Ruth Henshaw Bascom | |
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 Self-portrait, drawing, 1829, Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield Museum Consortium | |
| Born | Ruth Henshaw December 15, 1772 |
| Died | February 16, 1848 (aged 75) |
| Resting place | Ashby First Parish Burial Ground |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Folk art portraits |
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Ruth Henshaw Bascom, also known as Aunt Ruth (December 15, 1772 – February 16, 1848), was an American folk artist who produced over 1,400 portraits. She was the daughter of Colonel William Henshaw and Phebe Swan of Leicester, Massachusetts, and a schoolteacher from 1791 to 1801. Bascom married first, at about 32 years of age, to Dr. Asa Miles, but he died a year or more after their marriage. She married a second time for about 35 years to Reverend Ezekial Lysander Bascom. Bascom didn't give birth to children of her own, but she had a stepson from her first marriage, stepdaughter from her second marriage, and a niece and nephew that she raised. She documented the daily activities of her life in diaries beginning at the age of 17, which included records of the portraits that she made.
While married Bascom fulfilled the role of a minister's wife, was a teacher, and was active at the local library and in temperance societies. She made her first portrait in 1801, but she did not begin creating portraits regularly until after 1818. Bascom worked with a variety of materials, including pastels, pencils, cut paper, and foil. Some of her initial works were layered pieces of paper that represented the head and neck, clothing, and accessories placed over a background. She also made pastel portraits on one sheet of paper in the latter part of her career.
Charlotte Streifer Rubinstein, author of American Women Artists: From Early Indian Times to the Present (1982), said that Bascom had a "calm strength of characterization combined with a sensitive feeling for shape, color and texture."[1]