Halloween Party

Datec. 1895

Artist Marianna Sloan (American artist, 1875–1954)

MediumWatercolor on paper

Dimensionscomposition: 7 5/8 × 5 3/4 in. (19.4 × 14.6 cm)
sheet: 11 3/4 × 9 5/8 in. (29.8 × 24.4 cm)

Credit LineGift of the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2018

Object number2018-22

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsDRAWING

Label TextWith its party games, this drawing seems to picture a Halloween party. In the mid-1890s Halloween parties were chronicled in depth by Philadelphia newspapers, and this drawing may have been made as an illustration for one of these articles or a poster promoting newspaper coverage of such events.

An ancient game with ties to courtship, apple bobbing came into fashion as a Halloween party activity in the United States in the late 19th century. An article in the Philadelphia Inquirer (October 24, 1894) described apple bobbing as a one of the "old Scotch games peculiar to All-Halloween," though the author suggested that it was "scarcely pleasant to young ladies." The pair of women in the foreground play another courting game, the Three Luggies: the blindfolded woman will dip her hand into one of the three bowls. If it is clear water, she will marry a bachelor; milky water indicates marriage to a widower; and an empty bowl predicts a single life.