who shall take the
position of his superior. No woman is forced to obey any husband but the one she
chooses for herself, nor is she obliged to take a husband, if she prefers to remain single"
(3). It doesn't carry the biting sarcasm displayed in the passage by Fanny Fern, but
Beecher also seems to be justifYing her own unmarried status by implying there is no
man who is her superior. She again reinforces the idea that the work of women in the
domestic sphere carries the same importance as the work of men in the public by
extending this ability to choose to whom you will be subordinated in the worker
employer realm.
69
Beecher's Treatise on Domestic Economy essentially professionalized the
domestic activity women were engaged in during her time and effectively raised the
importance of that activity to be equal, or in some cases greater, with the public activity
of men. And if this work was truly significant, it must require extensive and focused
education. On one hand, Beecher promoted the idea that "real" education should be
reserved for those who have the most important duties to perform in society-men (29).
But as the most influential teacher of those expectations for men in their formative years,
she called the work of a mother "the greatest work that ever was committed to human
responsibility" ( 4). Beecher's philosophy had great implications for women.
Contemporary historian Barbara Goldsmith summarized the paradoxical nature of
Beecher's cultural power: "Catherine Beecher preached a gospel of perfect domesticity
elevated to godliness. Throughout the nation middle-class white women deferred to her
rules ... With absolute clarity and conviction, this unmarried virgin of forty-one, who had
no home of her own, prescribed how to raise a generation of women" (23). I would add
to that assessment that she also prescribed how to raise a generation of men.
Academic training for girls did have a place in her curriculum, but rather than an
early emphasis, Beecher thought academic rigor should be postponed until the later teen
years. This accomplished providing a richer and longer period of education for more
women. Since teaching was often the only acceptable profession for single "ladies," and
Beecher promoted teaching as a delegation of the power of the parent, professional
70
teachers like Beecher herself gained a measure of equality with both other male
professionals and the equally important democratic mothers. Also, by making the main
emphasis of her curriculum the minutia of domestic activity, she effectively excluded
men from teaching and opened the professional doors for many more women. She also
and promoted the idea that women could achieve an important network of support that
would extend beyond the domestic sphere.
There is an example of this attitude in one of the letters from John Howard Payne
to Freeman in 1848. He wrote to a Mrs. Gaines of New York to try to arrange a
commission, but also implored her to use her connections to generate more business. He
wrote, "A lady's interests can not be more becomingly supported than by a lady .... for
the individual on whose behalf [these requests] are tendered is eminently entitled to the
support of the highest and best ofher sex" (22 Aug 1848). In her study on American
philanthropy and art, Kathleen McCarthy points out that while philanthropy and charity
work were one way women could acceptably participate in public life, prominent women
who actively and enthusiastically promoted female authors were slow to support visual
artists. McCarthy asserts that women were slow to include visual art because of their
religious aversion to the sensuality common in baroque painting-a sensuality the '1rue
Woman" sought to avoid. "Women's cultural responsibilities were trivialized and
reduced to a domestic scale" (8). Thus in the effort to promote true womanhood, female
artists were victimized in the process.
The doctrine of separate sphere was not without its critics, however. The year
after Mary arrived in New York, Margaret Fuller published her famous essay "Woman in
the Nineteenth Century." In the early pages of this work, Fuller describes the impact
71
made by various types of individuals on humankind. She writes, "[T]he artist whose
hand, drawn by a pre-existent harmony to a certain medium, moulds it to forms of life
more highly and completely organized than are seen elsewhere, and, by carrying out the
intention of nature, reveals her meaning to those who are not yet wise enough to divine
it" ( 4). Fuller is trying to articulate the idea that the striving of each individual should be
to achieve greatness in his or her own sphere-a sphere dictated by the divine which is
not contingent upon gender or race. Mary Freeman's art may not have achieved the level
or articulating Truth, but certainly adheres to another description from Women in the
Nineteenth Century: "Lives, too, which bear none of these names, have yielded tones of
no less significance. The candlestick set in a low place has given light as faithfully,
where it was needed, as that upon the hill" (Fuller 4). Throughout her essay, Fuller
acknowledges the doctrine of separate spheres and seeks to redefine the boundaries.
The boundary between men and women was not the only one being redrawn in
the nineteenth century. It appears that Americans attempting to build a national identity
in the first half of the nineteenth century were not as resentful of a class system as the
Revolution would tend to assert. What they really resented was a closed class system that
prevented mobility. In a climate where fortunes could change overnight, women were
looking for criteria for social distinction that were not tied to economics. In Domesticity
with a Difference, Nicole Tonkovich demonstrates how these criteria were formulated,
disseminated, and perpetuated by the four authors in her study. She note that Sarah Hale,
editor of Godey 's Ladies Magazine, joined with Beecher in proposing "to replace one
system of status with another: in place of basing social rank on wealth and its material
signifiers, they locate it in character traits most appropriate to a democracy ... Principles
72
(Christian) include voluntary deference (weak to strong, youth to age, women to man),
noblesse oblige, and racial privilege" (96). Tonkovich notes that the practice of these
character traits started in the family and moves outward to the nation. A non-economic
version of class was desired.
