William Russell Sweet

Biography

William Russell Sweet was known throughout the Narragansett, RI area as ‘The Painter”, (documented by the post office receiving postcards and letter under such title) because of his prolific art works in watercolor and oil paintings, many wall murals done for the Newport, RI mansions, his restoration artwork, and his masterful wood carving of furniture and wall mounts.

Said to be "of gentle, good natured people" "I consider the Sweets a most remarkable family, not only as natural bone setters, but as an innocent inoffensive, easy going, happy people." William and his family spend many summer days along the coastline of Rhode Island where he sketched and painted pictorial scenes. On loan to South County History Center by his family, samples of William Russell Sweet carved wood chairs and wall plaques, some of his watercolors, and this magnificent hutch cabinet (photos below) themed upon the classical poem “The Song of Hiawatha” from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. His great grandson, Carson Young Sweet Ferri Carson Grant has donated several other artworks to the Pettaquamscutt Historical Society Museum in RI. In 2010, William Russell Sweet was included in Marquis Who's Who edition Who was Who in America Art.

William Russell Sweet described each section of “The Song of Hiawatha” from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which influenced him while creating his artwork and carving the individual panels that comprise the hutch cabinet:

(WRS) "Hiawatha was troubled because his people had no way to record the great events of their life and history, or to give the names of the honored dead, or to remember the wisdom of their ancestors, he showed them how to make picture-writing."

On the birch-bark and the deer-skin;…" “…Thus it was that Hiawatha, In his wisdom taught the people All the mysteries of painting, All the art of Picture-Writing, On the smooth bark of the birch-tree, On the white skin of the reindeer, On the grave-posts of the village…”

(WRS) "Hiawatha traveled far to the west, to the land of the Dacotahs, to woo Minnehaha, the daughter of the Arrow Maker. Just before reaching the Arrow Maker’s wigwam, he stopped to shoot a deer to bring as a present."

To his arrow whispered, "Swerve not!" Sent it singing on its errand, To the red heart of the roebuck; Threw the deer across his shoulder, And sped forward without pausing…”

(WRS) "Kwasind, “the very strong man”, was killed by envious dwarfs as he was floating, asleep, down the river in his canoe. They threw pine cones at him (the only things that could harm him) hitting him on his one vulnerable spot (the top of his head) and he toppled, dead, out of his canoe."

Plunged beneath the sluggish water Headlong, as an otter plunges; And the birch canoe, abandoned, Drifted empty down the river, Bottom upward swerved and drifted: Nothing more was seen of Kwasind…”

(WRS) "Hiawatha called on the birch tree to furnish the bark for his canoe, on the cedar for its boughs for the ribs of the canoe, on the fir tree for its resin to make the canoe water-tight, on the tamarack for its fibers to sew the birch bark, on the hedgehog for its quills for the decoration of the canoe."

Of your yellow bark, O Birch-tree!..I a light canoe will build me,…

…"Give me of your boughs, O Cedar! Of your strong and pliant branches, My canoe to make more steady, Make more strong and firm beneath me!..."

…"Give me of your roots, O Tamarack! Of your fibrous roots, O Larch-tree! My canoe to bind together,…”

…"Give me of your balm, O Fir-tree! Of your balsam and your resin, So to close the seams together That the water may not enter,…”

…"Give me of your quills, O Hedgehog! All your quills, O Kagh, the Hedgehog! I will make a necklace of them, Make a girdle for my beauty, And two stars to deck her bosom!..."

(WRS) "Hiawatha set out to catch the sturgeon, Nahma. He lowered his line, made of twisted cedar bark, and challenged Nahma to take the hook."

Dawn into the depths beneath him, "Take my bait, O Sturgeon, Nahma! Come up from below the water, Let us see which is the stronger!" And he dropped his line of cedar Through the clear, transparent water…”