Ammi Phillips (1788 – 1865, American)

Portrait of portrait painter Ammi Phillips for The New Yorker Magazine by Brook Meinhardt

Ammi Phillips is perhaps one of the most important American folk artists of the 19^th century.  Born in Colebrook, Connecticut in 1788, he was a self-taught New England portrait painter whose works spanned five decades.  He began painting as early as 1810 and produced approximately 400 works and became one of America’s most prolific folk art painters.  His paintings were lost for a time and then bit by bit rediscovered beginning around 1924.  It was not until 1976 that the collection was considered complete.  Girl in Red Dress with Cat and Dog is considered his most famous work and is now housed in the American Folk Art Museum in New York.  It was even featured on a U.S. postage stamp in 1998.

Young Girl with a Cat and Dog
1830-1835
American Folk Art Museum, New York

Portrait of a Young Girl and her Cat
1830

Girl with Cat,ca. 1814. Oil on canvas
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth

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