One of the first tools of the "True Woman", as evidenced by the title of Hale's
Magazine, was to use a title that signified status independent of a relationship with a man.
Rather than using daughter, spinster, widow, or divorcee, their self-chosen designation
was "lady," which removed men from the equation but still indicated social class. At this
point, we must resist the temptation to excuse or ignore the class and racial privilege
embedded in the system. This is the true irony of the cult of domesticity. The domestic
sphere belonged to women, but a true woman would never engage in domestic labor.
This was reserved for those of inferior classes and/or races and would never be performed
by a lady.6 The authors in Tokovich's study were able to earn a living and achieve public
recognition because their intended audience was other women or because they wrote
about domestic or private issues. Also, rather than going to a public workplace, they
were able to write from the privacy of their domestic sphere.
Anna Mary Freeman also achieved her economic independence via the domestic
sphere in keeping with the expectations placed upon her. Although she did have to work
to support herself, painting and drawing were considered domestic activities suitable for
"ladies" to pursue. As previously mentioned, the choice of portrait miniatures allowed
both the artist and the art to remain largely in the private sphere of the home. The irony
for Freeman during the first decade and a half she spent in America is that she only
6 Although not germane to the scope of her study, Nicole Tonkovich does acknowledge the racial implications of this statement in her book.
73
participated in the domestic sphere in the homes of others. Until her marriage, she did
not have a home of her own. The idea of separate spheres depended upon marriage for its
survival, in spite of the fact that some of its most ardent supporters and detractors were
single women.
Although it was acceptable for a single woman such as Freeman to earn her living
by painting, it did not necessarily mean that she was accepted as a professional artist.
American artists were also trying to forge an identity during the second quarter of the
nineteenth century. Ironically, they were not afraid to cross into the domestic sphere in
order to do so, both in activity and character. In her study of this process of self
identification, Sarah Bums illuminates both how and why this occurred. First, it fell
largely to men to design, build, and embellish domestic spaces. Not only did this prevent
women from participating in these activities, it also gave men a certain measure of
domination over these spaces.
The next example creates both a physical and psychological exclusion of women
from artistic greatness. As Bums explains, "The separation of spheres was very much a
one-way affair. Women invaded male territory at the peril of becoming unnatural,
unsexed, repellent, barren, and offensive. Men, by contrast, could travel freely into the
female preserve, appropriating what they found there and adding it to their 'natural'
endowments" ( 169). The characteristics normally associated with women, such as
emotion, sensitivity, and even delicacy were an acceptable contribution to the identity of
the male American artist. In fact, according to Burns, it was even a further evidence of
genius that the artist was fully human, possessing the best ofboth spheres. Women, on
the other hand, were not only discouraged from incorporating traditionally masculine
74
characteristics in forming their identity as artists, those who did effectively cancelled all
the desirable characteristics ofbeing a woman.
The fact that both George Freeman and John Howard Payne continually extol
Mary's desirable female qualities not only highlights their societal importance, but may
also indicate that her increasing success as an artist was a perceived threat to her status as
a lady. In the letters to Mary from John Howard Payne between 1848 and 1850, much is
revealed about her social position and also Payne's perceptions regarding her position.
He admired her ability to support herself, but only because it was economically
necessary. On one occasion he wrote, "Admirable is your pride to be the achiever of
your pecuniary independence & not to shrink, --as silly, conquest -seeking beauties, in
every respect immeasurable your inferiors, would,--from permitting it to be seen that you
must work & will not be ashamed to employ the talents God has blest you with, in
fulfilling the duties He has imposed upon you" (I Sept. 1848). This passage reinforces
true womanhood not only by Payne's laments that Mary is in this situation, but also in his
references to other "conquest-seeking beauties." This would seem to refer to one of a
lower class who tries to become a lady through an advantageous marriage. These are the
women Hale and Beecher seem to be keeping at bay, since they are not possessed of
those qualities characteristic of a lady. This reaction against the "new rich" reinforces the
idea that the cult of domesticity was a vehicle for social distinction and domination
among women.
Although Payne admired Mary, it was not because she was independent, but
because she was able to remain true to her nature in spite of tills temporary aberration.
