Lot 292: Samuel Addison Shute (1803-1836) and Ruth Whitter Shute, Circa 1830-1835

A Portrait of a Woman in Blue
back bears labels for Kennedy Galleries and David A. Schorsch, Inc.
watercolor and ink on paper
19 7/8 x 15 3/4 inches

David A. Schorsch, "A Tribute to Excellence", January 12-February 25, 1989, item #83.

The Kennedy Quarterly, (January, 1973), no. 21.

Kennedy Galleries, New York
David A. Schorsch, New York
Sold Sotheby's New York, Important Americana, June 27-28, 1990, lot 264

This dynamic portrait, with its striking blue background, relates to a small number of similar works that Ruth and Samuel Shute painted in the early 1830s while working in Middlesex County, Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. Related works from this small group include a portrait of Electa Snow Pierce until recently in the Ray and Susan Egan collection that sold Northeast Auctions, August 5, 2006, lot 799.

Ruth Whittier Shute (1803-1882) and Samuel Addison Shute (1803-1836) had a brief but prolific collaborative painting career that was cut short by Samuel's death in 1836. Ruth continued to travel and paint. She remarried Alpha Tarbell in Concord, New Hampshire and moved with him to Lexington, Kentucky where she was known as a pianist and a painter.