Nimmo Moran - "View of the East Hampton Under the Oaks, Georgica Pond" Realistic etching of the East Hampton at Georgica Pond

Mary Nimmo Moran • American: 1842-1889

View of the East Hampton Under the Oaks, Georgica Pond C: 1887 • Etching on Paper 19.25” x 30.75”

Mary Nimmo Moran was perhaps the first woman to prove “marriage and family were not insurmountable to success.” That summer day in Pennsylvania she started along an artistic path that put her in the forefront of an etching revolution sweeping France, England and post-Civil War America.

Here was a woman conventional in every way. A Victorian lady married to the (talented) boy next door and mother of three. It was fortuitous that when she emigrated from her native Scotland, she wound up living next to the Morans, a clan filled with well-known artists, including Thomas Moran, the man she eventually married. Mary’s talent and connection to one of the most respected artistic families on the east coast made her one of the “Twelve Apostles” as the leading Moran artists were known.

Mary learned etching from her artist husband and handled homes, finances and children while he built a business selling his art, although much of it was actually done by her. He taught her to etch and she taught drawing classes to supplement family finances.

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But beneath Mary Moran’s proper Victorian dress beat the heart of a Scottish immigrant. Apparently you can take the girl out of Scotland, but you can’t take Scotland out of the woman. A stubborn Celtic pride propelled her when women needed “a strong streak of rebellion … to make (their) way in a world of art.” She became one of the two dominant women artists of the Victorian era who built their careers from opposite directions. Mary Cassatt (ARTe 11/19/15) purposely chose a European life without husband or child, yet became famous painting mothers and daughters. Mary Nimmo Moran was a Long Island domestic goddess whose bold line etchings were often thought to be the work of men. According to critic Morris T. Everett, “Her etching has a virile strength … that disproved the popular idea that the productions of a woman naturally betray feminine characteristics.”

Etchings gained popularity in the 1880s as reproductions swelled artistic money-making opportunities. Mary Moran balanced the demands of motherhood with a passion for Plein-Aire (outdoor) art, creating 62 first rate etchings of landscape scenes around her home on Georgica Pond, Long Island. These were usually signed M Nimmo Moran or M. N. Moran to mask her gender. Members of the exclusive New York Etching Club were surprised when Moran became the only woman member. The four works she submitted were “assumed to be by a man.”

Mary Nimmo Moran died nursing her sick daughter through typhus, leaving behind a rich legacy as both mother and artist.

Canton Museum of Art Permanent Collection • Purchased by the Canton Museum of Art 75.42

4 Ways to Sound Smart When Viewing at The Canton Museum of Art

1.
“A quiet, unassuming woman whose talent made her a leader in an American etching explosion after the Civil War.”

2.
“Since she rarely signed her work with her first name, it was often thought the work of a man. Her husband was not similarly confused.”

3.
“She married the boy next door, one of the famous Moran family of artists. The family’s best artists were dubbed The Twelve Apostles. Easter must have been interesting at the Moran’s”

4.
“She was a traditional wife and mother whose style was once described as ‘virile.’ Her contemporary, Mary Cassatt, was never a wife or mother, but became famous painting mothers and daughters. Go figure.”

Moran Timeline. Scroll over images to see timeline.

1842

Born Strathaven, Scotland, to a family of weavers, including mother Mary Scott.

1847

After the death of her mother, 5-year old Mary, her father Archibald, and brother emigrated to Crescentville, Pennsylvania.

1858

The family resettled outside Philadelphia where their neighbors were the famed Moran family of painters, etchers and illustrators. 12 of the 16 artists in this family are “… so near the head of their class they are known as the Twelve Apostles,” according to Francis Benton in 1893. Mary was considered one of them.

1860

Began to study painting and watercolor at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Her neighbor, Thomas, was a fellow student. Thomas had already apprenticed for a well-known engraving firm and gained a local reputation as a fine artist in his own right.

1862

Thomas Moran and Mary Nimmo married and moved to Philadelphia. By all accounts it proved an ideal match. Thomas, an inveterate idealist, built a business on art commissions while Mary handled business matters.

1866-1868

After the Civil War, the young couple embarked on a tour of England, France and Italy, sketching “street scenes, mountain villages and the French countryside.”

1872

As Thomas became an in-demand illustrator, the family relocated to Newark, New Jersey, to be closer to publishers in New York. With their financial situation improving they purchased their first home. By this time Thomas and Mary had a son and two daughters.

1878

The Moran’s purchased an etching press. Thomas taught Mary the basics of etching before leaving for a lengthy trip to the Grand Tetons to execute a large commission.

1879

Mary’s etching Newark from the Meadows was considered one of the earliest depictions of industrial scenery in America. Thomas returned from Wyoming and pressed Mary to submit 4 etchings to the exclusive New York Etching Club. She became the first woman member because the Club thought her etchings were made by a man.

1881

She was elected a Fellow in the New York Etching Club. The family visited East Hampton on Long Island and was enchanted by Georgica Pond. In 1882 they purchased a sheep pasture there and built a home and studio overlooking Goose Pond. The surrounding area was rich subject matter for their future work.

1882

Based on her print The Goose Pond, East Hampton, Nimmo Moran was invited to join the very exclusive Royal Society of Painter-Etchers Society. Although this society included more women than most, “women still had to clear more hurdles than men, so their election … can be read as compelling evidence of peer recognition.”

1886

Mary’s etching Solitude was featured in American Etchings, a book by S.R. Koehler.

1887

Under the Oaks, Georgica Pond was created. Author Marilyn Francis described it: “All of the artist’s years of experimentation and exploration culminate in this, her largest print. Massive trees frame a brook as it flows into a pond and then to the sea, all under a luminous, reflecting sky. As in most of her prints, nature here is tranquil.”

1893

Won a medal and diploma from the Chicago Columbian Exposition.

1899

Died of typhoid fever contracted while nursing her daughter Ruth through the disease. Ruth survived. Mary Nimmo Moran did not. She was buried near Goose Pond, the peaceful setting for so many of her prints.