After praising her, he wrote, ''And yet I wish I could see you freed from the very
75
necessity which gives your character an elevation even the more heroic from its towering
unseen & unappreciated by those around you, ... only employment and the necessity for
it. .. has for a season spell bound, in the very dawn of earnest, lofty-purposed, trusting,
headlong-hearted womanhood, even your power to love" (ibid). Payne recognized her
need to work, admired her willingness to do so, but blamed it for her failure to love him.
Payne was an actor and dramatist of some note earlier in his career. Older than
Mary by a generation, he may have been bewildered by the emerging empowerment of
women. For him, separate spheres were alive and well, but both spheres were designed
for the success and comfort of men. His thoughts on the domestic sphere are expressed
in a song from one ofhis operas, "Clari, the Maid of Milan." Few people may be
familiar with Payne's writing, but many will recognize the familiar verse he penned for
this work:
Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble there's no place like home!
To thee I'll return, overburdened with care;
The heart's dearest solace will smile on me there;
No more from that cottage again will I roam;
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.
Home! Home! Sweet, sweet home!
There's no place like home!
(Yale Book of American Verse online)
76
Payne showed increasing frustration in subsequent letters that Mary did not want
their relationship to go beyond friendship. As a lady, she would defer to him by being
polite, but it appears that there was another reason she did not just end the
correspondence. John Howard Payne was constantly seeking commissions for her
something it would have been unladylike for her to pursue on her own. She was
independent, but only to a point. It appears it was inappropriate for her even to order her
own supplies. Payne requested some drawing paper and cardboard on behalf of Miss
Freeman in a letter addressed to "Hunt, Esq. (Artist, 311 Broadway) New York" (15 Sept.
1848). He also made arrangements for payment and delivery.
While she may have been restrained in the world of business, Anna Mary
Freeman found ways to exert her personal independence. John Howard Payne was
constantly trying to find excuses to see her that would not compromise propriety. On
numerous occasions, he wrote to his New York theatre connections begging
complimentary tickets to take Mary and her hosts or family members to a play or concert.
After one such outing, Payne was annoyed that Mary had paid attention to other men. He
vowed to get out of the way so she can marry someone more "desirable," but his threats
were short-lived. There was never an outright proposal in his letters, but he did refer
often to a future where they would be together, and he also expressed anger,
disappointment, or sarcasm when she seemed to be attaching herself to other men.
John Howard Payne was not the only one concerned with Freeman's marital
status. In one ofher father's letters, he wrote that at age twenty-five, Anna Mary was still
single. He explained, "She is difficult to please and has not yet got married" ( 11 June
1850). At this point, Payne was leaving for Tunisia, and Mary's mother and youngest
brother had both recently passed away. The combination of these events most certainly
had an impact on the artist, and may have been the catalyst for some significant changes
in her life-both personal and professional.
77
By 1853, Mary was back sharing a room with her father at New York University.
It is likely that her father needed her companionship following the loss of his wife, but
Freeman may also have grown weary of her itinerant lifestyle. Her father had recently
converted to and was heavily influenced by the Spiritualist movement. Spiritualism was
related to many of the issues that defined the antebellum period. First, whether it took the
form of organized movements or was exhibited through private episodes of
communication with the deceased, the spiritual world was not viewed during this period
as a separate sphere. Many people claimed access to the spiritual world through
revelation and visitation. According to Barbara Goldsmith, rather than some intense
spiritual origin, the move toward spiritualism was a direct response to the invention of the
telegraph in 1842. She remarks, "Thus, faith in invisible power mediated not by
preachers ... but accessible to all believers was becoming a feature of everyday life" (22).
This link to science and the democratization of Christianities were features
Swedenborgism, an organized form of Spiritualism.
In her book, Goldsmith also argues that a large percentage of the participants in
spiritualism were women. Not only was this a form of empowerment, it also usually
occurred within a home, in a private setting. "Spiritualism was dominated by women and
its manifestations most frequently occurred in places within their control" (35). Thus,
although spiritualism challenged the idea that the earthy and spiritual worlds were
78
separate spheres, its practice served to reinforce the spheres that separated men and
women. It was also another vehicle for women to build identity and a common network.
George Freeman claimed to have had visions and conversations with relatives
who had passed away and admonished his brother, and most assuredly his daughter, to
get their spiritual lives in order. Mary, however, had shown some interest in
Swedenborgism a few years earlier. In a letter from Payne, he warned her against
associating with this Spiritualist movement. He was concerned by her interest and
warned her of the dangers of an "out gush of so much anguish when nothing particular has
arisen to call it up" (9 Apr. 1849). The force ofhis warning has several implications for
the concept of boundaries. First, he was assuming that, as a woman, she had allowed
emotion to interfere with reason and that, as a man, it was his duty to set her straight.
