A Colonial Williamsburg Foundation decorative arts librarian has solved one of folk art’s most popular mysteries of the past century – the identity of the artist who painted “The Old Plantation.”
Using primary documents and reanalyzing existing scholarship, Susan P. Shames drew on her lifetime of expertise in material culture, genealogy and research methodology to trace the painting’s history to its creation more than 200 years ago.
The unsigned work has perplexed scholars, historians and art enthusiasts since Abby Aldrich Rockefeller first acquired the watercolor in 1935 and added it to her growing collection of folk art. Since then, the 18th-century work has been widely reproduced in textbooks and scholarly publications, providing a valuable tool for anyone studying slave life, music, dance and society, as well of those interested in the genesis of American folk art.
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