Self-Portrait
ca. 1850
Medium
Watercolor on white wove paper
Dimensions
6 1/16 x 4 3/16 in. (15.4 x 10.6 cm)
Classification
Watercolor
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Fletcher Fund, 1940
Accession Number
40.50
Tags
Art Historical Context
George Hewitt Cushman’s *Self-Portrait*, created around 1850, offers an intimate glimpse into mid-nineteenth-century American art. Painted in delicate watercolor on small sheets of wove paper, the work measures just over six inches tall, suggesting it may have served as a personal study or keepsake rather than a formal commission. Its presence in the Metropolitan Museum’s American Wing underscores its role in documenting the nation’s growing artistic identity during a period of rapid cultural change. Watercolor’s luminous, translucent qualities allowed artists like Cushman to achieve subtle t...