Researching and Representing Trades and Occupations in

Colonial America. Dominique Dart

NEH – Picturing Early America 2010

  Students will learn about the common trades and crafts of colonial America, and about the process of becoming an artisan, through research and virtual tours of living history museums.

  Students will create a detailed written portrait of an artisan and of his craft/trade.

  Students will learn about portraiture and what portraits can teach us about the sitters and their society.

  Students will draw/paint a “self portrait” as an artisan, using the common devices used in portraits of that time.

  2.9 For texture, use and be able to differentiate between surface texture and the illusion of texture (visual texture)

  2.11 For space and composition, create unified 2D and 3D compositions that demonstrate an understanding of balance, repetition, rhythm, scale, proportion, unity, harmony, and emphasis. Create 2D compositions that give the illusion of 3D space and volume

  3.4 Create 2D and 3D representational artwork from direct observation in order to develop skills of perception, discrimination, physical coordination, and memory of detail

  4.5 Demonstrate the ability to describe preliminary concepts verbally; to visualize concepts in clear schematic layouts; and to organize and complete projects

  5.6 Demonstrate the ability to describe the kinds of imagery used to represent subject matter and ideas, for example, literal representation, simplification, abstraction, or symbolism

  History and Social Science Curriculum Framework:

  Research, Evidence, and Point of View. Students will acquire the ability to frame questions that can be answered by historical study and research; to collect, evaluate, and employ information from primary and secondary sources, and to apply it in oral and written presentations. They will understand many kinds and uses of evidence; and by comparing historical narratives, they will differentiate historical fact from historical interpretation and from fiction.

  History   Level II (Grades 5-6)      1. 

Understands the factors that shaped the economic system in the colonies and the Americas (e.g., labor systems, natural resources, relations with other countries and the home country)

   2. Understands economic life in the New England, Chesapeake, and southern colonies (e.g., environmental and human factors; the work people did; the crops that plantation, yeoman, and family farmers grew;

  Language Arts   Writing     1. Uses the general skills and strategies of the writing process

INTRODUCTION.

What is a trade? What were some of the common trades of the Colonial times?

Give students a list of common trades of that time.

How did people learn a trade? In colonial America, apprenticeship was the usual means by which

young men entered a trade and master craftsmen obtained the labor necessary to staff their workshops. A young man’s guardian signed an indenture (contract) for a period of time and the apprentice in turn was to receive food, lodging, and knowledge of “the mysteries of the trade,” or traditional craft practices. (historymatters.gmu.edu)

  Apothecary - acted as pharmacist, doctor, dentist, and general storekeeper   Barber   Blacksmith-Armorer - made things from iron and repaired weapons   Bookbinder   Breechesmaker - mades breeches   Brickmaker   Cabinetmaker - made and repaired furniture   Carpenter-joiner - built interiors of ships and houses   Chandler - made candles   Cooper - made containers of wood, such as barrels   Cutler - made, sold, and repaired knives and scissors   Farrier - shoed horses and acted as a veterinarian   Goldsmith - made hollow ware (bowls, cups, and vases) and jewelry   Gunsmith   Hatter   Leather dresser   Mantuamaker - dressmaker   Milliner - made dresses and hats and sold accessories   Music Teacher   Printer - published the newspaper, sold books and other printed materials, and often served as postmaster   Ropemaker   Saddler - made saddles, harnesses, and other leather items   Shoemaker   Silversmith   Tavern Keeper - provided meals, drinks, entertainment, and lodging   Weaver   Wheelwright - made wheels and carts   Wigmaker  

Show and Discuss the trades.   Can you guess the trade? What are they

making?   What materials/tools are being used?

Discuss the usefulness of the trade and the objects. What is still relevant today, etc.

The Shoe Maker

CHAIR CANING

Imagine you live in Colonial times. Research and write about the trade/occupation of your choice.

Organize your writing (see below), and illustrate each paragraph with relevant pictures of tradesman, tools, objects…:

1.  What does the tradesman make? (pictures) 2.  What tools are used? (pictures) 3.  What clothes does he/she wear? Any specific clothes for

that trade? (pictures) 4.  Where does he/she work (setting)? 5.  How useful is the trade to the society? Why? 6.  Why did you choose that trade?

Trades:   http://www.averymiller.com/tradelist_01.html The Guild of Colonial Artisans and Tradesmen 1607 – 1783 -official website   http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sam/occupation.html A list and explanation of Colonial occupations   http://www.history.org/media/slideshows.cfm Many slides showing a variety of tradesmen at work.   http://colonialtrades.blogspot.com/ Colonial Trades & Occupations

Some primary sources: Ben Franklin autobiography http://www.earlyamerica.com/lives/franklin/chapt1/

“I Was Sure of Getting a Trade”: John Fitch’s Long Journey Towards Becoming an Artisan

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5822

  http://www.history.org/media/index.cfm Colonial Williamsburg

  http://www.osv.org/   Old Sturbridge Village. New England life in the

18th century.

