Film | National Gallery
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Frederick Wiseman’s new documentary from Zipporah Films has its US premier in New York this month at Film Forum (November 5–18), with the director himself appearing at several of the early screenings (November 5, 7, and 8). The DVD release is scheduled for early 2015.
Frederick Wiseman, National Gallery (Zipporah Films, 2014), 181 minutes.
London’s National Gallery, one of the world’s foremost art institutions, is itself portrayed as a brilliant work of art in this, Frederick Wiseman’s 39th documentary and counting. Wiseman listens raptly as a panoply of docents decode the great canvases of Da Vinci, Rembrandt, and Turner; he visits with the museum’s restorers as they use magnifying glasses, tiny eye-droppers, scalpels, and Q-tips to repair an infinitesimal chip; he attends administrative meetings in which senior executives do (polite) battle with younger ones who want the museum to become less stodgy and more welcoming to a larger cross-section of the public. But most of all, we experience the joy of spending time with the aforementioned masters as well as Vermeer and Caravaggio, Titian and Velázquez, Pissarro, and Rubens and listen to the connoisseurs who discourse upon the aesthetic, historical, religious, and psychological underpinnings of these masterpieces.
More information is available from the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
Two More Waddesdon Manor Treasures Now Online
Le Ballet Royal de La Nuit and Jean de La Fontaine’s Fables choisies, two treasures of Waddesdon Manor’s library collected by Ferdinand de Rothschild (1848–1898) are now accessible via the online collection catalogue.
Jean de La Fontaine, Fables choisies, (Paris, 1755–59); Waddesdon, The Rothschild Collection (The National Trust) Bequest of James de Rothschild, 1957; acc. 3681.1-4. Photo by Mike Fear © The National Trust, Waddesdon Manor.
Le Ballet Royal de La Nuit at Waddesdon was probably produced as a gift for Louis Hesselin (1602–1662) as a reward for the successful staging of the ballet, first performed at the French court on 23 February 1653. It contains material from three distinct sources: the booklet of the ballet printed by Robert Ballard in 1653, a poem called Le Docteur Muët, and 129 original designs depicting costumes and scenes from the ballet now attributed to Henry Gissey (c. 1621–1673). Reproductions of the bindings; inscriptions by a previous owner, Baron Jérome Pichon (1812–1896); as well as the designs are available online, accompanied by commentaries based on the publication: Michael Burden and Jennifer Thorp (eds), Ballet de la Nuit: Rothschild B1/16/6 (Hillsdale; Pendragon Press; 2009).
Also now online are entries for four volumes of Jean de La Fontaine’s (1621–1695) Fables choisies, published in Paris between 1755 and 1759 by Desaint and Saillant. This edition is considered to be the most magnificent illustrated book made before the advent of modern printing. The binding of the Waddesdon example, by Louis Douceur (d. 1769), is decorated with specially-cut tools also illustrating the fables. The dolphin which occurs on the spine panels of the Waddesdon volumes may indicate that these were bound especially for the Dauphin Louis (1729–1765), son of Louis XV. Details of the location and sizes of the illustrations in all four volumes, along with a transcription of the title and names of the designer and engraver of each print, are included in the online entries.
Both books can also be explored further in the newly published catalogue by the late Giles Barber, The James A. de Rothschild Bequest: Printed Books and Bookbindings (The Rothschild Foundation, 2013). The Waddesdon collection is one of the finest of its kind in the world, and the published catalogue along with the online entries allows for many of these treasures to be revealed to the public for the first time. For more information about the printed catalogue, please visit the website.
The Huntington Acquires Fuseli’s The Three Witches
Henry Fuseli, The Three Witches or The Weird Sisters, ca. 1782, oil on canvas, 25 x 30 inches (San Marino: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens)
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Press release (7 October 2014) from The Huntington:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens announced today the acquisition of one of the best-known compositions by the Anglo-Swiss painter Henry Fuseli (1741–1825). In private hands since its creation around 1782, The Huntington’s version of Fuseli’s The Three Witches or The Weird Sisters appears to be a finished, full-size study, presumably made before the two other known full-size, final versions Fuseli made of the subjects. These are in the collections of the Kunsthaus Zurich, and the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, England. After months of conservation treatment at The Huntington, the new acquisition will go on public view for the first time on October 11 in the Huntington Art Gallery.
