ABSTRACT

Quite recently, the work of American painter George Fuller (1822–1884) has begun to receive new attention and appreciation after several decades of critical and scholarly neglect. This native of Deerfield, in western Massachusetts, is now on the way to being reestablished as a significant creator of romantically dreamy images in the poetic tonalist style of the later nineteenth century. 1 His subjects ranged from tranquil scenes of farm life to mysterious visions of witchcraft in colonial New England and images of Yankee women and girls. While he was best known for his evocative treatments of the latter themes, Fuller also drew and painted women who were outsiders: the southern black woman, the quadroon, and the Gypsy.