Edward Hicks

"An eminent member and minister of the Society of Friends," read local obituaries upon his death in the year of 1846. Contrary, an internet search reveals Edward Hicks as: "A devoted Quaker missionary and one of America's best-known painters in naive style." Why is there is no mention of the American painter's artwork in his obituary? How did this occur?

This occurred because the connection between his artwork, religion, society, and how it intertwined with his life. He was a Quaker minister, which does not fit the picture of the stereotypical artist. The primitive Quakers believe that God reveals himself to every human heart that does not resist him Therefore you do not necessarily need the intervention of the church. They believe in the presence of a divine inward light within every person. It is his belief in religion which Edward tried to transpose on to his artwork.

Born an Episcopalian, Hicks did not become Quaker till later in life. He was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania where his father was Chief Justice under the British Crown. His mother had died when he was eighteen months old. Upon the defeat of the British the family was forced into poverty. A woman by the name of Elizabeth, a Quaker, and a wife of a wealthy land holder decided to take it upon herself to foster mother young Edward. She gave him a maternal influence which would follow him throughout his entire life. He lived at her residence for over a decade and this left him ingrained with the memories of the farmstead and the Quaker lifestyle.

His father rose out of poverty and took a job as justice of the peace. He had wanted his son Edward to be educated as a Lawyer but instead had to let his son settle for a more modest apprenticeship with a coach painter shop. During this time he learned how to grind his own colors which today we know he did very well because of his paintings integrity have lasted longer than those of other artists of the same time. The shop burnt down and Edward was forced to become a bartender at the inn next door. From Elizabeth's farmstead he had experienced a rather sheltered adolescence. The crass atmosphere of the inn at first appalled him. It was a lewd environment with large quantities of liquor being consumed and shrewd language being uttered. After a period however, he became more comfortable with the environment and started drinking himself. Eventually he fell into alcoholism. The contrasting experiences of the protected and unprotected atmosphere helped to influence the early socialization of the artist.

After a narrow brush with death from drinking, friends brought Edward to a Quaker meeting which turned into a sobering experience for him. He joined the Quaker's at age twenty-three and that same year married. Edward and his new wife Sarah built a house by borrowing money. Financing this money marked the start of fiscal difficulties he would experience the rest of his life. Many elders of the church had asked Edward to speak and he had developed a knack for preaching. He traveled giving sermons and as he did this his notoriety with other Quakers' increased. He soon moved to Newtown where he became recognized as an official minister and founded the Newtown Preparative Meeting. He remained at Newtown the rest of his life as a member and minister. He also took it upon himself to travel to nearby quarters in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Long Island, as well taking on broader areas of New York, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, and Canada to preach. During the period of Edward Hick's life the Quakers had no paid ministry so financing his travels added to his financial burden.

The ministry was not paid and he believed that a good Christian must earn a living using his hands. He had tried farming and failed miserably. Selling his farm he had to buy a house in town. In his house in town he built a shop where he could to turn to his only skill other than ministry which was painting. Edward wished to be considered foremost a craftsman before and artist or painter. He did this because the social environment of the Quaker's would oppose a person who made a living from something which they considered useless like art. Art was viewed very strictly by the Quaker community. Hostility toward art was not confined to Quakers and Puritans alone during that time. For instance, John Trumbull a successful classical painter from the same era warned a young aspiring painter by quoting, "I would sooner make a son of mine a Butcher or Shoemaker than a Painter." In Hicks' journal he was apologetic about his art by referring to it as, "the only business he was able to follow."

At first he painted coaches and houses. He progressed moving onto sign posts and taverns. Later he started decorating furniture and other objects. He never had any formal training and used the skills and techniques he had acquired from his apprenticeship. Progressing he moved from craftsmanship to the easel. Finally, he found relief

...