The Committee at Work

Date1889

Printer/Printmaker Albert Mumford Lindsay (American wood engraver, 1858–1940)

Artist Arthur Burdett Frost (American illustrator and author, 1851–1928)

Illustration Citation"Butterneggs. A Story of Heredity," by Annie Trumbull Slosson, in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, October 1889

MediumWood engraving

Dimensionscomposition: 4 13/16 × 7 5/16 in. (12.2 × 18.6 cm)
sheet: 9 1/2 × 12 1/8 in. (24.1 × 30.8 cm)

Credit LineTransfer from the Helen Farr Sloan Library, 2005 Gift of Mrs. John Van Brunt, Jr., 1969

Object number2005-51

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsPRINT

Label TextLike many of his fellow-members of the Society of American Wood Engravers, Albert Mumford Lindsay engraved other artists' paintings and illustrations for reproduction and then exhibited the prints as examples of the printmaking art. The catalogue of such an exhibition in Boston in 1890 lists Lindsay's engravings of works by seven artists, including the Western specialist Frederic Remington.

Arthur Burdett Frost illustrated this story about a woman who discovers that her long-lost twin sister has been located on an isolated island and is coming to visit. When she shares this news with the local dignitaries, they are so curious to meet the "wild" woman that they form a committee to examine her. Once made presentable, the new arrival meets the members; her sister has advised her to knit during the interview to look "normal," and all ends well. The title "butterneggs" plant plays a role in the plot.