Olivia
Lilly Martin Spencer’s sentimentalist paintings challenged the entrenched attitudes toward the roles of men and women in mid-19th century American society (Miller). A long-time connoisseur of art, the aspiring painter made the move from Ohio to the city of New York in 1848 to pursue training at the National Academy of Design (Encyclopædia Britannica). Finding her niche in genre painting, Spencer explored the roles of gender in society, through the depiction of the charms and challenges of middle-class domestic life (Miller). Oftentimes, her portraits and illustrations feature humorous episodes that win viewers’ affinity and empathy. The reproductions of her works through the American Art-Union and Western Art Union, as well as their presence in books and magazines of the era, promulgated the artwork, making her a figure of national celebration (Encyclopædia Britannica).
A champion of the merit of women’s work, Lilly Martin Spencer used a male subject to emphasize the challenges of homemaking in her 1854 genre piece known as Young Husband: First Marketing (Miller). Discarding the cliché of masculinity, Spencer’s protagonist is shown gathering foodstuffs. This young husband appears to struggle with the task, and, as unfortunate fate will have it, watches as the chicken tumbles from the basket (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). The man’s downcast eyes and tense posture communicate his embarrassment at his failures. To only further the subject’s distress, passersby turn their attention toward him, gawking at the man’s challenges. The spectacle of a man assuming the traditionally feminine task of gathering provisions served as enough of a surprise, but the husband’s incapacity to complete the chore guarantees the condescension of the haughty bachelor in the background (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). The scene, charged with apprehension and uneasiness, demonstrates the deep gender biases that define society’s image of gentility (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). Yet the public’s reaction to the painting, notably when the press discarded it as an offensive diminishment of the male subject’s propriety, further enforced Spencer’s assertion that society was far too rooted in its gender customs (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). With such works, Spencer becomes a champion of the value of domestic duties, even suggesting the formidability of such demanding tasks.
Spencer illustrates quintessential domestic bliss in her 1849 representation of parents’ reverent watch over their sleeping young ones (Miller). Domestic Happiness is an ode to the virtues of family life. With abundant use of light, Spencer immediately draws the viewers’ eyes to the glowing children, idolized by their luminous surroundings (Miller). The couple stands watch above them, in the company of the work’s audience. The wife places her hand gently on her husband’s chest and both reach their outward arms toward the children. Forming a circle, the four members of this little family are interrelated, and codependent (Miller). At the same time, the woman’s movement of her right hand seems to be motivated by the necessity of halting the father’s actions toward his children (Miller). Imploring him not to disturb the drowsy children, the woman asserts her control over family life. Yet by not rousing the babies, Spencer also alludes to newly proposed methods of raising children (Miller). Rather than guiding children with parental sway, this approach urged a parenting policy that facilitated exploration and promised individuality, proposing the quintessentially American theory of independence (Miller). Demonstrating the influence of a mother’s support for her children, especially in a rapidly industrialized, increasingly urban habitat, Spencer glorifies the power of a woman in rearing children.
Spencer again grapples with a mother’s role seventeen years later in a time of changed circumstances. Painted in 1866, in the aftermath of the Civil War, War Spirit at Home represents the ramifications of armed conflict on family life (Miller). As a mother relates the news of the Union victory at Vicksburg to her children from a fresh New York Times, the family rejoices (Miller). The three eldest don festive paper bag hats and clamorously rap at tin pots, reenacting a celebratory parade. By linking this tale of domestic festivities with the larger story of women’s responsibilities to communicate the values of national pride to their children, Spencer again emphasizes the necessity of nurturing mothers (Miller). Spencer seems to be laying the groundwork for an argument later assumed by suffragette Carrie Chapman Catt, that a mother’s knowledge of the political sphere, and later on her ability to vote, was essential to her ability to relay patriotism and upstanding moral values to her children.
By endowing feminine subject matter, originally deemed superfluous, with gravitas, Spencer played a vital role in the popularization of the concept that women were vital to the health of society. An image of feminine power herself, Spencer bore the responsibilities of the key breadwinner for herself, her husband, and their thirteen children (National Museum for Women in the Arts). As her work became widely popular throughout the Westernized world in the 1840s and 1850s, Lilly Martin Spencer disseminated her vision of female fortitude (National Museum for Women in the Arts).
Works Cited
"Lilly Martin Spencer." 2013. Encyclopædia Britannica. 8 February 2013.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/559275/Lilly-Martin-Spencer>.
“Lilly Martin Spencer.” 2012. National Museum for Women in the Arts. 8 February 2013.
<http://www.nmwa.org/explore/artist-profiles/lilly-martin-spencer>.
Miller, Angela, et al. American Encounters: Art, History, and Cultural Identity. London: Prentice Hall, 2008. .
“Young Husband: First Marketing, 1854.” 21 January 2013. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 8 February 2013.
<http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/L.2011.45.3>.
Images Cited
“Lilly Martin Spencer.” 2012. The Athenaeum. 8 February 2013.
< http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/list.php?m=a&s=du&aid=943>.
