William Henry Hunt, A Puffer, exhibited 1837

A Puffer

Currently untraced

Watercolor, bodycolor, and gum arabic, with scratching out

15 X 11 in., 38 X 28 cm.

Indistinctly signed, l.l., W. HUNT and inscribed on the old backboard.

 

Provenance:

Lady Rolle, who purchased it at the 1837 Spring Exhibition of the Society of Painters in Water-colours;

(S) Sotheby's Belgravia, 1 Dec 1981, Lot 230 (P) ;

(S) Christie's London, 14 May 1985, Lot 180 (P) £864

 

Exhibited:

1837, London, Society of Painters in Water-colours, Spring Exhibition, No. 69, as A Puffer;

 

 

William henry Hunt painted a number of Black or Mulatto children from about 1836 to 1838 and on occasion in his later career. This watercolor shows a young boy trying to start a fire. Although it is not the most flattering of poses, it certainly is no worse than the way his primary model, John Swain, was depicted in less than attractive poses by Hunt's. Hunt was one of the few artists of his time, or most times, for that matter, who did not paint caricatured images of Blacks and other races or show minorities in stereotypical situations. They were included in his oeuvre as just additional examples of everyday human life and activity, all aspects of which.Hunt seemed intent on capturing in his genre paintings in watercolor.

 

Hunt, whose legs were deformed and who was described as being almost dwarfish in appearance, is said to have been a friend to many Blacks and Gypsies in Hastings, on the south coast of England, where he spent most winters beginning in the second half of the 1820s. Since Hunt would never paint until the exact scene he intended to paint had been set up before him, with all furniture, props, and live models posed as they would appear in his watercolor, there is no question that he knew the models for his studies of minority races. And, since Hunt was known for being very thrifty, there can be little doubt that he used his friends as his models for these watercolor paintings.

Done