Country Dance

1883

Martin Edgar Ferrill

Associated Names
Martin Edgar Ferrill

Artist, American, 1836 or 1837 - 1897

This is a painting of a domestic scene in a historical setting. The image features multiple figures engaged in various activities. A man and a woman are dancing in the center of the room. An older woman watches with a small dog, while a musician plays a violin near an open doorway. In the background, a woman in an apron approaches with refreshments, and a child plays on the floor in front of a seated adult. The room is comfortably furnished with a fireplace on the left. The walls have a rifle and a clock, and a cat plays with a string on the wooden floor. The signature on the painting indicates it is in the style of M. E. Pease.

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Recorded as from Connecticut. (The Silvermine Tavern Antique Shops [now Silvermine Tavern and Country Store], Norwalk, Connecticut), by whom sold in 1947 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; gift to NGA, 1971.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1958

  • Rediscovered Painters of Upstate New York, New York State Historical Association, traveling exhibition, 1958-1959, no. 36.

1962

  • Exhibition of Early American Art, Academy of the Arts, Talbot County Historical Society, Easton, Maryland, 1962, no. 18.

1966

  • Music-Making American Style, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1966-1967, no catalogue.

1976

  • American Cat-alogue: The Cat in American Folk Art, Museum of American Folk Art, 1976, no. 86, (cat. by Bruce Johnson).

1978

  • The American Folk Art Tradition: Paintings from the Garbisch Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978.

1988

  • A Little Bestiary: Naive Paintings from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey, 1988, no catalogue.

1993

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, 1993-1994.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, Savannah, Georgia, 1993.

1994

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Heckscher Museum, Huntington, New York, 1994.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Louisiana Arts and Science Center, Baton Rouge, 1994-1995.

1995

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Pensacola Museum of Art, Florida, 1995.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), McKissick Museum, Columbia, South Carolina, 1995.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), St. John's Museum of Art, Wilmington, North Carolina, 1995-1996.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Boise Art Museum, Idaho, 1995.

1996

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 1996.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California, 1996.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Maier Museum of Art, Randolph-Macon Woman's College, Lynchburg, Virginia, 1996.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainseville, 1996-1997.

1997

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, 1997.

1998

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut, 1998.

2010

  • American Naive Paintings from the Garbisch Collection at the National Gallery of Art, Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, Virginia, 2010, no catalogue.

Bibliography

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 157, repro.

1992

  • Chotner, Deborah, with contributions by Julie Aronson, Sarah D. Cash, and Laurie Weitzenkorn. American Naive Paintings. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 109-111, repro. 110.

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 178, repro.

1996

  • American Naive Paintings: From the National Gallery of Art. American Art Review, Vol. VIII, No. 6, 1996, no. 135, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: M. E. Ferrill. / 83

Wikidata ID

Q20189587

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