Mary Nimmo Moran (May 16, 1842 – September 25, 1899) was an American 19th-century landscape

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...

, specializing in etchings. The first woman to prove "marriage and family were not insurmountable to success." She was the first of many landscape artists and in 1880 she was known as a landscape etcher. She completed roughly 70 landscape etchings, which included scenes of England and Scotland, as well as

Long Island, New York Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18th ...

;

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. In 1881, she was one of eight Americans and the first female elected as a fellow to London's

Royal Society of Painter-Etchers The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE), known until 1991 as the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, is a leading art institution based in London, England. The Royal Society of Painter-Etchers, as it was originally styled, was ...

. Mary Nimmo Moran's landscape ''View of Newark from the Meadows'' is in the collection of

The Newark Museum of Art The Newark Museum of Art (formerly known as the Newark Museum), in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, United States, is the state's largest museum. It holds major collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia, A ...

. She was among the earliest American Artists to explore the medium of etching. Born in Scotland, she immigrated to the United States at the age of five with her widowed father and brother; they settled in Philadelphia. She married American artist and illustrator Thomas Moran, and they had a family together.

Biography

Mary Nimmo was born in Strathaven, Scotland on May 16, 1842 to Mary and Archibald Nimmo, a family of weavers. The town of Strathaven was one of many where hand-loomed and colorful wools from weavers were the main source of livelihood for the community. Following, the death of her mother in 1847, when Mary was five, her father, Archibald, took her and her brother with him to the United States, settling in

Crescentville, Philadelphia Crescentville is a neighborhood in Northeast Philadelphia. It is located in the vicinity of Adams, Rising Sun, and Tabor Avenues. The name Crescentville is thought to be derived from the Crescentville Rope Factory that once stood along the Tookan ...

, Pennsylvania in 1858. In 1860 she began studying art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with her neighbor Thomas Moran, who was gaining a local reputation as an artist. In 1862, the couple married and moved to Philadelphia, where they had two daughters and a son together. Their son Paul Nimmo Moran was born in 1864 and their first daughter, Mary Scott, was born in 1868, and their third daughter, Ruth Bedford, was born in 1870. In 1866, the Morans traveled to Europe to study the artworks there. They had a brief stay in England. Then they moved to France and in Paris, they took a studio for nine months near the Luxembourg gardens. She painted the street scenes of Paris and did sketching of the Fontainebleau and the Seine Valley. They then went to Italy and were charmed by the ancient city of Baise. They moved throughout Italy and some of the places they stayed or visited were Rome, Florence, Bologna, and Milan, and sketched Lake Como. They went through St. Gotthard and passed through the Alps and then proceeded back to Paris. In 1872 they moved to Newark, New Jersey. Mary recorded a view of the Hackensack Meadows which was an oil painting. It was created in 1879 and it was called Newark from the Meadows which was one of the earliest depictions of the industrial scene in America. She took up painting to be a better companion to her husband on many of his sketching trips which she used watercolor and oil painting and then in 1879, her husband introduced Nimmo Moran to the technique of etching by directly working on a copper plate. Her first etching was a Florida landscape, which she created from a memory of a family trip in 1877. She made most of her etchings on location near her various homes, as responsibilities to her growing family strongly limited her travel. Her paintings and etching are directly about nature which can be seen in her artwork. Etching became her favorite type of medium to use. Her etchings earned critical praise for their directness and boldness because they were so different. The New York Etching Club invited the Morans to submit their artwork for an American presentation at the international exhibition of the newly organized Royal Society of the Painter-Etchers. Mary exhibited four etchings which included: Easthampton, Barnes, L.I.; An Old Homestead at Easthampton; Long Island: Solitude; and Long Island Twilight. She was the only woman among the 65 original fellows. She was elected to the Society of Painter-Etchers of New York in 1879. In 1881, she was invited along with her husband to become a member of the Royal Society of Painters and Etchers of Great Britain and she was able to exhibit and showcase her work. She was the only woman among the 65 original fellows chosen for London's

. Her prints were recognized for their boldness and originality and were collected by the British critic

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...

among others. She was a frequent exhibitor of the American Society of Painters and Etchers. Mary Nimmo Moran often signed her etchings "M. Nimmo Moran" or "M. N. Moran", leading many people, including the membership committees, to believe she was a male artist. Her etchings earned critical praise for their directness and boldness. The Moran family relocated to

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area. Mary was able to use the city as an inspiration and capture the transition of the city. In 1882, the Moran family decided to do another trip to England and Scotland. Mary was able to do some artwork there and one of them was Cochrane's O'The Craig-Strathaven, which was an ode to the town she was born. In 1884 they moved to East Hampton, Long Island. This town became the subject of many of Nimmo Moran's most successful etchings. The Moran home in East Hampton became the center of a productive artists' colony and is today designated as a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

. It is also a contributing property to the

East Hampton Village District East Hampton Village District is a historic district in East Hampton, New York. ''See also:'' It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Its boundaries were increased in 1988. Contributing properties include what is kn ...

, a historic district listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. Her paintings were exhibited sporadically at the National Academy of Design. It was presented at the Society of American Artists from 1879-1899 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Fifty-four of her etchings were presented in a Mammoth Exhibition of Women Printmakers at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston from November 1 through December 31, 1887. Nimmo Moran exhibited her work at the Woman's Building at the 1893

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordi ...

in Chicago, Illinois. Nimmo Moran was described as simultaneously charming, personable, bright, modest, and humble. Notably, she was well-versed in many different fields of artistry. In the summer of 1950, her etchings were presented at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.

Death

Moran died of

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

in 1899, after nursing her daughter Ruth through the disease. She was buried beside Goose Pond, a subject of many of her etchings, near her home in East Hampton.

Auction record

On 9 June 2011,

Swann Galleries Swann Galleries is a New York City auction house founded in 1941. It is a specialist auctioneer of antique and rare works on paper, and it is considered the oldest continually operating New York specialist auction house. The company has separat ...

auctioned Mary Nimmo Moran's ''Long Island Landscape'', an 1880 oil on panel, which was her first painting to appear at auction. It sold for $64,800.

Artworks

Gallery

The Goose Pond of East Hampton is an important work of Mary Nimmo Moran because their home in East Hampton overlooked a Goose Pond. It became her inspiration in the flat grassy terrain and abundant waterways. She used the delicate line of the etching needle to describe the pond that cuts the composition in half. She included a Gardiner's Mill which was a typical landmark of 18th-century Dutch etching. The movement of the clouds is something challenging in general when doing etching but she was able to create a special effect in this etching which was something that was not seen and it was different for that period. Soltuide Mary Nimmo Moran

The Passaic at Newark- Newark from the Meadow Mary Nimmo Moran

A Glimpse of Conway was created during her visit to Europe in 1882 with her husband Thomas Moran. It was etched on a copper plate on-site and outdoors which could have been her preference. The girl in the etching might have been a little girl walking and Nimmo Moran could have imagined herself in a young version. The trip was a homecoming trip since she is from Scotland. An interesting thing about the etching is that the little girl in the etching is more focused on the water than the medieval castle behind which can bring up the idea that some things are more important than others.

References

* Wilkins, Thurman, Caroline L. Hinkley, William H. Goetzmann, ''Thomas Moran: Artist of the Mountains'', University of Oklahoma Press, 1998; .

External links

*
Artworks by Mary Nimmo Moran
* * Th
Francis Collection on Mary Nimmo Moran
at the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nimmo Moran, Mary 1842 births 1889 deaths 19th-century engravers 19th-century British women artists Deaths from typhoid fever Landscape artists Scottish engravers Women engravers