The Life & Art of Erastus Salisbury Field

Erastus Salisbury Field (1805-1900) was born and raised in Leverett, MA, and lived for much of his long life as a creative in Sunderland, MA. He was laid to rest in the North Amherst Cemetery, in Amherst, MA. Field's paintings are held in museums and numerous private collections and are considered excellent examples of the naïve style of portraiture that was prevalent in rural America during the first half of the 1800s.

This presentation by artist Neal Parks will survey Field’s artistic growth following his brief but informative experience as a student in the New York atelier of famed artist and inventor, Samuel Morse. This experience was to profoundly influence his career as an itinerant portraitist. For several decades Field successfully plied his trade in the Pioneer Valley and around New England. In his mature phase, he moved away from painted likenesses to illustrating scenes of the Bible, along with dramatic depictions of political figures and other decidedly dream-like imagery, including The Historical Monument of the American Republic. Created in Sunderland in the second half of the 1860s, this notable work now resides in the permanent collection of the D’Amor Museum of Fine Arts in Springfield, MA.

Neal Parks is a visual artist who lives and creates in Amherst, MA, where he is a trustee of the Amherst Historical Society. He has had a lifelong interest in various aspects of history, from New England social history to the sweep of ancient civilizations. As a college art professor, he has woven art history lectures into his hands-on lessons of art making skills, helping students to gain a wider understanding of the development of visual language.

Parks received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting from Pratt Institute and a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art. His abstract paintings are part of corporate and residential collections from the Silicon Valley to the Connecticut River Valley.

This event is hosted by Swampfield Historical Society.