3-002-680 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Autumn Leaves, 1858. Nina Moore, alternately listed as G. Nina Moore and Mrs. Nina Moore, or incorrectly as Nora Moore, is typical of many 19th-century women artists in that little is known about her life and career. She exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1857 and again in 1866. Other exhibits are known, the last in 1875 at the Essex Institute in Salem, Massachusetts. The composition may be related to the genteel art of collecting and pressing leaves. Moore has included shadows, emphasizing that the leaves are not yet fixed to the page. The curious presence of two signatures leads to the discovery that the composition functions equally well when the painting in turned upside down.