Description:
Augustus Fuller (1812–73) was a deaf-mute artist, born in Deerfield, Massachusetts. He attended the American Asylum for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb in Hartford, Conn. The experience immersed students in the revolutionary new French system of sign language as well the specialized teaching needed for the students to be able to read and write. The school also sought to provide students with a means to a livelihood. Fuller received art lessons when he attended the school between the ages of 12 and 16. After graduation, Fuller had several additional periods of art instruction, studying with Chester Harding in Boston, among others. Fuller began his itinerant painting career around 1830. Because his worried parents were initially fearful that a deaf-mute would be taken advantage of, family members often accompanied him. In his newspaper advertisements, Fuller suggested that the local population would be interested in seeing how a deaf-mute artist had overcome his handicap. He invited the public to stop by his rented room to examine the portraits he could produce for them. During 1840, he traveled throughout upstate New York accompanied by his brother George. Upon seeing Augustus’s success as an artist, George decided to also become a painter. Many years later, George would be recognized as one of the most important American painters of the 1880s. Watercolor portrait drawing of a young boy full length and standing in front of a pond, the boy, Alexander Allan Cameron, has yellowish curly hair and blue eyes, he wears a choker necklace with a circular pendant, his clothing is a short sleeved, checked dress in black and pink with white lace ruffles on the sleeves, and a solid black belt, the skirt of the dress spreads out widely at the base, and the boy is wearing white pantelettes, with similarly striped socks, and black shoes. Cameron holds a flower in his left hand. The background is a landscape with a tree on the left side, grassy area, and a pond in the foreground with a small toy sail boat. The portrait is inscribed on the lower right hand side in script, "Augustus Fuller Painter 1858" and on the left side "Alexander Allan Cameron", the portrait is framed in a wide burled maple frame with old glass, Condition : the paper is toned light brown and is stained and creased in places, needs to go to conservation for remounting in acid free mount. More research needs to be done on the geneaology of Alexander Allan Cameron. An Alexander Allan Cameron was born in Springfield, MA, in March 13, 1856 to Daniel and Agnes Cameron.
Label Text:
Grow Up: In the mid to late 19th century, both toddler girls and boys wore short dresses with pantaloons. This form of dress provided ample freedom of movement for play and activities. In this portrait, three-year-old Alexander Cameron plays with a toy sailboat at the edge of a pond. Breeching, a transition where boys switched from dresses to trousers or short trousers, traditionally happened between the ages of 5 and 7 years.
Tags:
portraits Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2016.7 |