Swedenborgism refuted the power of the Christian Trinity and made the individual more
an agent of his or her own spirituality. This philosophy threatened the subordinate nature
of the relationship between man and God that was the foundation for separate spheres and
the superiority of men. The warning also carried implications for Freeman as an artist.
Payne hinted that women could only react to outside forces-they couldn't originate
them. For a portrait painter during this period, that was largely true. But for
experimental, innovative art-the type that in part signifies greatness-the opposite is
required. Mary's attraction to Swedenborgism may have resulted from an effort to exert
more control over her choices and her art.
Finally, this preoccupation with communication between the world of the living
and the spirit world had also helped perpetuate the market for portrait miniatures-the
genre practiced by Anna Mary Freeman. Often these small portraits were of family
79
members or friends who had passed on and were a tangible reminder of their continuing
presence. As the creator of these keepsakes, Freeman was keenly aware of the power
between these two worlds. As the boundaries between the living and the dead were being
erased by the Spiritualist movement, the emerging process of daguerreotype played a
major role in the demise of the portrait miniature-at least its function as a remembrance
of the dead. Because the process itself involved capturing the light of its subject to make
the image, many felt that a portrait made through this method actually contained the
essence of the person. This, combined with lower price and shorter execution time, made
it difficult for painters to compete in this specific market.
If art were simply a career and not a passion for Anna Mary Freeman, spiritualism
may have been one way for Freeman to satisfY her own personal yearning for validation
as an individual. Her romantic rejection of John Howard Payne and the other men
alluded to in his letters, coupled with her acceptance of the proposal of the much younger
Robert Goldbeck, seems to demonstrate satisfaction of a yearning for a marriage
relationship of love and equality. Her poetry may have been another outlet for yearnings
that she could not express through her art, whether it was because of limitations of genre,
time, or training.
The few poems Freeman published may give a hint to her personal yearnings as
both a woman and an artist, but the poems published between before the Civil War seem
more like reflections of conventional style and subject. (Appendix B) The examples from
The Crayon focus on romantic notions of nature as both the subject and the inspiration
for literary and visual art, but don't seem to reveal much about Freeman on a personal
level. They, along with all of the other second-hand evidence ofher life, do begin to
80
flesh out the portrait of a young woman who was immersed in the prevailing fine arts of
her day and who exercised a significant amount of self-determination. There is one later
poem, published in The Galaxy in 1871 that demonstrates a more personal sense of
yearning-both personal and artistic. The text, in part, is as follows:
Oh, that for one consummate hour
To me might come the poet's power!
That I, with his transcendent art,
To song might grandly set my heart!
Might pour my soul out in accords
Of such impassioned, perfect words,
They should immortalize the song,
By helping Love and Truth along!
Peace! Lives make poems finer far
Than the finest word-songs are! (697)
This is one of the last dated examples of Anna Mary Freeman's work located for the
purposes of this study. Ironically, the same poem that expresses her conclusion that a
person's life is his or her most significant work of art is also where the trail of evidence
of her own life appears to come to an end.
There is, however, a more authentic and personal written artifact to examine for
information about Anna Mary Freeman. Among the letters of John Howard Payne is a
copy of one from Anna Mary to a friend, "Truffi", that he was to deliver. Since she
addressed the letter to "My dear 'sister artist' Teresa", it is reasonable to assume that the
intended recipient is the actress and opera singer Teresa T ruffi, who made her
Philadelphia debut in 1848. Little more is known about this woman, but her image was
immortalized by pioneer photographer Matthew Brady (fig. 5).
81
This letter represents the only time I heard Anna Mary Freeman's narrative voice
during the course of my research. Although brief, one can hear verification of some of
the assertions made regarding her life, evidence of her pleasant personality, comments
regarding the quality of her work, and hints at a pride and pleasure in her work that goes
beyond simple economic necessity. The text of this letter, as recorded by Payne on July
2, 1849, is as follows:
My dear "sister artist" Teresa,
It is with the greatest pleasure that I learn by the newspapers that you are so near
to us as at Newport, for it gives me the hope of soon again seeing one of whom, though I
have seen so little, I have thought so often & so warmly. I have written many letters to
you, dear Teresa, in imagination, but this is the first time I have been able to write one in
reality, partly owing to my having been so much occupied with my art; which your kind
heart will, I know, be glad to hear. I have been most successfully pursuing here in
Washington, where I have been for the last three months, & where I have become
acquainted with a lovely friend of yours who has been here on a visit- Miss Boswell of
Philadelphia. I scarcely know which of us was most delighted to find out, during our
brief interview, that the other knew & loved vou- although I still think that!!!]!_ delight
was the greatest, because I found in Miss Boswell the first personal friend of yours I had
happened to meet with, & thus the first person who could fully sympathize with my
affectionate feelings in regard to you - She saw & was delighted with, my sketch of you
which I keep so carefully, more for the sake of the name written beneath it by your own
82
kind hand than for the likeness, which, though said by Miss Boswell to "breathe" is not
so good as that engraved on my heart - My success with your picture, was, I think, the
means of inducing her to sit for her own which I painted in miniature to the entire
satisfaction of herself & friends. I should like you to see it - Perhaps you will & perhaps
the sight of it will induce you to gratify me by sitting, when there is an opportunity, for
the miniature I am so desirous of painting of you. - Pray do me the favor to answer this
as soon as possible, if only by a very few lines, telling me of your intended movements, &
where you propose to remain for any length of time, - so that I can, if possible, be near
you, & show you better than I can by this hasty unworthy note, how sincerely & warmly I
am your friend
AMF
Present my kind remembrances to your mother.
