Edward Hicks (1780-1849)
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Edward Hicks was an early American folk artist and painter. He is considered by some art historians to be the most influential and greatest American folk artist to have ever lived. His vibrant paintings are among the finest examples of naïve American folk art and often depict idyllic biblical settings.
Hicks was a Quaker minister, born in Pennsylvania and devoted much of his life to his ministry. Despite being active in his community and religion, Hicks also managed to leave a fairly large catalogue of his religious themed paintings behind. He was a fairly well known minister, famous among the Quakers for being a leader of the “Hicksite’s,” a breakaway sect of the Quakers led by his minister cousin, Elias Hicks.
As an artist, Hicks also gained notoriety within his community. As a young man, Hicks was apprenticed to build coaches, and learned ornamental painting during his apprenticeship. From there, he began his own ornamental painting business and painted signs, furniture and coaches, and eventually took on apprentices of his own including famous landscape painter Martin Johnson Heade. Like many other folk artists, his was self taught, which resulted in a naïve style.
Early in his career, Hicks felt forced by his peers to desist from painting for a time. Many of his religious friends considered his successful painting career to be a distraction and a “worldly indulgence.” Others within his faith, however, did not see his painting as a thing to be feared, but rather as a gift from God and a way to praise Him.
However, Hicks eventually began to ignore the criticism from his friends and in 1820 he began to create easel paintings. Many of these paintings featured “Kingdoms” and were essentially illustrations from the bible and from prayers. One in particular, “The Peaceable Kingdom” was Hicks’ most favored theme, as he painted more than 60 known versions.
Although he is most famous for his religious adaptations, Hicks was not limited to just this theme in his art. He also painted historical scenes like Washington crossing the Delaware and the signing of the Declaration of Independence, as well as portraits and landscapes. Hicks also created several versions of “Penns Treaty with the Indians.”
Still wondering about a folk art piece or early American naïve painting hanging in your family’s estate? Contact us…it could be by Edward Hicks.