Anonymous Was a Woman: A Celebration in Words and Images of Traditional American Art and the Women Who Made It

by Mirra Bank

In print since it was first published in 1979, this book is a glorious collection of American folk art by "ordinary" women of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Filled with beautiful four-color reproductions of samplers, quilts, paintings, and needle-pictures along with excerpts from diaries and letters, sampler verse, books, and magazines of the period, Anonymous Was a Woman celebrates the daily experiences and inner lives of women who, in acts of love and duty, created many masterpieces of American folk art.

Genres: Art, History, Nonfiction, Reference

128 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1979

Reviews

[Snufkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful, though-provoking and poignant collection of intricately crafted work by women. Some quilts and tapestries full of love and care, with such incredible detail and quality. Together with diary entries from women in different stages of their life, it put the artworks in context and brought each work to life even more. A delight!

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned that I have an ancestor who made her living as an itinerant portrait painter in Upstate New York. Deborah Goldsmith's paintings and letters are included in this book. I can see my father's eyebrows when I look at the painting she did of Sarah Mason Throop, her soon to be mother-in-law.

[Melissa Helton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can see how important a move this was when it was originally published in 1979, to bring forth what was deliberately ignored, excluded, and hidden - women and their lives. Reading it now, I can't help but see there are only a few pages at the end that make visible some Black women and their lives. And it brings to the surface the fact that most women are made doubly invisible, once for being women, and again for not being white. I imagine a book like this focusing on women in the 18th and 19th Centuries would be difficult to put together an inclusive representation because only wealthy white women's lives were deemed important enough to document (to the little degree they were). Because of that extra challenge, it's even more important for books like this to be deliberately inclusive of all women, and not just wealthy white women.

[Kandace · Rating 4 out of 5]

My community college decided to cull this book from the stacks but I’m happy to offer it home on my shelves. Bank compellingly weaves scraps of guide books, diaries, poems, oral history alongside photographs of (mostly) anonymous women’s paintings and needlecraft work. It is a nice glimpse into 18th/19th century white womanhood with sadly only one example of this work from Harriet Powers, an African American woman. Organized thematically the text covers notions of white womanhood, domesticity, marriage and education. A nice capturing of the quotidian experiences of the middle class white woman of the early white settler colonial era. I’m chewing on how I make sense of my own needle and paints in conversation with these white women’s herstories.

[Jessica Mchale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled across this at a used book sale. I found it charming, interesting and a great introduction to the topic of women's art in history of the US. It gave me a lot to research and look into, while also showing the shared humanity and women regardless of time.

[Kat Ponte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoughtful book showing the artwork that really was the foundation of so much American tradition, and crediting the women who made it.

[Jean Becker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wish there was more to this book. I’m sure it made a wonderful documentary but the book is lacking commentary.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a collection of photos of needlework, quilts, paintings done by women from the 1700's - 1800's. In addition, there were diary entries of women, some well known, some not about their lives. The thing that was poignant about it was that their concerns weren't much different than ours.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Photos of old paintings, quilts, and tapestries, plus excerpts from old letters and journals. Fascinating, but too short.

[Sem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silly title, very good book.