Lilly Martin Spencer’s sentimentalist paintings challenged the entrenched attitudes toward the roles of men and women in mid-19th century American society (Miller). A long-time connoisseur of art, the aspiring painter made the move from Ohio to the city of New York in 1848 to pursue training at the National Academy of Design (Encyclopædia Britannica). Finding her niche in genre painting, Spencer explored the roles of gender in society, through the depiction of the charms and challenges of middle-class domestic life (Miller). Oftentimes, her portraits and illustrations feature humorous episodes that win viewers’ affinity and empathy. The reproductions of her works through the American Art-Union and Western Art Union, as well as their presence in books and magazines of the era, promulgated the artwork, making her a figure of national celebration (Encyclopædia Britannica).
A champion of the merit of women’s work, Lilly Martin Spencer used a male subject to emphasize the challenges of homemaking in her 1854 genre piece known as Young Husband: First Marketing (Miller). Discarding the cliché of masculinity, Spencer’s protagonist is shown gathering foodstuffs. This young husband appears to struggle with the task, and, as unfortunate fate will have it, watches as the chicken tumbles from the basket (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). The man’s downcast eyes and tense posture communicate his embarrassment at his failures. To only further the subject’s distress, passersby turn their attention toward him, gawking at the man’s challenges. The spectacle of a man assuming the traditionally feminine task of gathering provisions served as enough of a surprise, but the husband’s incapacity to complete the chore guarantees the condescension of the haughty bachelor in the background (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). The scene, charged with apprehension and uneasiness, demonstrates the deep gender biases that define society’s image of gentility (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). Yet the public’s reaction to the painting, notably when the press discarded it as an offensive diminishment of the male subject’s propriety, further enforced Spencer’s assertion that society was far too rooted in its gender customs (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). With such works, Spencer becomes a champion of the value of domestic duties, even suggesting the formidability of such demanding tasks.
Spencer illustrates quintessential domestic bliss in her 1849 representation of parents’ reverent watch over their sleeping young ones (Miller). Domestic Happiness is an ode to the virtues of family life. With abundant use of light, Spencer immediately draws the viewers’ eyes to the glowing children, idolized by their luminous surroundings (Miller). The couple stands watch above them, in the company of the work’s audience. The wife places her hand gently on her husband’s chest and both reach their outward arms toward the children. Forming a circle, the four members of this little family are interrelated, and codependent (Miller). At the same time, the woman’s movement of her right hand seems to be motivated by the necessity of halting the father’s actions toward his children (Miller). Imploring him not to disturb the drowsy children, the woman asserts her control over family life. Yet by not rousing the babies, Spencer also alludes to newly proposed methods of raising children (Miller). Rather than guiding children with parental sway, this approach urged a parenting policy that facilitated exploration and promised individuality, proposing the quintessentially American theory of independence (Miller). Demonstrating the influence of a mother’s support for her children, especially in a rapidly industrialized, increasingly urban habitat, Spencer glorifies the power of a woman in rearing children.
Spencer again grapples with a mother’s role seventeen years later in a time of changed circumstances. Painted in 1866, in the aftermath of the Civil War, War Spirit at Home represents the ramifications of armed conflict on family life (Miller). As a mother relates the news of the Union victory at Vicksburg to her children from a fresh New York Times, the family rejoices (Miller). The three eldest don festive paper bag hats and clamorously rap at tin pots, reenacting a celebratory parade. By linking this tale of domestic festivities with the larger story of women’s responsibilities to communicate the values of national pride to their children, Spencer again emphasizes the necessity of nurturing mothers (Miller). Spencer seems to be laying the groundwork for an argument later assumed by suffragette Carrie Chapman Catt, that a mother’s knowledge of the political sphere, and later on her ability to vote, was essential to her ability to relay patriotism and upstanding moral values to her children.
By endowing feminine subject matter, originally deemed superfluous, with gravitas, Spencer played a vital role in the popularization of the concept that women were vital to the health of society. An image of feminine power herself, Spencer bore the responsibilities of the key breadwinner for herself, her husband, and their thirteen children (National Museum for Women in the Arts). As her work became widely popular throughout the Westernized world in the 1840s and 1850s, Lilly Martin Spencer disseminated her vision of female fortitude (National Museum for Women in the Arts).
Works Cited
"Lilly Martin Spencer." 2013. Encyclopædia Britannica. 8 February 2013.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/559275/Lilly-Martin-Spencer>.
“Lilly Martin Spencer.” 2012. National Museum for Women in the Arts. 8 February 2013.
<http://www.nmwa.org/explore/artist-profiles/lilly-martin-spencer>.
Miller, Angela, et al. American Encounters: Art, History, and Cultural Identity. London: Prentice Hall, 2008. .
“Young Husband: First Marketing, 1854.” 21 January 2013. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 8 February 2013.
<http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/L.2011.45.3>.
Images Cited
“Lilly Martin Spencer.” 2012. The Athenaeum. 8 February 2013.
< http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/list.php?m=a&s=du&aid=943>.