Portrait of a Woman

1830-1833

Place madeUnited States

Oil, graphite, and metallic gold-toned foil on canvas

Overall: 29 x 29 x 1 in. ( 73.7 x 73.7 x 2.5 cm )

Purchased from Elie Nadelman

1937.456

This object was once part of the folk art collection of Elie Nadelman (1882-1946), the avant-garde sculptor. From 1924 to 1934, Nadelman's collection was displayed in his Museum of Folk Arts, located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. The Historical Society purchased Nadelman's entire collection in 1937. The Nadelmans did not know the names of either the sitter or maker(s) of this painting but they owned and displayed two works executed by the same unique hand in their museum. These are now attributed to Ruth Whittier Shute and her husband Dr. Samuel Shute. After their marriage, Dr. Shute shifted away from medicine and joined his wife in an artistic partnership. The couple was itinerant, traveling between the towns and small cities of northern New England and New York State, painting portraits as they went. Most of the Shutes’ subjects were young women who had recently left their family farms to work in the mills of prosperous river towns in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The Shutes experimented with a diverse and unorthodox mix of media, such as graphite in combination with oil paint, and applied gold foil used on the sitter’s belt. They also usually worked collaboratively, and although the great majority of portraits attributed to them are unsigned, some are inscribed on the reverse: "painted by R.W. Shute and S.A. Shute" Their individual contributions to their artworks are more specifically documented on a few watercolors which indicated that they were drawn by Ruth and painted by Samuel. Dr. Shute died at the age of forty-two in 1836; Ruth continued working and experimenting independently.

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