Susan Catherine Moore Waters (May 18, 1823 – July 7, 1900) was an American painter. Her early career in New York state and Pennsylvania focused on portraits. After moving to

Bordentown, New Jersey Bordentown is a city in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 3,924.Binghamton, New York Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...

, the daughter of Lark Moore (a cooper) and his wife, Sally. A self-taught artist with little formal training, she attended Friendsville Boarding School in Friendsville, Pennsylvania, where she paid tuition for her sister and herself by "painting copies for the course in Natural History".

Personal life

On June 27, 1841, at age 17, she married William C. Waters, whose Quaker connections determined the destinations of their frequent relocations. William, who had health problems, was unable to contribute to provide sufficient income for both of them, which left Susan in the position of provider. Waters was the primary income earner for herself and her husband. She was involved with the

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

movement and animal rights activism.

Career

Waters' career as an artist began with commissioned portraits and lessons. Soliciting sitters as she moved between New York and Pennsylvania, Waters employed her talents to support herself and her husband. Instead of canvas, Waters used materials that were readily available to her, primarily mattress ticking, cotton, and linen. Waters and her husband became active in early forms of photography, taking

Daguerreotype Daguerreotype (; french: daguerréotype) was the first publicly available photographic process; it was widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process. Invented by Louis Daguerre an ...

s and Ambrotypes. Waters’ early paintings were enough to ensure herself and her husband some financial security, but she was interested in expanding her range of subject matter, as she indicated in an 1851 letter.EWaters, Susan C. and Paul D. Schweizer. “A Letter by Susan Waters Provides New Information on her Career.” American Art Journal. Vol. 19, No. 1 (1987): 76-77. As financial security allowed her to move away from contracted portraits, she had more freedom to experiment and explore other forms of expression. In 1866, the Waters moved to

Bordentown, New Jersey Bordentown is a city in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 3,924.Centennial Exposition The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...

in Philadelphia. In 1899 Waters left Bordentown for a nursing home in Trenton, NJ, where she died the following year.

Collections

Addison Gallery of American Art The Addison Gallery of American Art is an academic museum dedicated to collecting American art, organized as a department of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. History Directors of the gallery include Bartlett H. Hayes, Jr. (1940– ...

, MA

Arnot Art Museum Arnot Art Museum, opened 1913, is a municipal art museum located at 235 Lake Street in Elmira, New York. Its permanent collection includes 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century European paintings; and 19th- and 20th-century American art. Its 21st-century ...

, NY
The Burlington County Historical Society, NJ

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a museum of American art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The museum, founded by Alice Walton and designed by Moshe Safdie, officially opened on 11 November 2011. It offers free public admission. Overview ...

, AR
Fenimore Art Museum, NY
Maier Museum of Art at Randolph-Macon Woman's College, VA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
New Jersey State Museum, NJ
The Newark Museum, NJ
Smithsonian Institution Art Inventories
The Roberson Museum, Binghamton, NY

Exhibitions

1876 Centennial Exhibition, PA
1979 Bedford Gallery, VA
1980 Arnot Art Museum, NY

Notes

References

Sources

*Bice, Arlene S. Bordentown. Portsmouth, NH: Arcadia Publishing, 2002. p. 61. *Heslip, Colleen C. “Susan C. Waters.” The Magazine Antiques. vol. 115 (1979): 769–777. *Gerdts, William H. Painting and Sculpture in New Jersey. Princeton, NJ: 1964. pp. 109–112. *Strass, Stephanie. “Susan Waters.” American Women Artists, 1819–1947. The Neville Strass Collection, 2003. *Waters, Susan C. and Paul D. Schweizer. “A Letter by Susan Waters Provides New Information on Her Career.” American Art Journal. Vol. 19, No. 1 (1987): 76–77. {{DEFAULTSORT:Waters, Susan 1900 deaths 1823 births Painters from New Jersey People from Bordentown, New Jersey American women painters Artists from Binghamton, New York Painters from New York (state) 19th-century American painters 19th-century American women artists