CHANDLER, JOSEPH GOODHUE
(1813–1884)
had a successful portrait-painting career in both rural and urban New England. He is also one of the few folk painters of his era who collaborated artistically with hisspouse. Chandler was born in South Hadley, Massachusetts, and was trained as a cabinetmaker before traveling to Albany, New York, to study painting under WilliamCollins. His earliest known portraits date from about 1837, just prior to his taking over the family farm after his father’s death in 1838, and his marriage in 1840 to theartist Lucretia Ann White. From 1840 to 1852 Chandler traveled around north-western Massachusetts as an itinerant portrait painter working in oil on canvas. He isalso known to have painted still-lifes, street scenes, and landscapes. In 1852 Chandler and his wife set up a studio in Boston, where they frequently collaborated on portraits, with Lucretia supplying the finishing touches. Chandler’s body of work reveals two distinct styles: flat and linear on the one hand, and naturalistic on the other.His full-length portraits of children are his most engaging. In 1860 Chandler and his wife moved to Hubbardston, Massachusetts, where they purchased a farm.Chandler died there in 1884.
See also
Painting, American Folk; Painting, Landscape; Painting, Still-life
.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chotner, Deborah, et al.
American Naive Paintings.
Washington, D.C., 1992.D’Ambrosio, Paul S., and Charlotte Emans.
Folk Art’s Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association.
Cooperstown, N.Y., 1987.Keefe, John W. “Joseph Goodhue Chandler (1813–1884), Itinerant Painter of the Connecticut River Valley.”
The Magazine Antiques,
vol. 102 (November 1972): 848– 854
