Description:
Framed oil painting on prepared millboard of a old woman and two girls sewing while seated next to a window, referred to as "The Sewing Lesson", which is signed and dated "Champ '79." In 1876, the United States celebrated the centennial of its founding. Nostalgia for the past manifested itself in many ways. Needlework, once a mainstay of female education, took on more symbolic meanings, communicating the importance of domesticity, useful handicraft, and proper female roles in society. Without knowing the relationship of the three people depicted, the older woman opposite the two younger girls sits in a position of implied leadership, setting standards for a new generation. It is possible Champney completed this painting from an earlier study or photograph, either in the United States or abroad. Also, the figures depicted may not necessarily be sewing. Born in Boston, James Wells Champney (1843-1903) served in the 45th Massachusetts Volunteers from 1862-1863 before being invalided out of the army; he then taught drawing at Dr. Dio Lewis's "Young Ladies Seminary" from 1864-1866. After deciding to become a professional artist, Champney moved to Europe where he studied in France with Pierre Edouard Frere (1819-1886), a well-known French realist genre painter; in Antwerp with Joseph Francois Henri Van Lerius (1823-1876); and in Italy. In 1870, Champney returned to Boston where he opened a studio; in 1873, he was commissioned by "Scribner's Monthly Magazine" to illustrate "The Great South; A Record of Journeys in Louisiana, Texas, the Indian Territory, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland," a series of articles on the Reconstruction South by Edward King (1848-1896) where the two travelled more than 25,000 miles and Champney contributed at least 500 illustrations. In 1873, Champney married Elizabeth Johnson Williams (1850-1922), whom he had met at the "Young Ladies Seminary; " she was a graduate of the Vassar class of 1869 who became a popular children's author of her period and many of whose whose works Champney illustrated. Born in Springfield, Ohio, Elizabeth Williams was the half-sister of Orson Bennet Williams (1834-1912) and daughter of Samuel Barnard Williams (1803-1884), originally of Deerfield, whose second wife was Caroline Johnson (d.1885) whom he married in 1844; the granddaughter of Elijah Williams (1767-1832) who married Hannah Barnard (1772-1853), daughter of Samuel Barnard (1721-1788) of Deerfield, in 1803; and great-granddaugher of Dr. Thomas Williams (1718-1775) of Deerfield. In 1876 the Champneys moved into Samuel Barnard Williams' house in Deerfield where Champney built a studio; they lived in Deerfield for several years while he was professor of art at Smith College in Northampton, Mass., and one of the founders of the Smith Art Gallery. In 1879, Champney opened a studio in New York City, and from that time on the Deerfield became their summer home. James and Elizabeth had two children: Edward Frere (1874-1929) who studied art and became an architect, and Maria Mitchell (1876-1906) who was born in Deerfield, married John Sanford Humphreys in 1899, and was a miniature painter. This painting is similar to one by Champney's teacher, Pierre Edouard Frere, circa 1875, titled "The Three Seamstresses" with two young women and a girl sewing while seated next to a window (original French newspaper cutting with image in Champney file).This theme was used by Frere as also seen in his 1883 "The Young Knitter" with an old woman and young girl knitting while seated next to a window. There is a label on the reverse of the board: "Prepared Mill Board / Winsor & Newton / Artists' Colourmen / To Her Majesty / and to / T.R.H. The Prince & Princess of Wales / 38, Rathbone Place, London. W." The National Portrait Gallery in London lists Winsor & Newton as a supplier for a one of Edouard Frere's works done in 1867.
Label Text:
In 1876, the United States celebrated the centennial of its founding. Nostalgia for the past manifested itself in many ways. Needlework, once a mainstay of female education, took on more symbolic meanings, communicating the importance of domesticity, useful handicraft, and proper female roles in society. Without knowing the relationship of the three people depicted, the older woman opposite the two younger girls sits in a position of implied leadership, setting standards for a new generation.
James Wells Champney was born in Boston, Massachusetts. After a brief career in the military, he became an artist in his 20s, moving to Europe to advance his training. He returned to America early in the 1870s, eventually marrying Elizabeth Johnson Williams (1850-1922) in 1873. The couple summered in Deerfield, and the town and its inhabitants provided subject matter for Champney’s work.
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