Tella Kitchen
Tella Kitchen(February 14, 1902 – June 21, 1988)[1]was an Americanfolk artistknown for her paintings of landscapes and town life in ruralIndianaandOhio.She was aself-taught artist,whose work was based on her memories of her life.[2]Her work achieved national recognition, and can be found in the collections of theAmerican Folk Art Museum.[1][2]
Biography
[edit]She was bornTella Denehue,on a small farm in the hills ofVinton County, Ohio,near the village ofLondonderry,in neighboringRoss County, Ohio.[3][4]Her father's family had immigrated to the United States fromCounty Cork,Ireland; her mother's family was fromPennsylvania.[3]During her childhood she moved with her family to Indiana, where they settled on a small farm nearIndependence.[4][3]
In 1920 she married Noland Kitchen,[1]and the couple moved to the village ofAdelphi, Ohio,where they raised four children.[1]Noland Kitchen served as mayor of Adelphi; the Kitchens also operated a gas station, sold used cars, and farmed.[4]
After her husband's death in 1963, Tella Kitchen succeeded him as mayor of Adelphi.[5]At some point during this period of her life, her son Denny gave her a paint set as a gift, and she began painting when she was around 67 years old,[6]drawing on her memories of her childhood, and her experiences of rural and town life, including contemporary events.[5]
Through the efforts of Denny Kitchen, the artist's son, her work came to the attention of the folk art historianRobert Bishop,then a curator at theHenry Ford Museum,inDearborn, Michigan,and later the director of the Museum of American Folk Art (since 2001 known as the American Folk Art Museum), inNew York City;Bishop included Kitchen in his bookFolk Painters of America(1979).[4]
Selected paintings
[edit]- The Joy of Winter,depicting a horse-drawn funeral procession in Adelphi, Ohio[1]
- Our Family Doctor, Independence, Indiana[1]
- Our First School Bus,set in Adelphi, Ohio, in 1921[1]
- When the Fred Buck Livery Stable Burned(1976), depicting a fire that Kitchen witnessed in Independence, Indiana[5]
References
[edit]- ^abcdefg"Tella Kitchen: Southern Ohio's 'Grandma' Moses"(September 2013).Pike County News Watchman(Ohio). www.newswatchman.org. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
- ^abSellen, Betty-Carol (2016). "Kitchen, Tella (1902-1988)".Self-Taught, Outsider and Folk Art: A Guide to American Artists, Locations and Resources.3rd edition. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co.ISBN9780786475858.p. 183.
- ^abcBishop, Robert (1979).Folk Painters of America.New York: Greenwich House. Reprint.ISBN9780517413647.p. 214.
- ^abcdRivers, Cheryl (2004). "Kitchen, Telia (1902-1988)".The Encyclopedia of American Folk Art.Eds. Gerard C. Wertkin and Lee Kogan. London: Routledge.ISBN9780415929868.Retrieved viaCredo Referencedatabase, 2016-07-26. Taylor & Francis edition, 2005,available in previewvia Google Books.
- ^abcCardinal, Roger. "Painting, Memory" (2004).The Encyclopedia of American Folk Art.Eds. Gerard C. Wertkin and Lee Kogan. London: Routledge.ISBN9780415929868.Retrieved viaCredo Referencedatabase, 2016-07-26.
- ^"Tella Kitchen."Ohio Women's Hall of Fame.Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
- 1902 births
- 1988 deaths
- 20th-century American painters
- 20th-century American women painters
- Naïve painters
- People from Ross County, Ohio
- Mayors of places in Ohio
- Women mayors of places in Ohio
- American people of Irish descent
- People from Warren County, Indiana
- Painters from Indiana
- 20th-century American politicians
- 20th-century American women politicians