Although the language is sentimental, the yearnings expressed in this letter are
very real. First, there is a genuine yearning for female friendship. In large part due to the
constraints imposed by separate spheres, same-sex friendships during the nineteenth
century were common, necessary, and often had many of the same qualities of expression
as romantic, heterosexual relationships. Since this letter was written during the time
Freeman was traveling, it also highlights the difficulty of sustaining relationships under
those conditions.
It is clear that Freeman kept current with what was going on in the world outside
of her own confmed space. She followed the movements ofTruffi through the
newspapers, and Payne mentions in several of his letters forwarding popular journals to
Mary wherever she was. This, in addition to other evidence of her publishing,
83
advertising, performing, and exhibiting in the public sphere demonstrates a yearning to be
a part of the exciting changes going on around her.
Mary also reveals a great deal concerning her own work as an artist. First, her
excuses for not writing sooner indicate that she was actively pursuing her career and that
she was largely succeeding. The fact that she distinguished between the portrait she did
ofTruffi and the miniature she planned for Miss Boswell indicates at least a small effort
toward diversity in her choice of genre. It also demonstrates that she was not so tied to
commissions that she did not occasionally practice and experiment. She may have asked
the actress to sign the painting because it was intended as a personal study or keepsake~
or she may have been attempting to increase its value as a professional strategy.
The letter does highlight, however, the importance of networking when pursuing a
career of this sort. The letters written by Payne build an intricate web of friends,
acquaintances, clients, relatives, and their connections that can all be called upon to
advance or fulfill one's own personal needs. Especially in light of the intimacy and trust
that accompanied the execution of a portrait, the recommendation of an acquaintance was
the best advertising one could hope for.
In this instance, the portrait ofTruffi and the fact that she was a mutual
acquaintance served to secure a commission for Freeman. Although she hints at the
compliment paid to her work by Miss Boswell, there is evidence that this portrait was an
exercise intended to increase her ability and not executed as an advertising too 1 to be used
as her father used his "Queen." Freeman acknowledged that at least by her own
standards, the portrait was "successful." The fact that Boswell felt the likeness almost
84
breathed demonstrates that in her estimation, at this point Freeman's skill had advanced
beyond the rigid, impersonal style characterized by the first example of her work.
Finally, Freeman exemplified the yearning for personal connection that drove the
market for much of her work in miniatures. Her desire to possess a miniature of Teresa
Truffi was not in response to an outside request or commission. It makes one wonder at
the circumstances of their meeting since the seeming brevity of their acquaintance would
not necessarily or ordinarily have produced that level of attachment. It is also interesting
to note that rather than simply executing a miniature from the portrait she already
possessed, she was willing to wait for a live sitting. This desire could indicate that for a
miniature to function as a connection to another person as has been successfully argued,
completing it from any source other than life would have effectively placed a barrier to
that connection.
Freeman's yearning for connection at so many levels demonstrates the peril
involved anytime boundaries are drawn. It is a danger that faces contemporary art
historians and critics attempting to draw a boundary around artistic greatness. It is one
thing to identifY conditions that fostered or frustrated women producing art, but quite
another to use any of those conditions to include or exclude an artist like Mary Freeman
from the larger conversation about art. Contemporary art critic Paul Garner wrote, "The
[gallery] opening symbolizes the 'art world.' Hopefully, the work, or some of it, will
pass into a historical context of what I call 'the world of art.' Taken together, the two
represent a collective cultural experience" ( 11 0). There is sufficient evidence to verifY
that Anna Mary Freeman was a significant participant in the art world of her time, and
therefore an important part of the cultural experience of American Art.