“Given the fame of The Huntington’s collection of 18th-century British paintings, it may come as a surprise that we did not already have a painting by Henry Fuseli—one of the most celebrated, notorious, and inventive artists of the period,” said Kevin Salatino, Hannah and Russel Kully Director of the Art Collections at The Huntington. “Finally we do, and a great one, a picture full of mystery and suspense. Its powerful composition packs an incredible punch, second in impact only to the artist’s famous painting The Nightmare at the Detroit Institute of Arts, which is from the same period. The acquisition of The Three Witches now fills a major gap in our collection.”
Acquiring a Fuseli has been a longstanding goal at The Huntington, as the finest examples of his work rarely appear for sale. Catherine Hess, chief curator of European art at The Huntington, said that Fuseli’s work has been sought not only because of his importance to the history of art, but also because of his relationships with Sir Joshua Reynolds and, especially, William Blake, both of whom are well represented in Huntington collections. Also, Fuseli’s fascination with the work of William Shakespeare dovetails with The Huntington’s stature as one of the premiere collections of early Shakespeare folios and quartos in the world. The Three Witches reveals a great deal about how the artist worked, said Hess. “Its surface is thickly textured with paint, and the strokes are varied and energetic, betraying a freedom and immediacy that shows Fuseli at his most experimental and expressive.” The painting depicts the pivotal moment in Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth (act 1, scene 3) when the protagonist encounters the demonic trio who foretell his fate.
“Fuseli revels in the play’s ominous mood, isolating and tripling the motif of hooded head, extended hand, and sealed lips,” said Hess. The witches’ mannish features are taken directly from the playwright’s description: “… you should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret / That you are so.” They may also have been modeled on the male actors who would have played them on stage in Fuseli’s day.
The Huntington’s painting includes a gilded frame (likely added by early owners) with a quote from Aeschylus’ ancient tragedy, The Eumenides: “These are women but I call them Gorgons.” The quote also appears written on the reverse of the painting and was almost certainly provided by Fuseli, who prided himself on his erudition.
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R E L A T E D I N S T A L L A T I O N S
Wrestling with Demons: Fantasy and Horror in European Prints and Drawings from The Huntington’s Art Collections
The Huntington Art Gallery, San Marino, CA, 30 August — 15 December 2014
This focused exhibition explores the darker side of the imagination through a variety of works on paper depicting death, witchcraft, and the demonic in European art. In this group of 15 works spanning the 16th to the 19th centuries, artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Jan Lievens, Francisco de Goya, and William Holman Hunt tap into human fascination with the macabre in works of art that demonstrate our attempt to wrestle with the unknown.
Eccentric Visions: Drawings by Henry Fuseli, William Blake, and Their Contemporaries
The Huntington Art Gallery, San Marino, CA, 22 November 2014 — 16 March 2015
In an age of great drawing, Anglo-Swiss painter Henry Fuseli (1741–1825) and his circle in Britain helped to push the medium into new areas of expressiveness, invention, and boldness of conception. This small exhibition consists of about 30 works from The Huntington’s exceptional holdings of drawings and watercolors by Fuseli, William Blake, and the artists most closely associated with them, including George Romney, John Flaxman, Joseph Wright of Derby, James Barry, John Brown, and Richard Cosway. It complements the installation of The Huntington’s newly acquired painting by Fuseli, The Three Witches.
Lars Kokkonen Appointed Assistant Curator at the YCBA
As announced by Amy Meyers, Director of the Yale Center for British Art:
The Yale Center for British Art is pleased to announce that Lars Kokkonen has been appointed Assistant Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art, for a one-year term, effective August 1, 2014. He was previously, for three years, a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Research at the Center. In his new position, Lars will report to and work closely with Cassandra Albinson, Curator of Paintings and Sculpture and Acting Head of the Department, in planning the reinstallation of the collection in 2016. He also will be involved in all other aspects of the department, including acquisitions, exhibitions, and loans.