  Colonial Living, Edwin Tunis   Colonial Craftsmen, Edwin tunis   Early American Crafts and Trades, Peter

Stockham   A Museum of Early American Tools, Eric

Sloane   The panorama of professions and trades: or,

Every man's book, Edward Hazen

Vocabulary:   Portrait: A likeness or image of a person that is

created by an artist.   Sitter: The person or people who are in a portrait.   Symbol: Something representing something else by

association; objects, characters, or other concrete representations of an abstract idea, concept, or event.

Discussion:   What is a portrait? Types/sizes of portraits.   Who are usually represented in portraits? Why?

IS IT NATURAL OR POSED?

WHAT IS A SYMBOL? WHAT DOES THE SETTING TELL YOU?

John Singleton Copley was born in Boston in 1738, and grew up there, training in the visual arts under his step-father Peter Pelham (c. 1697-1751), an English engraver who had immigrated in 1727 and married Copley's widowed mother in 1748. Copley's earliest paintings, from the mid-1750s, reveal the influence of English mezzotint portraits as well as the work of local and itinerant artists. He experimented with many media: oil on canvas, miniatures on copper or ivory, pastel, and printmaking. By the late 1750s he was established as a portrait painter.

  John Singleton Copley -- American, 1738 - 1815

Copley worked in Boston until 1774 with the exception of a six month painting trip to New York City in 1771. By the mid-1760s he wanted to compare his works with those by contemporaries in England, and in 1765 he sent a portrait of his half-brother Henry Pelham, Boy with a Squirrel, to the annual exhibition of the Society of Artists of Great Britain. Encouraged by Benjamin West and Joshua Reynolds, Copley left Boston for study in Europe. He left for London in 1774 and went almost immediately to Italy, where he spent more than a year, studying and painting. He returned to London in 1775, settling there with his wife and three of his children, who had come from Boston.

1776 marked the beginning of the second half of Copley's career. As his first work at the Royal Academy he exhibited The Copley Family, painted in 1777, followed by Watson and the Shark the next year. The success of these paintings brought him the praise of reveiwers and earned him full membership in the academy. His ambition was to paint large history paintings of contemporary events, like those of Benjamin West, and he exhibited independently, charging admission, The Death of the Earl of Chatham (Tate Gallery), The Death of Major Pierson (Tate Gallery), and the Siege of Gibraltar (Guildhall Art Gallery, London). He also continued to paint portraits, many on a much larger scale than his American work. Copley died in London in 1815

In the American colonies, portraiture was generally considered more of a practical trade than a fine art, and a portrait’s success was largely measured by its likeness to the person portrayed.

Because John Singleton Copley had an extraordinary talent for recording the physical characteristics of his subjects, he became the first American artist to achieve material success in his own country. Copley’s portraits endure as works of art because they transcend pure documentation to reveal clues to a sitter’s personality, profession, and social position. (PEM)

John Singleton Copley

• Describe SarahWaldo ErvingWaldo’s clothing and surroundings. Of what class do you believe she and her family belong? • Sarah Erving married in 1765. Can you find any symbolism in the painting that might suggest her role as a married woman? (Consider what a wealthy colonial family might hope would result from a “successful” marriage.) (PEM)

In his Portrait of Sarah ErvingWaldo, Copley uses his extraordinary facility at rendering minute detail and textures to convey the richness of the objects. Satin, lace, pearls, and polished wood are brought to life. Copley focuses the viewer’s attention on the message of luxury and success that his sitters wanted to communicate. Sarah Erving was the daughter of merchant and mariner John Erving and his wife,Abigail Phillips Erving. Sarah married SamuelWaldo in 1762 in Boston.Two years after her marriage,Waldo commissioned the artists John Singleton Copley to paint this portrait of Sarah. She sits at a tea table, which is appropriate for her married role as a hostess. The cherry branch that she elegantly holds also suggests her fertility and the general “abundance” in her married life. Waldo exemplifies Colonial wealth .

Some sample questions (NEH - Picturing America)  How has Copley drawn our attention to Revere’s face?  By placing Revere’s hand under his chin, what does Copley suggest about Revere’s personality?  What is Paul Revere holding?  Find the three engraving tools on the table. Why do you think Copley included these tools and the teapot in this portrait?  Paul Revere was a craftsman in a busy studio. How has Copley idealized the setting for this portrait?

  What is an engraving? How are they made?

  Why were engravings made?

1585 THEODOR DE BRY. PRAYING AROUND THE FIRE WITH RATTLES. (1590) ENGRAVING AFTER A WATERCOLOR BY JOHN WHITE.

Review or lesson on drawing the face.

Lesson on size, proportions and shapes in the human body.

  Correct proportions   Pose   Objects   Setting (surroundings/background)   Representing textures

http://www.museumnetworkuk.org/portraits

http://www.johnsingletoncopley.org/

http://www.pem.org/ Peabody Essex Museum, Salem Mass.

Portrait - Online Resources