Scaling Stories
Francis William Edmonds
Sydney Bauer
Francis William Edmonds’ The Image Pedlar depicts an interaction between a working or middle-class family and a traveling salesman, called an “image peddler,” selling small scale sculptures door to door. In the interior scene, there are nine figures assembled linearly across the canvas along with highly detailed objects meticulously painted among the actors on the canvas. The Image Pedlar (ca. 1844) was a particularly ambitious work for Edmonds and cost him “ a vast deal of study & labour- It contains 9 figures besides a host of accessories- all of which were painted from life.” The accessories Edmonds refers to are the objects found within the scene- not just the plaster sculptures- but also the domestic objects methodically placed throughout the composition. Upon closer examination of Edmonds genre paintings en masse, I discovered a repetition of oddly specific objects, for example a driving whip and an unusually placed cabbage. Rather than focusing on the narrative of the scenes in Edmond’s genre scenes, this project instead focuses on the objects found within these constructed domiciles. This project asks questions like “which objects repeat the most throughout Edmonds paintings?” and “what do these objects have to do with the narrative depicted?” in hopes of understanding the relationship between objects and constructed visions of identity at the time. By considering the objects found within the middle class coded domestic spaces, Edmonds’ propensity for utilizing the same forms throughout his paintings, and considering the objects as unique assemblages, ecosystems of their own, I hope to point to a more complex relationship between the Edmonds’ work and visions of Americanness.
The Image Pedlar, ca. 1844, Oil on canvas. Gift of the New-York Gallery of the Fine Arts. New York Historical Society.
Inspiration & Methodology
One of the most revealing scenes of the painting takes place between two characters that would normally be dismissed as nonessential: the little girl and the working woman at the back window. The woman stands next to the second light source of the painting and looks back towards the family. This moment of distraction from her chore-work might be due to the bright candies the peddler shows off, but her eyes instead seem to land on the little girl pulling at the peddlers basket. In an act of childish curiosity, the young girl has pulled down on the image peddlers basket to see what other treasures the peddler might have stored away. Upon pulling down this basket, the young girl has accidentally uncovered even more miniature sculptures hidden away under blankets.
Closest to the girl's hands is a miniature sculpture of an animal, perhaps a dog or lion, lying prone with its head up and turned to its right. The pointed ears and twisted head echo the form of the animal pictured on the board atop the peddlers head. It seems, in her curiosity, the little girl has discovered the peddler is not selling “one of a kind” works. Is the blanket meant to hide these copies from the family? Or simply meant to serve as a protective barrier for these fragile figures?
Edmonds painting depicts a moment on the precipice of calamity. If we were to “press play” on this painting, perhaps we would see the little girl losing her balance, tugging the basket too hard and sending the image peddler (and his wares) shattering to the ground. Or, just as likely, upon this discovery, the family realizes they’ve been duped (literally) and are outraged at the deception of the image peddler. Yet another possibility is that the discovery of duplicates is of no concern to this family who are only interested in the objects as conversation pieces, demonstrated by the first scene to the left(fig. 1). Even more likely, however, is that the duplicates the little girl has uncovered, possibly only noticed by the far removed woman in the background of the painting, will go unnoticed by the family. Regardless of what may come next in this scene, Edmonds centralizes this little girl's discovery, suggesting to viewers that they take a closer look.
The presence of trade objects (the map, the horn, and ceramic pitcher in the chinois style) in The Image Pedlar, as well as the family’s interest in the peddler’s goods, point to a salesman working within an already cultivated market for decorative visual goods. Edmond’s focus on these objects through their meticulous representation, coupled with the centrality of duplicity within the narrative, suggests that the artist was thinking about the nature of repetition and duplicity through the objects he represented in his scenes. The artist’s interest in objects within The Image Pedlar prompted me to consider the role of objects throughout his entire oeuvre (or at least what is available). After in depth visual analysis of 27 of his 55 known genre paintings, a pattern of repetition and duplication unfurled.
My first step in this investigation was to find a software that allowed me to keep track of my dataset. I settled on Tropy as it allowed me to create “items” where I could upload multiple images (some paintings had preliminary sketches done or multiple iterations) and their metadata, as well as take notes and even assign tags. I was able to find images for 27 of the 55 purported genre scenes that Edmonds has painted and complete an in depth visual analysis of objects for each one. I spent a significant amount of time with each painting. First, in a separate spreadsheet, writing down items of interest. Once I found a number of objects that repeated, I was able to create a tag within Tropy. While this method of tagging proved very helpful to uncovering iterative forms within Edmonds work, I believe that more time and perhaps a better software would allow for a more complex examination of repeating objects. So far through my examination of Edmonds works, I have found over 35 objects that repeat somewhere throughout his oeuvre.
