Miss M. A. Honeywell […] Fine Cutting and Embroidery, on Paper, Executed by Herself, without Hands

Miss M. A. Honeywell […] Fine Cutting and Embroidery, on Paper, Executed by Herself, without Hands

Martha Ann Honeywell was one of dozens of atypically figured itinerant artists and performers in the early nineteenth century. She was born with truncated arms and legs, no hands, and only one small foot with three toes. She learned to make paper cutouts and silhouettes, embroider, create waxwork, and write in miniature. Honeywell was a savvy businesswoman who for most of her career traveled alone on national and international tours earning her own living. She exhibited her works in a beautiful traveling pavilion at parades and fairs.

Honeywell, Martha Ann

1830

Philadelphia

[ca. 1830s?]

Martha Ann Honeywell — cut-paper and wax miniaturist, embroiderer, and business owner

P

15

Trades