SILHOUETTE PORTRAIT OF A LADY IN PINK READING A BOOK

The present picture is a charming example by Ezra Wood (1789-1841) of Buckland, Massachusetts, otherwise known as “The Puffy Sleeve Silhouette Artist”. Wood was a man of many trades; he owned an inn, produced wooden items for sale such as crimpers or hair curlers, and held licenses to sell liquor, in addition to his work as an artist. His identity was first established in a 1942 Magazine Antiques article titled “Ezra Wood, Profile Cutter” by Olive Crittenden Robinson. The author attributed the small hollow-cut portraits to Wood based on her own collection and found references, including a 1879 address noting “As for fam[i]ly likeness in which we so delight at the present time, their photographs were little black profiles cut by Ezra Wood, to hand around the chimney place.” The cut-out head and painted body with a rather unnatural positioning, dramatic dress sleeves and cinched waist are all trademarks of Wood’s work and seen in the present lot. For a discussion on Wood and his silhouettes, see Michael Payne, Suzanne R. Payne, Samuel Herrup, "Unmistaken Identity," The Magazine Antiques (July/August 2014), pp. 122-129.