85
Conclusion
Woolf was correct in asserting that women needed room in order to produce art. But just
as the concept of room has a variety of applications, there are also many ways of
procuring access to a room. For the modem feminist movement, the one that prompted
the questions posed by Linda Nochlin, the drive was not merely access to rooms once
reserved for men only, but the construction of a new building full of rooms specifically
for women. Ironically, Nochlin recognized the paradox inherent in this movement. By
separating the artistic endeavors of women, it implied a different set of standards for
determining greatness. For truly great works of art, the gender of the artist should
ultimately be undetectable and/or irrelevant.
During the nineteenth century, women were trying to find and define their role in
a rapidly changing social environment. While on the surface they may have seemed less
aggressive than their twentieth century sisters, in reality they argued for more substantial
equality between genders. They didn't want a new building; in fact, the women in the
nineteenth century already had their own "building": it was called a separate sphere, and
that is what bothered them the most. They merely wanted a key and acceptance into the
rooms that already existed.
The career of Anna Mary Freeman represents another approach to room
occupation. All she did is quietly elbow her way into a corner of the room still occupied
by men. Although less revolutionary than the other two, and to a modem sensibility less
86
acceptable, it gave her a measure of success. For her time period, the fact that she
entered the room at all is significant.
There is probably little value in trying to make Anna Mary Freeman fit the
arbitrary boundaries of artistic greatness. Even if more examples of her work could be
located and studied, ultimately, she was still a product of her time. She likely had
limited educational opportunities, but she did seek out those within her sphere of
influence who would make her better. She apparently experienced a constant need to
provide for her temporal needs may have kept her from freeing herself creatively, but the
fact that she could use her talent to meet those needs and achieve a measure of
independence was remarkable. And even ifher vision of how great she could become
was limited by her circumstances, her yearnings and modest successes were very real.
Freeman does, however, merit a place of significance as one who participated in
the larger conversation about art and helped ease a path for those women who would
follow her. Rather than attempt to classif)r her as an artistic genius-whatever that may
be-perhaps she would better be served with the title of Renaissance woman. Jacques
Barzun defines this term in From Dawn to Decadence:
[T]he true Renaissance man should not be defined by genius, which is
rare ... .It is best defined by variety of interests and their cultivation as a
proficient amateur. A Renaissance man or woman [his emphasis] has the
skill to fashion verses and accompany or sing them; a taste for good letters
and good paintings, for Roman antiquities and the new architecture; and
some familiarity with the rival philosophies. To all this must be added the
latest refinements in manners (79).
At the time of her arrival at the Studio Building on Tenth Street, Anna Mary Freeman
was doing all of these things. And perhaps that title would represent the greater
compliment.
For her time, the fact that she entered the room at all is significant. Virginia
Woolf, in her address to women pursuing professional careers over one hundred years
after Anna Mary Freeman's birth provides a perfect summation:
87
You have won rooms of your own in the house hitherto exclusively owned
by men. You are able, though not without great labour and effort, to pay
the rent. You are earning your five hundred pounds a year. But this
freedom is only a beginning; the room is your own, but it is still bare. It
has to be furnished; it has to be decorated; it has to be shared. How are
you going to furnish it, how are you going to decorate it? With whom are
you going to share it, and upon what terms? These, I think are questions
of the utmost importance and interest. For the first time in history you are
able to ask them; for the first time you are able to decide for yourselves
what the answers should be" (Professions 390).
It is the persistence and determination of women like Anna Mary Freeman that
allowed the women ofWoolfs generation to answer these questions and allows the
building, furnishing, decorating, and sharing of rooms by women today.
88
Fig. 1: ''A Child" (unfinished) by George Freeman. Believed to be Anna Mary Freeman, daughter of the artist. Copy courtesy of Mansfield Historical Society. Original in collection of Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Fig. 2. The Lamplight Portrait, James Peale by Charles Wilson Peale (1741-1827) Oil on canvas 24 x 36 in (62.2 x 91.4 em).
89
90
Fig. 3. Elizabeth Whitney by A. M. Freeman. 3 7 /8" x 3 1 /8" (Irregular) Miniature Watercolor on Ivory(?). In the collection of the Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth, TX.
91
Fig. 4. Mrs. Antonio Yznaga by A.M. Freeman. 7 %" x 6 1/t Crayon and Water Color Drawing. In the collection of the Museum of the City ofNew York.
92
Fig. 5. Teresa Truffi, full-length portrait of a woman, slightly to the left, eyes right, standing, in theatrical costume, holding small bottle. Half plate daguerreotype, gold toned. Produced by Matthew Brady Studio, 1850. On file with the Library of Congress archives.
Appendix A: Correspondence
Full text of a review written by John Howard Payne and forwarded to editors of various periodicals.
