Susie M. Barstow, Sunshine in the Woods (1886). Paul Stuka Collection. Photo by Hawthorne Fine Art, New York.
The Thomas Cole National Historic Site revisits the forgotten legacy of the Hudson River School’s women artists, with the first retrospective for Susie Barstow.
When Susie M. Barstow was in search of artistic inspiration, she would head to the mountains, sketchbook in tow, reportedly hiking as many as 25 miles a day while capturing views of the natural landscape.
This dedication to her practice is all the more remarkable considering Barstow began her career in the 1850s, at a time when bloomers were still considered daring attire for women.
“Going out in long heavy woolen skirts and heels and petticoats and all of these layers was so cumbersome,” Nancy Siegel, an art history professor at Maryland’s Towson University and curator of a new exhibition on Barstow, told Artnet News.
“So there were bloomers, trousers worn under a short skirt. And women like Susie would raise the hems of their walking skirts. Some women wore boy’s tennis shoes, or would use a clothes pin to pull their dress up almost to create pantaloons while they were hiking,” she added. “There were lots of ways that women carefully and strategically manipulated their dress so that they could navigate the landscape.”
Unknown photographer, Portrait of Susie M. Barstow (ca. 1870). Private Collection, Photo by Dennis DeHart.
Born in New York City in 1836, Barstow was among some 50 women who were part of the Hudson River School, painting in the tradition started by Thomas Cole. Now, the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, the home of the founder of the movement, is hosting Barstow’s first ever retrospective, “Women Reframe American Landscape: Susie Barstow and Her Circle/Contemporary Practices.”
In 2010, the museum had staged “Remember the Ladies,” the first exhibition dedicated to the movement’s women, curated by Siegel and art dealer Jennifer Krieger. A decade later, Betsy Jack, director of the Cole house, reached out to Siegel about organizing a follow-up show, this time focused on a single artist.
Barstow—who has more than 100 documented paintings—soon emerged as a natural choice, both due to her success during her lifetime and the availability of her work, as well as a wealth of archival materials preserved by her surviving family members (much of which they recently donated to the Albany Institute of History and Art).
Susie M. Barstow’s paint box (ca. 1876). Private Collection. Photo by Dennis DeHart.
“I had access to hundreds of letters and photographs and personal memorabilia, like her certificates from school and the tickets that she saved from seeing the Columbian Exposition, as well as hundreds of drawings and watercolors as well as paintings,” Siegel said. “It was this incredibly unique opportunity first to find that much existing biographical material about any artist, much less one of these women of the Hudson River School.”
The result is a two-part exhibition pairing work by Barstow—who already had one piece in the Cole house collection—and other women of the Hudson River School, with that of contemporary women artists responding to the landscape. It’s a collaboration between Siegel, who handled the historic material (and also wrote a new monograph about Barstow), and Thomas Cole National Historic Site chief curator Kate Menconeri and assistant curator Amanda Malmstrom, who enlisted the show’s living artists.