Mary Anne Harvey Bonnell
Self-Portrait
1789
Physical Qualities
Hair, silk, Unframed: 8 1/2 × 6 1/2 in. (21.6 × 16.5 cm.)
Framed: 13 × 11 × 1 3/4 in. (33 × 27.9 × 4.4 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Carlton Hobbs
Object Number
2022.94
In this highly personal self-portrait made with human hair, Mary Anne Harvey Bonnell depicted herself at her embroidery hoop, illustrating her passion for stitching as key to her self-fashioning as an artist. In addition to using the hair of her close friends, whose names are listed on the back of the object’s frame, Bonnell also included a strand of hair from the recently opened tomb of England’s King Edward IV (1442–1483). Located in Bonnell’s needle in the self-portrait—taking the pride of place—this strand reveals Bonnell’s interest in history and archaeological excavations.
Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 2022; Carlton Hobbs LLC, New York, NY
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Women Artists in Europe, 1400-1800", October 1, 2023-January 7, 2024. Circulated to the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, March 30, 2024-July 1, 2024.
