The Burnish Sisters
1854
Artist, American, 1806 - 1873
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 90.2 x 101.8 cm (35 1/2 x 40 1/16 in.)
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Accession
1980.62.18
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Recorded as from New York State.[1] (A. T. Sullivan, city unknown). (Downtown Gallery, New York, 1931-1945), by whom sold in 1945 (F. Valentine Dudensing as agent) to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; by bequest to NGA, 1980.
[1] The original Garbisch accession sheet states that the painting was found in New York State, but a second sheet, provided when it was given to the National Gallery, records its origin as Massachusetts.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1931
American Ancestors, The Downtown Gallery, New York, 1931, not included in cat.
1932
Centennial Exhibition, American Folk Art, Buffalo Fine Arts Academy-Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, 1932, no. 38.
Detroit Society of the Arts, 1932, no cat. known.
Crillon Galleries, Philadelphia, 1932, no cat. known.
1937
Children in American Folk Art, 1725-1865, The Downtown Gallery, New York, 1937, no. 69.
1940
A Souvenir of Romanticism in America; or An Elegant Exposition of Taste and Fashion from 1812 to 1865, Baltimore Museum of Art, 1940, unnumbered cat.
Survey of American Painting, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1940, no. 31.
1941
Milestones of American Art, Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, New York, 1941, no cat.
1943
American Primitive Painting of Four Centuries, The Arts Club of Chicago, 1943, no. 35.
1951
American Primitive Painting 1759-1950, Milwaukee Art Institute, 1951, no. 12.
1954
American Primitive Paintings from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Part I, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1954, no. 104.
1955
American Primitive Paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1955.
1961
101 Masterpieces of American Primitive Painting from the Collection of E.W. and B.C. Garbisch, traveling exh. by the Amer. Federation of Arts, New York, 1961-1964, no. 87, color repro. First venue: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y.
1967
Fifty Masterpieces of American Primitive Painting from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Society of The Four Arts, Palm Beach, Florida, 1967, no cat.
1968
American Naive Painting of the 18th and 19th Centuries: 111 Masterpieces from the Collection of E.W. and B.C. Garbisch, traveling exh. by Amer. Fed. of Arts, N.Y., 1968-1970, no. 91, repro. First venue: Grand Palais, Paris.
1970
American Naive Painting of the 18th and 19th Centuries: Masterpieces from the Collection of E.W. and B.C. Garbisch, organized by the Amer. Fed. of Arts, N.Y., and Mainichi News, Nihobashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, 1970, no cat.
The New World: 1620-1970, Chrysler Art Museum, Provincetown, Massachusetts, 1970, no. 19.
1985
American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Exh. cat. Traveling exh. by the International Exhibitions Foundation, Washington, 1985-1987, no. 51, color repro. First venue: Museum of American Folk Art, New York.
1988
La Nascita di Una Nazione: Pittori americani dalla National Gallery of Art di Washington 1730-1880, Palazzo Pepoli Campogrande, Bologna; Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna di Ca'Pesaro, Venice, 1988-1989, no. 51, repro.
1993
A Child's Place, The Lockwood Mathews Mansion Museum, Norwalk, Connecticut, 1993, no cat.
Bibliography
1984
Journal of the American Medical Association 251, no. 15 (April 1984): 1965, color cover.
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: 306-308, color repro. 307.
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 267, repro.
Inscriptions
on reverse (no longer visible, photograph in object file [1980.62.18] in NGA curatorial records); at right: Fanny P. Burnish / Age 6 / Mar 25 / By W. M. Prior 1854; at left: Levenia R. Burnish / age 3 next July 21st 1854 / W. M. Prior 1854 / March 26th.
Wikidata ID
Q20188050