Artist: Painter, Nell

Nell Painter is a leading historian notable for her works on United States Southern history of the 19th century. She began her second career as an artist after retiring from her position as the Edwards Professor of American History at Princeton University.

Wise Woman Disappears

Nell Painter (American, b. 1942) "Wise Woman Disappears", 2017, woodcut and polymer relief print on Sekishu white paper, 2 parts, 24 x 36 inches overall, edition of 10, published by the Brodsky Center at PAFA, Philadelphia.

Following a distinguished academic career (she is Edwards Professor of American History Emerita at Princeton University), Nell Painter returned to school and began a second career as an artist. “I came to the Brodsky Center wanting to do a woodcut because I like that it retains traces of the process, the marks of an effort […]

What Do You Say About That?

Nell Painter (American, b. 1942), "What Do You Say About That?", 2017, linoleum cut and relief print on Sekishu white paper, 2 parts, 17 x 34 inches overall, edition of 10, published by the Brodsky Center at PAFA, Philadelphia.

Wise Woman Inside

Nell Painter (American, b. 1942), "Wise Woman Inside", 2017, relief and silkscreen print on Sekishu white paper, 17 x 17 inches, edition of 10, published by the Brodsky Center at PAFA, Philadelphia.

William Still Triptych

Nell Painter (American, b. 1942) "William Still Triptych", 2022, etching and silkscreen on Somerset Satin White paper, 3 parts, 27 5/8 x 22 1/2 inches each, edition of 10, published by the Brodsky Center at PAFA, Philadelphia.

William Still Triptych takes inspiration from Journal C of Station No. 2 of the Underground Railroad (1852–57) accounting for enslaved persons who escaped the American South to Philadelphia, assisted by abolitionist William Still (1821–1902). The prints are a meditation upon the experience of a long transformative passage of self-emancipation, a journey across terra incognita that people undertook against […]

You Say This Can’t Really Be America

Nell Painter (American, b. 1942), "You Say This Can't Really Be America", (detail), 2017, digital and silkscreen print on Sunset Cotton Etching paper, eight parts, 17 x 17 inches each, edition of 10, published by the Brodsky Center at PAFA, Philadelphia.