Micah Williams: Portrait Artist Monmouth County Historical Association County Historical Artist Monmouth Williams: Portrait Micah Micah Williams Portrait Artist Micah Williams Portrait Artist Micah Williams Portrait Artist M a y 19, 2013 — S e p t e M b e r 2 9 , 2 0 1 3 M o n M o u t h c o u n t y h i S t o r i c a l a ss o c i a t i o n Monmouth County Historical Association The Micah Williams: Portrait Artist exhibition was assisted by a grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the Department of State. The exhibition also is made possible in part by the Monmouth County Arts Council through funding from the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders, the County Historical Commission, and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts / ISBN Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National 0-9705560-0 Endowment of the Arts. © 2013 Monmouth County Historical Association Monmouth County Historical Association received an All rights reserved. No portion of this publication Bernadette M. Rogoff operating support grant from the New Jersey Historical may be reproduced without the written permission Commission, a division of the Department of State. of the publisher. Curator of Museum Collections Micah Williams: Portrait Artist Micah Williams: Portrait Artist ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES It has been my privilege to have met and worked with many Micah Williams enthusiasts, scholars, Folk art provides a powerful forum for individual self-expression. Seen over the centuries throughout researchers, collectors, and museum professionals who gave their time and expertise over almost the world, folk art reflects cultural identity through art forms of diverse groups – tribal, ethnic, religious, twenty years of research. At long last, Micah Williams is receiving his well deserved recognition as occupational, geographic, or age or gender based. As our global community becomes increasingly one of America’s finest portrait artists. homogenized through modern technology, folk art is valued more than ever before because it offers an informed connection to our particular pasts. I thank the staff at Monmouth County Historical Association including retired Director Lee Ellen Griffith, Ph.D., Director Evelyn C. Murphy, Ph.D., Librarian/Archivist Laura M. Poll, Library Assistant Micah Williams: Portrait Artist tells a story specific to a time and place, the new America of the nineteenth Debra Carmody, Director of Development and Communications Laurie Bratone, Development Assistant century. Micah Williams traveled extensively in and around Monmouth County during his years as a Linda Snyder, and Education Coordinators Glenn May and Karen Grieco. I also thank Board President portraitist. This exhibition traces the transformation of the artist from his first career as a New Brunswick Claire Knopf and the Trustees of Monmouth County Historical Association. Trustee and silver plater to traveling portrait artist, placing his work into the larger context of social change and Micah Williams collector Edward King, Jr., deserves special thanks for his support, time, and effort American economic development. Bringing sixty-seven of Williams’ works together for the first time, on behalf of this project. the exhibition also offers viewers the opportunity to explore family relationships among the sitters. The clothing, furniture, backgrounds and props featured in the portraits allow us a glimpse into a prospering The Association’s twenty-two Williams pastel portraits have been expertly conserved at the Conservation agrarian society. Center for Art and Historic Artifacts in Philadelphia. I thank Soyeon Choi, Samantha Sheesley, and Joan Irving (now of Winterthur Museum). I also thank paintings conservator Fred Koszewnik for his Monmouth County Historical Association has embraced Williams’ work since the 1930’s. Between 1950 work on the portrait of Micah Williams. and 1960, a certain Monmouth County resident, Mrs. Irwin Fearn Cortelyou, published four scholarly articles for Antiques magazine drawn from her research on the Williams portraits in the Association’s Staff at museums, libraries, archives, and historical societies were helpful and enthusiastic in supporting collection. Now, over fifty years later, the Association still holds the largest public collection of Micah my research. My thanks to American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY (Stacy Hollander); Buccleuch Williams’ work. During the past twenty years, our collection has been under the care of Curator Mansion Museum, New Brunswick, NJ ( Judy Gennaro); Everhart Museum of Natural History, Science Bernadette Rogoff. Mrs. Rogoff has expanded the collection while enthusiastically researching the artist and Art, Scranton, PA (Nezka Pfiefer); Historic