Scrubwoman & Cook Magnet Set

Set of 2 magnets. Each magnet measures 3 1/8" H x 2 1/8" W.

In the caption of these portraits, Baroness Hyde de Neuville identifies the women as "scrubwoman" and "cook in ordinary costume." Nothing more is known about them; their names and stories are lost. Yet the images are notable as some of the earliest of black Americans. They are furthermore remarkable for their objectivity: in a time when so many depictions of black Americans were caricatured to serve racist implications, these women look much as the eye might have seen them. Perhaps, as an expatriate, exiled from her native France, de Neuville was less committed to the white American fears and prejudices that led to such distortions. Whatever the case, these unique watercolors depict black American women in typical occupations of their time with rare honesty.

Baroness Anne Marguerite Henriette de Marigny Hyde de Neuville (ca. 1776-1849)
Scrubwoman, ca. 1810 (1953.251)
Watercolor and graphite on paper, 7.5 x 6.5 inches
Cook in Ordinary Costume, 1810 (1953.276)
Watercolor and graphite on paper, 8.5 x 5.5 inches
2005 New-York Historical Society