Nov. 8: 1848
93
Among the numerous specimens of painting which have delighted us at the Art Union with the talents produced by our country in that department, we have been particularly struck by an inobtrusive but exquisite little miniature, the work of a young lady The excellence of this effort by Miss Freeman, the artist to whom we allude, would almost induce us to believe genius inheritable; for we have long known various works of her father, which prove his title to the high fame he enjoys on both sides of the Atlantic. The celebrated picture for which Queen Victoria sat to him was pronounced in England to be equally perfect as a likeness and a work of art; and it evinces with what admirable tact a skilful hand can make that appear beautiful which is not entirely so in reality, without impairing its truth as a resemblance. But this is only one of many productions for which he has deserved well from all lovers of the pencil's wonders; and among his many claims on their special regard, none can exceed that which he has established in qualifying his gifted daughter to emulate a father so distinguished. It is touching indeed to see a lovely young girl spontaneously seeking to make the fortune of genius and education a source of worldly independence. We are convinced that there is not a lady in our land who will not honor in one of her own sex, a spirit at once so highly principled, so energetic and so grateful; and volunteer her best wishes that its aspirations may be realized.- Even we of the worser [sic] half of creation cannot but view with deep interest the exertions of a girl like this, to render her advantages the means of aiding their bestower to perpetuate that shelter for him and his from the rough weather of life which does not always remain even for the best of heads and hearts without hard and long continued stirring.- Creditable indeed is it to the Art Union that its surpassing facilities for making pictorial merit public should be so freely accorded to unpretending excellence like that which we desire to bring into wider notice; and we hope even to hear that some portion of its great pecuniary resources may be employed in encouraging by yet more than a place upon its exhibition wall, the earlier efforts of undoubted ability, which can never be so becomingly fostered with substantial aid, as when it is yet struggling and only in the dawn of destined eminence. -
94
Appendix B: Anna Mary Freeman
National Academy of Design Exhibition Record
1862- Listed address of 650 Broadway, New York
503. Sketch ofW. C. Russel (W. C. Russel) 523. Sketch ofthe late Mrs. Gideon Granger ofCanadaigua 524. Head in Miniature
1863 -Listed address of 650 Broadway, New York
428. Miniature (For Sale) 429. Miniature of a Lady (P. H. Stevens) 430. Mde. E. Montalba
1868 - Listed address of 65 1Oth Street, cor. Broadway
15. In Memoriam (The Artist)
1872- No given address (Mary F. Goldbeck)
36. The Captain of Richard Doubledick's Company- With the Dark-bright Eyes - Dickens.
Appendix C: Verse by Anna Mary Freeman
1. SONG OF THE FLOWERS Published in The Knickerbocker (New York Monthly Magazine),
Apr. 1848, p. 342
We come! We come! And we chase the gloom From the poet's dim and lonely room;
We will look in his heart with our dewy eyes, Till feelings long buried shall thence arise; With our perfume sweet we will fill the air, Till he knows it to be our voiceless prayer;
And his soul shall be moved with ours to rise In a grateful prayer through the twilight skies.
We come! We come! Should he look on us now With a heavy heart, or a clouded brow,
We will whisper of places where late we stood, Some close by the stream, some deep in the wood;
Places like those that charmed his view In the sunny hours that his childhood knew; Till his eyes shall be filled with pleasant tears
At the sweet and thrilling tale he hears.
No mortal has charged our bright leaves now With message of love, or passionate vow:
We come to speak to the poet's heart Sweet things that the angels to flowers impart;
We come that our song for a while may win His thoughts from sorrow and care and sin;
May stir in his heart the deepest well, Till its moving waters his bosom swell,
And his harp with a theme more lofty rings Than ever as yet has thrilled its strings.
'Tis for this we come, all crowned with dew; Oh! Would that the poet only knew
That the pearly drops on each flow'ret' s head Are the tears by angels nightly shed! Tears that his guardian-angels weep
95
96
For his purity lost, for the passions that sweep, Impure and uncurbed, o'er his darkened soul,
And enslave his mind with their strong control, And destroy his harp's melodious tone,
Till its power to move the soul has flown; Till, affrighted and grieving, the spirit of love
Has flown away, like a startled dove That has sought in vain for a tranquil rest
In the stormy world of this troubled breast!
0, would that now, while his footsteps stray So far, alas! From the heavenward way, He knew that those guardian-angels still Watch over to shield him from every ill;
They bend o'er him now on their snowy wings, His spirit thrills to their whisperings:
They watch for the tear that shall fill his eye; It falls, and they bear it beyond the sky, Away! Away!-'t is an offering sweet, To lay at his heavenly FATHER'S feet; 'Tis a blessed drop from a fountain pure,
Its depths long sealed, and its light obscure, Which, clear as at first on his glad birth-day,
Shall wash from his soul each stain away.
