GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Probably painted on Monhegan Island, Maine, the vibrant colors and sketchy brushwork of this child’s portrait share the same vitality as the work of artists of the urban Ashcan school. Fisherman’s Little Sister was an early purchase for the Museum by popular subscription. Alice Kent Stoddard studied under William Merritt Chase, Thomas Eakins, and Thomas Pollock Anshutz at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and then at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women and led a successful career in Philadelphia and Maine as a landscape and portrait painter.
Adapted from
William Keyse Rudolph, DMA label copy (1917.4), November 2005.
NOTES
Signed and dated 1915, but accessioned 1911? This discrepancy is not explained in the file. The work had previously been dated 1915 in TMS, but was changed to c. 1911 in March 2005 when WKR noted the conflicting information and then Sarah Evans wrote on the change form, "This latter date (c. 1911) was verified by documents in the DMA archives." Only document shown from a search of archives database and TX Portal is a 1922 DAA collection catalogue that lists this work as "purchased by popular subscription in 1911." This issue was emailed to Jacqui Allen and Hillary Bober on June 15, 2015.
After meeting with Hillary on June 19- She located this work listed in an old, hand-written list of work in the collection and it appears as 1911.4. This resource is not an authority, however, because it was likely compiled at a much later date and relied on other written records. Hillary found a payment to Ms. Stoddard in 1917 as well as board minutes mentioning "Fisherman's Little Sister" as a new purchase, and an announcement thanking two women who led the "subscription" effort to buy the painting. These three primary sources suggest the work entered the DAA collection in 1917 (additional supportive evidence is its absence in the earlier DAA catalogues published in 1909 and 1916). It was likely transcribed incorrectly during an early inventory or move because someone could have easily mistaken a 7 for a 1 depending on the script. Hillary is photocopying the minutes and typed records. I took photos of the account book and old catalogue list. A summary of these findings and copies of relevant documentation is in the object file and has been sent to Anne Lenhart to have a new object number assigned.
Based on the documentation and the signature, I changed the date to 1915.
I added the 1911 exhibition that WKR refers to in his 2005 label because if this exhibition can be verified in the future, it will again problematize the painting's creation date. The footnote for the exhibition history makes this issue clear.
I changed the provenance based on the revised accession date information.
RULE- I did not use the object number as the attribute because the number will change. I used the id because it should remain constant regardless of cataloguing.
Artist geography:
born- Watertown, CT
trained- Philadelphia, PA- at PAFA under WM Chase, Thomas Eakins, Thomas Anshutz; then trained at Philadelphia School of Design for Women
worked- Philadelphia, PA
worked- Monhegan, ME
4/9/2019- Becky Singerman asked how to add the date/accession research information to the TMS record. She and Sue were discussing adding my comments to the Curatorial Remarks field. I sent her the copied text from the "notes" field of this note. I also changed the accession number in the WKR citation to match the current object number as opposed to the 1911.4 (incorrect, old) accession number to avoid more confusion. -Emily Schiller
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Alice Kent Stoddard
Cultures
Geography
Monhegan, Maine
Process/materials
oil paint
canvas
Historical periods
Individuals
Thomas Pollock Anshutz
Rockwell Kent
Subject terms
fisherman
sister
children
sitting
portrait
girls
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
From 1917: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas Art Association Purchase [1]
[1] The Dallas Arts Association is the predecessor to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name was abandoned in 1970. Works from this collection were transferred to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
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ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
- During the First World War, Alice Kent Stoddard made drawings on the battlefields in France while serving with the Y.M.C.A. She applied her artistic skills again during WWII as an airplane designer.
- Alice Kent Stoddard's first cousin is Rockwell Kent (1882-1971), an important American illustrator, graphic artist, and landscapist whose work is also represented in the Dallas Museum of Art.
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Apply to objects where id equals 4194738
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General Description
Probably painted on Monhegan Island, Maine, the vibrant colors and sketchy brushwork of this child’s portrait share the same vitality as the work of artists of the urban Ashcan school. Fisherman’s Little Sister was an early purchase for the Museum by popular subscription. Alice Kent Stoddard studied under William Merritt Chase, Thomas Eakins, and Thomas Pollock Anshutz at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and then at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women and led a successful career in Philadelphia and Maine as a landscape and portrait painter.
Adapted from
William Keyse Rudolph, DMA label copy (1917.4), November 2005.
Fun Facts
- During the First World War, Alice Kent Stoddard made drawings on the battlefields in France while serving with the Y.M.C.A. She applied her artistic skills again during WWII as an airplane designer.
- Alice Kent Stoddard's first cousin is Rockwell Kent (1882-1971), an important American illustrator, graphic artist, and landscapist whose work is also represented in the Dallas Museum of Art.
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
Signed and dated 1915, but accessioned 1911? This discrepancy is not explained in the file. The work had previously been dated 1915 in TMS, but was changed to c. 1911 in March 2005 when WKR noted the conflicting information and then Sarah Evans wrote on the change form, "This latter date (c. 1911) was verified by documents in the DMA archives." Only document shown from a search of archives database and TX Portal is a 1922 DAA collection catalogue that lists this work as "purchased by popular subscription in 1911." This issue was emailed to Jacqui Allen and Hillary Bober on June 15, 2015.
After meeting with Hillary on June 19- She located this work listed in an old, hand-written list of work in the collection and it appears as 1911.4. This resource is not an authority, however, because it was likely compiled at a much later date and relied on other written records. Hillary found a payment to Ms. Stoddard in 1917 as well as board minutes mentioning "Fisherman's Little Sister" as a new purchase, and an announcement thanking two women who led the "subscription" effort to buy the painting. These three primary sources suggest the work entered the DAA collection in 1917 (additional supportive evidence is its absence in the earlier DAA catalogues published in 1909 and 1916). It was likely transcribed incorrectly during an early inventory or move because someone could have easily mistaken a 7 for a 1 depending on the script. Hillary is photocopying the minutes and typed records. I took photos of the account book and old catalogue list. A summary of these findings and copies of relevant documentation is in the object file and has been sent to Anne Lenhart to have a new object number assigned.
Based on the documentation and the signature, I changed the date to 1915.
I added the 1911 exhibition that WKR refers to in his 2005 label because if this exhibition can be verified in the future, it will again problematize the painting's creation date. The footnote for the exhibition history makes this issue clear.
I changed the provenance based on the revised accession date information.
RULE- I did not use the object number as the attribute because the number will change. I used the id because it should remain constant regardless of cataloguing.
Artist geography:
born- Watertown, CT
trained- Philadelphia, PA- at PAFA under WM Chase, Thomas Eakins, Thomas Anshutz; then trained at Philadelphia School of Design for Women
worked- Philadelphia, PA
worked- Monhegan, ME
4/9/2019- Becky Singerman asked how to add the date/accession research information to the TMS record. She and Sue were discussing adding my comments to the Curatorial Remarks field. I sent her the copied text from the "notes" field of this note. I also changed the accession number in the WKR citation to match the current object number as opposed to the 1911.4 (incorrect, old) accession number to avoid more confusion. -Emily Schiller
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Alice Kent Stoddard
Cultures
Geography
Monhegan, Maine
Process/materials
oil paint
canvas
Historical periods
Individuals
Thomas Pollock Anshutz
Rockwell Kent
Subject terms
fisherman
sister
children
sitting
portrait
girls
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
From 1917: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas Art Association Purchase [1]
[1] The Dallas Arts Association is the predecessor to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name was abandoned in 1970. Works from this collection were transferred to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
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