Findings and Further Research
Throughout my research on Edmonds, I have found that some objects repeat passively, while others are more active in their position within the narrative. What I have begun calling “passive objects” are objects that seem to be space-holders and repeat with little or no variance. These are objects like a ceramic pitcher that is seen repeated through over six works of art. One example of such a “passive object” is the consistent repetition of a ceramic pitcher. The pitcher is placed in seemingly arbitrary positions throughout compositions, often placed alongside other more “active objects” to form interesting assemblages. The “passive objects” in Edmonds pieces are also objects that other genre painters have included in their interior scenes and could be considered completely ordinary. “Active objects” on the other hand play an entirely different role within Edmonds genre paintings. These objects are unusual and often placed in entirely over-conspicuous places. Most importantly, “active objects” repeat throughout Edmonds paintings but are constantly reoriented and reworked. In other words, while some of Edmonds objects are carbon copies of themselves (passive objects), others are reformed to suggest that the artist paid great attention to their role within the canvas. An example of an “active object” would be the head of cabbage Edmonds includes in paintings made in 1852-1859. The cabbages depicted in Edmonds paintings are “active objects” because of their strange placement (on the floor, carefully organized among other objects), detailed and variable representation, and vivid color. These objects draw the eye and prompt viewers to consider just why a very meticulously painted cabbage is represented in the foreground of The Speculator?
Investigating the role of “passive” and “active” objects is a thread of inquiry that I hope to pursue in this project. Being able to structure more descriptive tags and associate them with an object-category, will give me a better understanding of the relationship of objects to one another throughout the paintings. To have a list of all “active objects” in Edmonds paintings, it is possible to consider the ways in which these objects are intentionally changed over time. Documenting the change in Edmonds approach to objects within these constructed scenes may offer a new lens through which to consider the way "Americanness" was visually displayed and understood in genre paintings. Through an in depth analysis of Francis William Edmonds work, starting with The Image Pedlar, this project has established the importance of objects within Edmonds work, as well as the artists awareness surrounding repetition. Further research, I believe, will lead to more fruitful discussions about the agency of painted objects within genre painting and their role in informing viewers, past and present, of constructed visions of American Identity.
Sources
While a majority of this investigation was done through deep visual analysis, below is a list of sources I have used to guide my research and that I will continue to interrogate as this project moves forward.
Brownlee, Peter John, "Francis Edmonds and the Speculative Economy of Painting," American Art, Vol, 21, No. 3, Fall 2007, pp. 31-53.
Burns, “Francis W. Edmonds: American Master in the Dutch Tradition. H. Nichols B. Clark, Francis W. Edmonds.”
Edmonds, Francis W. “‘The Leading Incidents & Dates of My Life’: An Autobiographical Essay by Francis W. Edmonds.” American Art Journal 13, no. 4 (1981): 10 https://doi.org/10.2307/1594270.
"National Academy of Design," New York Herald, Vol. X, No. 147, May 26, 1944, p. 1.
Lanman, Charles, Letters from a Landscape Painter, Boston: J. Munroe and Company, 1845, pp. 238-43.
McNutt, James K. “Plaster Casts after Antique Sculpture: Their Role in the Elevation of Public Taste and in American Art Instruction.” Studies in Art Education 31, no. 3 (1990): 158–67. https://doi.org/10.2307/1320763.
Mann, Maybelle, "Francis William Edmonds: Mammon and Art," The American Art Journal, Vol. 2, No. 2, Autumn 1970, pp. 92-106.
Mann, Maybelle, Francis William Edmonds: Mammon and Art, New York University Ph.D. Dissertation, 1972, pp. 64, 94-8.
Mann, Maybelle, "Humor and philosophy in the paintings of Francis William Edmonds," Antiques, November 1974, pp. 862-70.
Mann, Maybelle, Francis William Edmonds: Mammon and Art, New York: Garland Pub., 1977, pp. 94-7.
Koke, Richard J., American Landscape and Genre Paintings in the New York Historical Society, Vol. I, New York: The New-York Historical Society, 1982, pp. 4-7.
Clarke, H. Nichols B., Francis W. Edmonds, American Master in the Dutch Tradition, Washington, D.C.; Published for Amon Carter Museum by Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988, pp. 30, 56-7, 75-9, 92-3.
Foshay, Ella M., Mr. Luman Reed's Picture Gallery: Pioneer Collection of American Art, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1990, pp. 148-9.
Johns, Elizabeth, American Genre Painting: The Politics of Everyday Life, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1991, pp. 15, 21, 54-5, 209.
Terhune, Anne Gregory, Thomas Hovenden: His Life and Art, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006, pp. 151-81.
Weinberg, H. Barbara, and Barratt, Carrie Rebora, Eds., American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life 1765-1915, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009, pp. 31-2, 72.