Until recently, little was known about 19th century portrait artist (also referred to as a 鈥渓imner鈥�) Ammi Phillips (1788-1865).
The painter, born in Colebrook, 海角换妻, was self-taught, going from town to town painting portraits of locals, mainly in 海角换妻, Massachusetts and upstate New York. Phillips did not sign these works, but because of his distinct style and sheer volume of portraits, the world would eventually learn his name.
Now, the is producing a dramatic take on one chapter of Phillips鈥� life.
In 2020, WSHU reporter on how 100 years ago Phillips was known by art historians simply as the 鈥淜ent Limner.鈥� Dunavin told the story of a 1924 street fair in Kent, 海角换妻. Organizers encouraged residents to find and display old family portraits from the attic. As people walked by they couldn鈥檛 help but notice they all seemed to be from the same artist.
Finally in 1958, a couple purchased a portrait at an antique shop in Fairfield, and on the back they found the name Ammi Phillips. That opened the floodgates, as historians and scholars began attributing more and more paintings to him, and piecing together his life鈥檚 story.
Thrown Stone Theater in Ridgefield heard Dunavin鈥檚 story, and thought Phillips would be a good subject for a theater piece. They commissioned Pittsburgh-based playwright Tammy Ryan to write the work. The result: 鈥淪even Cousins for a Horse.鈥�
Set in 1848, 鈥淪even Cousins for a Horse鈥� imagines the itinerant painter at a low point in his professional and personal life.
鈥淗e鈥檚 lost his 5-year-old daughter,鈥� said Jonathan Winn, who directed the play. 鈥淗is marriage is in trouble, and his career is threatened by the advent of the daguerreotype.鈥�
Phillips is invited to stay with the family of his favorite cousin, Nisus Kinney in Colebrook. There he agrees to paint the entire family, all seven of them, in exchange for a sturdy horse. Several of the Kinney family portraits are on display at the Litchfield Historical Society.
鈥淭he experience of looking at these portraits is extremely intimate, and you feel like you form a relationship with the sitters,鈥� Winn said. 鈥淧articularly Sarah's portrait. She died a month after she was painted. When I saw her portrait I said: 鈥榊ou know, somebody鈥檚 going to know your name, somebody鈥檚 going to know that you lived here.鈥� And we are making good on that promise.鈥�
Winn said the play touches on the news of the day. In the late 1840s, the United States was going through a time of social and political upheaval.
鈥淪lavery in 海角换妻 ended in 1848,鈥� Winn said. 鈥淭he other big thing that happened in 1848 was the Seneca Falls convention, which were the first calls for universal suffrage. It鈥檚 just remarkable to me how it feels so radical. We found little moments of revolution in the play.鈥�
鈥淪even Cousins for a Horse鈥� at the Ridgefield Conservatory of Dance.
