Thomas Waterman Wood
Born in Montpelier, Vermont, Thomas Waterman Wood painted idealized scenes of everyday life. He first established himself as a portrait painter, traveling widely to paint commissions. After a year of study in Europe, he began painting genre scenes and diverse images of American people—works that secured his reputation. Wood influenced other American artists as president of the National Academy of Design from 1891 to 1899. He also established the Wood Gallery of Art in his native Montpelier.
Who do you interact with when you shop in your neighborhood?
Wood painted Market Woman, with its unidentified subject, as a companion piece to Moses, The Baltimore News Vendor. It is not certain whether the artist depicted a free woman buying or selling vegetables, or an enslaved woman doing the daily food shopping for a white family. Though free blacks could work as street vendors, they were denied many basic civil rights, including citizenship and the right to vote.
Gift of Henry K.S. Williams
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