Jae Turner

Mary Elisabeth Hutchinson attended the National Academy of Design in New York from 1926 to 1931 on a tuition scholarship.  Life Study classes which focused on the human figure – particularly the male nude – remained a significant focus in art academies at that time and provided something of a rite-of-passage.

This student Life Study drawing (ca. 1927-28) whose title is unknown (if Hutchinson ever gave it a title) and that I refer to as “life study male nude no. 3,” is currently featured on my companion “work in progress” digital archiving site The Artworks of Mary E. Hutchinson at http://meh.omeka.net.

It popped up on eBay in 2009 in a batch with five other similar student drawings.  The eBay seller noted that this drawing was unsigned.  The auction which listed an outrageous beginning bid expired with no takers.  But the batch popped up again about a year later through a different seller – this time with a reasonable beginning bid – but minus this drawing.  I’m happy to report that since I was about the only one interested in Hutchinson at the time, I managed to to get the batch without competition at the minimum bid.  The eBay collector/seller reported that he had given the missing drawing to a friend.

Here’s a sneak preview of the other five student drawings not yet archived on The Artworks of Mary E. Hutchinson:

Keep an eye out for these to be added to The Artworks of Mary E. Hutchinson soon.  You can click on “Browse Items” in the top menu, then select “Browse by Tag,” and choose “student work” to filter for Hutchinson’s work produced while a student at the National Academy.

Let me know about your experiences navigating the site so that I can make it as accessible as possible in the future!

Check out Mary E. Hutchinson’s painting “Sleep” (ca. 1940) currently featured on my digital archiving “work in progress” site at http://meh.omeka.net.

This is one of Hutchinson’s paintings also featured in my recent article published in Feminist Studies (summer 2012), “Mary E. Hutchinson, Intelligibility, and the Historical Limits of Agency.”