Our mission is now fulfilled; our song Hath roused pure thoughts that had slumbered long;
Hath drawn from his eyes the awakened tear, First shed from the sky like a dew-drop clear,
Which in its own pure liquid light Shall shine as a star in the heavens to-night.
Poet, farewell! On thy throbbing heart Let us lie and feel how pure thou art; How blessed now, and how sincere,
To love how true, and to love how dear: Oh, thus on thy peacefully-heaving breast
What bliss to be gently rocked to rest! We breathe for thee our latest sigh
We have lived for thee, and for thee we die!
2. MORNING SONG OF FLOWERS Published in The Union Magazine of Literature and Art,
Vol III, no. 1, Jul, 1848, p. 33
An angel came last night, and bent 0' er us, and wept,
Because no prayer to Heaven was sent, Before you slept.
See! On the lily's leaf there lies A drop, like dew-
1 t is a tear those angel-eyes Let fall, for you!
Oh, let us on our sweet breath bear, Beyond the sky,
From thy full heart, a grateful prayer, A heavenward sight;
So shall that loving angel weep For joy to-night,
And watch three in thy peaceful sleep Till morning-light.
3. FROST FANCIES Published in The Crayon, Vol. 4, no. 4, 1857, p. 109
The Frost's at work on the pane to-night, Tracing his fancies, the artist-sprite!
His fancies, so exquisite, dainty, and rare, They might be the dreams of the sleeping air Crystallized-showing what summer things
She loves to fan with her faithful wings, Leaves, and mosses, and vines, and flower, Tangled in wild-wood or trained in bowers;
With drifts of sea-weed, and dashed of spray, All mixed, in a dream's fantastical way, With plumes of feathery ferns, and bells
That chime, in odors, through forest-dells; And hunting-hors, from whose silver throats In flower-like forms wind the frozen notesAnd see, up there-how like angel-wings!All these, and more, are the wonderful things
Which the frolicsome Frost-the artist-spriteOn my window traces, this wintry night.
97
98
4. LINES ON A PICTURE Published in The Crayon, Vol. 4, no 2, 1857, p. 41.
Lowly bent, with reverent look O'er the cross-illumined book, Meekly wearing all the while,
Something sweeter than a smile, Something sadder that a tear, On her fair face, "lily-clear"
See a maiden, modest, mild Readeth of an Infant-Child;
Well we know what ancient story In her eyes reflects its glory
Well we know such lustrous look, Lighted only by one Book!
Trust, and tenderness, and truth Glow through all her grace of youth,
While an air of holy calm Breathes about her like a balmFragrant as the flowery sphere
Of some unseen angel near; And from angel's heart of flame
Surely inspiration came To the Painter, when his art Bade thee into Beauty start, Vision fair of maiden mild,
Reading of the Saviour Child!
5. NIGHT-SONG Published in The Crayon, Vol. 5, no. 6, 1858, p. 167
Not the mornings, child-like morningsFull of melody and mirth,
That with singing and with gladness Come to wake the sleeping earth.
Not the evenings, non-like evenings, Passing silently and slow,
Throwing shadows through the casement, Telling dew-beads as they go.
But the nights-the queenly midnights Pour life-s richest wine for me
From the star-gem'd cup of Heaven, And my soul drinks royally!
6. LOVESONG Published in The Galaxy, Vol. XII, no. 5, Nov. 1871, p. 697
Oh, that for one consummate hour To me might come the poet's power!
That I, with his transcendent art, To song might grandly set my heart! Might pour my soul out in accords
Of such impassioned, perfect words, They should immortalize the song, By helping Love and Truth along! Peace! Lives make poems finer far
Than the finest word-songs are! When, with kind, unselfish deed, Answering your neighbor's need. Or bravely taking up your cross,
Patient under wrong and loss, Then, unconsciously, you wake Harmonies no words can make; Something sweeter than all song
Helps heavenly Love and Truth along.
7. ADJURATION Published in The Galaxy, Vol. XV, No.2, Feb 1873, p. 177
Keep, oh! Keep my troubled soul Firm beneath your pure control,
Lofty Purposes! Let Day Drive not you, with Night away!
Steadfastly within me bum! As, within the Heavenly urn
By the sunbeams hid from sight Stars bum on, to crown the night.
So, when o'er my fainting soul Sorrow's night shades darkly roll, Ye may, star-like, crown my night With your glorious, guiding light!
99
100
~(( t ~~ t, .. ',__./
lllt ~~/ ~e.err
~~
. [FOE THE MUSICAL WORLD. } ·
...
\~J Wor d a br ,'\. :>.,_-\ l'L\11 Y FREl~~\1.-\:"i ... :lltulc b y ROllERT GOLlrBE-ClL
Reproduction of music published in The Musical World, 1858.
101
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