THE FOLK ART EXHIBIT
There are three parts to this exhibit: folk art by
Ruth W. and Samuel A. Shute from the painting
collection of the Lowell Historical Society; early
19th century illustrations, papers, books, and
clothing from the library and clothing collections of
the Lowell Historical Society; and a 19th century
Lowell quilt from the New England Quilt Museum.
THE LOWELL PORTRAITS OF
RUTH W. AND SAMUEL A. SHUTE
The Search
For more than a generation, folk art experts had
been trying to discover the identities behind the
signatures of R.W. Shute and S.A. Shute. The
first paintings to surface, a pair of oil portraits
with both Shute signatures, were found in 1937
by Edith Gregor Halpert, a pioneer in the
rediscovery of American folk art. Ten years later,
another signed painting, this time a watercolor,
was acquired by Colonel Edgar William and
Bernice Chryslar Garbisch (now at New York's
Metropolitan Museum of Art). One by one,
portraits in similar style, or with mysterious
double signatures, came to light in museums
and private collections.
Efforts to identify these artists and to
document their work were frustrated by |
