New Jersey Cut-Out

Discussion

FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG

Little is known about the American artist Susan Cray, but her use of cut black-coated paper mounted on a cream-colored background recalls the tradition of cut-paper silhouettes that first emerged in Europe in the 1700s. This scene shows rural New Jersey. To the left, a hunter and his dog trail after a deer and rabbit; at right, a family crosses a bridge over a waterfall and approaches their home. In mid-19th-century America, the cult of domesticity upheld nature and the home as refuges from the modern industrial world, places where spiritual values could be cultivated.

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