Lars received his Ph.D. in art history from the Graduate Center, City University of New York, in 2010, writing his dissertation on the British artist, John Martin. Immediately prior to joining the Center in 2011 as a postdoc, Lars was the Allen Whitehill Clowes Curatorial Fellow at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. In 2007–2008 he was a Graduate Curatorial Intern, and in 2008–2009, the Joseph F. McCrindle Foundation Curatorial Fellow in the Department of American and British Paintings at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. His publications include several essays and articles on John Martin, and, most recently an essay on Richard Wilson for the book accompanying the Center’s exhibition, Richard Wilson (1714–1782) and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting. He has been awarded grants and fellowships from, among others, the City University of New York, the Historians of British Art, the Institute of Historical Research (IHR), the Leon Levy Center for Biography, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Yale Center for British Art. He received his BA magna cum laude in art history from Boston University.
Peabody Essex Museum Acquires 18th-Century Indian Export Textiles
Press release (10 September 2014) from PEM:
The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) is pleased to announce the acquisition of a singular collection of rare early 18th-century Indian textiles made for export to the Netherlands. The collection of more than 100 pieces, including hand-painted chintz palampores (bed covers), an embroidered palampore, as well as extraordinary examples of Dutch costumes, was assembled in the Netherlands between the 1920s and 1960s by a private collector, A. Eecen-van Setten. Carefully stewarded by Eecen’s granddaughter, Lieke Veldman-Planten, the Veldman-Eecen Collection has been preserved in exceedingly fine condition for the better part of the last century. The acquisition, funded by anonymous donors, significantly enhances PEM’s world-renowned Asian Export Art collection, and offers insight into 18th-century textile production, design, and trade.
Between 1650 and 1750, cotton textiles were imported in large quantities from eastern India to the Netherlands by the VOC (Dutch East India Company). Decorated with sinuous floral and foliage patterns, Indian cotton was commonly referred to as ‘chintz’ after the north Indian word chitra meaning ‘spotted’ or ‘sprinkled’. Indian chintzes were prized globally for their vivid and durable colors-something that European textile manufacturers were unable to match until the mid-18th century. These vibrant textiles were particularly popular in the Netherlands, where they were used for nearly everything-clothing, upholstery, bed hangings and even wall coverings. The Veldman-Eecen Collection features nearly a dozen Indian cotton chintz bed covers (palampores), as well as unusual examples of men’s dressing gowns (banyans), and women’s and children’s chintz clothing.
Collected at a time when chintz textiles were not well studied, the Veldman-Eecen Collection would be virtually impossible to assemble today given the scarcity of such textiles in the contemporary market. The collection, which also includes a selection of related European-printed textiles from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries, is enhanced by a detailed journal, or Sits Boek (chintz book), in which A.Eecen-van Setten chronicled her acquisitions. Selections from the collection will be on view in Asia in Amsterdam, a forthcoming 2016 exhibition co-organized by PEM and the Rijksmuseum.
PEM’s Asian Export Collection
The Peabody Essex Museum’s Asian Export Art Collection is the world’s most comprehensive collection of decorative art made in Asia for export to the West. Consisting of over 25,000 objects made in China, Japan and India for the Western market between the 15th and 21st centuries, items include works in porcelain, lacquer, paintings, silver, textiles, and ivory among others. The collection reflects the complex and fascinating interaction between the artistic and cultural traditions of East and West.
The Peabody Essex Museum
The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) is one of the oldest and fastest growing museums in North America. At its heart is a mission to transform people’s lives by broadening their perspectives, attitudes and knowledge of themselves and the wider world. PEM celebrates outstanding artistic and cultural creativity through exhibitions, programming and special events that emphasize cross-cultural connections and the vital importance of creative expression. Founded in 1799, the museum’s collection is among the finest of its kind boasting superlative works from around the globe and across time—including American art and architecture, Asian export art, photography, maritime art and history, as well as Native American, Oceanic and African art. PEM’s campus affords a varied and unique visitor experience with hands-on creativity zones, interactive opportunities, performance spaces and historic properties, including Yin Yu Tang: A Chinese House, a 200-year-old house that is the only example of Chinese domestic architecture on display in the United States.
