Collections record Beta

Oil Painting - "Congregational Church"

1987-01-0

Oil on canvas painting of a view of the Congregational Church in Litchfield, Connecticut. In the foreground are three trees. On the left side of the canvas is a large white church with two houses to the right. A man can be seen entering the church, with a lady following behind. Another figure of a man is seen on the opposite side of the canvas between the two houses. Canvas signed, "Adelaide Deming/ 1917" in lower right corner.

The artist, Adelaide Deming, painted this as a framed over-mantel mural in the Southwest parlor of the Julius Deming House on North Street, Litchfield. Other murals by the artist existed in the Deming house library, but were painted over at a later date. This view of Litchfield in the early nineteenth century was a favorite of Adelaide Deming's. Three examples of the scene are in the collection of the Litchfield Historical Society, including an oil on canvas study for this over-mantel painting (2019-105-2). While the painting was executed in 1917, it does not depict Litchfield as it appeared at that time. The artist altered the placement of the buildings to suit her creative vision. The canvas was removed from the wall; the work is unframed.

Adelaide Deming was an artist and educator working largely in New York, although she kept a residence in Litchfield. She studied at the Art Students League and with artists like William Merritt Chase. She taught at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn from 1902 to 1910. Deming was a member of the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts, the Paint and Clay Club of New Haven, the Kent Art Association, the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, and the American Watercolor Society.

• Deming, Adelaide, 1864-1956

1917

Height 38.75"; Width 51.75"

• canvas
• oil
• gesso
• plaster