Description:
Framed pastel drawing of the head and shoulders of a veiled woman with her left hand to the right side of her face, wearing a green veil and robe and a golden band around her forehead, which is unsigned and undated but by James Wells Champney (1843-1903). Born in Boston, James Champney 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. Mrs. Elizabeth Champney gave this drawing to Benjamin Zabina Stebbins (1865-1950) of Deerfield in 1921, which was later purchased from his daughter, Miss Marion Stebbins.
Label Text:
Champney exhibition: In this unfinished sketch, Champney engaged with a late 19th-century iteration of Orientalism. A studio model dressed in a veil, tunic, and gold headdress, pulls the fabric around her neck to shield her face. As part of his artistic practice, Champney often dressed his models in costumes to explore different identities and historical figures. In the Gilded Age, dressing up in clothing other than one’s usual attire served as a popular form of entertainment and performance. Today, this image raises questions about how Champney participated in cultural appropriation, the co-opting of one culture’s traditions by another. He depicted a favorite white, Euro-American model in an “Oriental” costume, one that tied into perceived exoticism surrounding the North African Middle East. These moments of play acting reduced these non-European regions to ethnic and racial stereotypes. While perhaps not intentional for Champney, the practice reflected uneven power dynamics.
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Portraits Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+63.365 |
