Paintings Worth Looking At

This past August, at the 2025 Collectors Fair in Manchester, New Hampshire, I spotted a pair of portraits hanging on the display wall of Saratoga Fine Art. They could be nothing but Kennedys – and brand-new Kennedys, at that. I excitedly informed Walter Bazar, an old friend and who works with his brother Peter at Saratoga Fine Art, about the re-attribution. Within the hour, Walter had changed the label to William W. Kennedy, and a new pair of Prior-Hamblin portraits gained their names. Kennedy’s portraits have a sensibility all their own. His paintings are infused with a high level of technical ability, competently capturing the sitter’s distinctive looks with unique stylization. Like any other artist, he has his quirks – wide-set eyes, broad faces, gently curved hands, firmly outlined features. With practice, it’s possible to spot a Kennedy from a mile away. And, more or less, that’s exactly what happened. Very few signed examples of William W. Kennedy’s works are known, which has hi...

One of the most vexing questions of the Prior-Hamblin School is how to tell five artistic hands apart. Now we have six. Recent research has revealed there's a particular version of the “flat style” face that doesn’t conform to any of the five known and documented Prior-Hamblins. After compiling and comparing many dozens of paintings, it has become obvious: we have a new artist on the horizon. Many thanks to Dr. Paul D'Ambrosio of Fenimore Museum for proposing that there is another unknown painter! I had gathered together a compilation, but was uncertain what to make of it. I consider this an incredibly exciting development. Like the rest, this artist paints highly distinctive eyes, which can serve as an attribution guide. Read on for the Eyes of the Sixth Prior-Hamblin. - - - 

The members of the so-called “Prior-Hamblin school” weren’t a school at all. Colleagues? Competitors? We still barely know. The five usual suspects - W.M. Prior, S.J. Hamblin, G.G. Hartwell, W W. Kennedy, and E.W. Blake - are constantly compared, mixed up, and conflated. However, despite their profound similarities, they all had their own quirks - especially when it comes to a pair of eyes. Part 1 of this post will address, illustrate, and explain the PHS's five unique methods for the so-called windows to the soul. The PHS problem has been tackled by exceptional folk art scholars for generations before me, so I don't expect this post to solve it. However, I hope that it will offer some useful clues.  Read on for the Eyes of the Prior-Hamblins.  - - -