Hudson Valley, Pocantico Hills, NY ( Jessa Krick); and his patrons. Under her stewardship, each pastel portrait has been conserved by the Conservation Historical Society of Scotch Plains and Fanwood, Scotch Plains, NJ (Ginger Bishop and Connie Klock); Center for Art and Historic Artifacts in Philadelphia. Hugenot Historical Society, New Paltz, NY (Leslie LeFevre-Stratton); Memorial Art Gallery at the University of Rochester, NY (Monica Simpson); Monmouth County Park System, Lincroft, NJ (Cheryl The exhibition speaks to our mission of preserving and sharing Monmouth County’s history and culture. Stoeber-Goff); New Jersey State Archives, Trenton, NJ (Joanne Nestor and Betty Epstein); New Jersey Funding for the project has come from public agencies, corporate sponsors and private donors. The State Museum, Trenton, NJ (Margaret O’Reilly and Jenny Martin-Wicoff); Princeton University Art New Jersey Historical Commission has provided support for the exhibition through a project grant; Museum, Princeton, NJ (Laura M. Giles); and Zimmerli Art Museum/Rutgers University (Donna Monmouth County Arts Council and Freehold Savings Bank have funded the Picture YourSelf interactive Gustafson and Margaret Molnar). educational display in our Discovery Room; and Donna and Marvin Schwartz have underwritten the exhibition catalogue. An anonymous private donor has generously matched all of these contributions. Special thanks to Holmes Bailey, Susan and John Dominianni, Fran Goldstein, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Gulick, Vera and Pepi Jelinek, Jane Spangler, Mary Lou and George Strong, and Leslie and Peter On behalf of the Board of Trustees of Monmouth County Historical Association, I extend our sincere Warwick. Thanks to Joseph W. Hammond for generously sharing his theories and files about Micah thanks and congratulations to all who have made Micah Williams: Portrait Artist possible. Our common Williams over the years. John B. Williams and his daughter, Lalena Williams Faust, direct descendants appreciation for folk art has given us the opportunity to work together over many years. We look forward of Micah Williams, generously shared their family’s history, for which I am grateful. to welcoming you to this celebration of American folk artist Micah Williams. My heartfelt thanks to catalogue designer Karen Bright for her creativity and patience; Robert and Elizabeth McKay of McKay Imaging in Red Bank, NJ, for their superb photography; and Suzanne Claire M. Knopf Salinetti and the staff at The Studley Press, Dalton, MA. President Finally, I could not have completed this project without the love, support, and encouragement of my husband, Marc, my daughter Erin, and my son Christopher. Bernadette M. Rogoff Curator of Museum Collections The early twentieth century was an exciting time for scholars in the fledgling American folk art field. Many researchers and collectors turned their attention to those artists who made their living traveling about, painting portraits of local residents in New England, the Mid -Atlantic region, and farther south. These itinerant folk artists, as they were described, had not attended formal art schools or received instruction from classically trained artists. Rather, they developed their own artistic skills through practice, enthusiasm, and perhaps a lesson or two from another folk artist. Early folk art enthusiasts closely examined the products of these artisan painters and combed surviving records, paged through newspapers, court documents and census records, and uncovered valuable information. Artists such as Erastus Salisbury Field, Ammi Phillips, John Brewster, Ruth Henshaw Bascom, and William Matthew Prior became celebrated and recognized for their achievements as portraitists. Each folk artist had a distinct style that could be recognized and used to identify other portraits by the same hand. Folk art experts became aware of a distinctive group of pastel portraits from Monmouth County, New Jersey. The artist had a vibrant and powerful talent. At first, the maker was identified as Henry Conover, based upon an inscription on one of the portraits which read “H. Conover.” Beginning in the 1930s, Monmouth County Historical Association received portraits by Henry Conover into its collection, often from descendants of the original sitters. American decorative arts collector and Monmouth County resident Mrs. J. Amory Haskell (1864-1942) purchased six Conover portraits and donated them to the Association. By the late 1950s, Monmouth County Historical Association had amassed the largest public collection of this artist’s work. Many researchers and collectors, however, believed that the true story of this talented portraitist was yet to be uncovered. In the early 1950s, after completing research on New York folk artist Ezra