Eve Kahn recently wrote about the acquisition for The New York Times (28 August 2014).
The Met Launches App for iPhone, iPad, and Touch
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Press release (2 September 2014) from The Met:
The Met App provides an easy way for the museum’s community—locally and globally—to stay current with what’s happening at the museum.
Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, announced that the Museum will launch today its flagship smartphone app—titled simply The Met—developed exclusively for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This free digital resource is the easiest way to see what’s happening at the Met every day, wherever you are. . .
Mr. Campbell said: “With so much to see and do at the Met on a daily basis, we wanted to create a simple yet personalized way for our community to find the art, exhibitions, and events that matter most to them. The new app is a pocket-sized, customizable tool that puts the Met at users’ fingertips. It will be great for both New Yorkers and everyone in our global community who wants to stay connected with the Met—from anywhere in the world.”
Sree Sreenivasan, the Museum’s Chief Digital Officer, added: “In developing the app, we hope to provide our audiences with what’s most useful to them, and in the most engaging way. We want this app to offer an enjoyable starting point for many new relationships with the Museum, right now and in the future.”The Met app is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.“Bloomberg Philanthropies made an extraordinary and important investment in the Met’s digital initiatives, and this innovative new app is just one of the results,” Mr. Campbell continued. “The foundation is an amazing, forward-thinking partner whose generous support will expand the Met experience exponentially across the globe.”
“The Metropolitan Museum is one of the world’s most important cultural institutions, and the museum’s new app will help open peoples’ eyes to its extraordinary collection and programs like never before. The Met app makes a day at the museum even more rewarding; and by making it possible to experience the museum even when you’re not there, the app is a wonderful way to bring art into more lives, more often,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and three-term mayor of New York City.
The Met app helps users discover the galleries, works of art, media, events, facilities, information, and resources that best meet their interests—both in its main building along Fifth Avenue and at The Cloisters museum and gardens, the Metropolitan Museum’s branch for medieval art and architecture in Upper Manhattan.
The app provides information on current exhibitions and when they will close; must-see highlights of the collection; a way to purchase an admission; activities for families and children; syndication of the Met’s highly popular Twitter feed, which carries up-to-the-minute messages and announcements; and much more. Users can swipe both vertically and horizontally within the app, and its contents can be shared seamlessly through users’ social media accounts.
One of the highlights of the app is a set of themed lists of artworks that provide fresh, often playful, perspectives on the Met’s permanent collection. These include: “Grand Spaces and Hidden Nooks,” “Animals: See One, Be One,” “Hidden in Plain Sight,” “Medieval Love” (for The Cloisters), and “Met-Staches,” which shows works of art with mustachioed subjects. For the more avid users there is also a hidden feature to discover: the Museum’s popular “Artwork of the Day.”
“This is an entirely original type of museum app,” said Loic Tallon, the Met’s Senior Mobile Manager. “At the start of this project we took a step back and asked people what they wanted to see in a Met app. They told us three things: make it useful, make it simple, make it delightful. We know there’s a lot to do at the Met, and what we heard was that people wanted our app to answer easily their most essential questions about the Museum: ‘Where should I start? What’s happening today? What can my kids do there? Can you show me something fresh?’ These are the types of questions about the Museum for which our audience wants to turn to their phone, and our app, for answers. At the same time we had to make the app as beautiful as it was useful—a product worthy of the museum itself. We worked with Instrument, one of the world’s leading digital agencies, to design and build an app that would meet those goals, and I believe we have. The Met app balances beauty with utility.”
The Met app includes a special area designated for use by the Museum’s Members, a group more than 150,000 strong. It provides news and updates as well as information about special events organized for Members. Museum Memberships can also be purchased through the app.
The Met app was produced by the Metropolitan Museum’s Digital Media Department in collaboration with Instrument, an independent digital creative agency in Portland, Oregon, and with the assistance of staff from across the Museum, in departments including Information Systems & Technology, Education, and Design. The Museum is now developing a version of The Met app for Android users, and this will launch in 2015. . . .
Wedgwood Appeal: Donate to Save the Collection
From Save the Wedgwood Collection:
Josiah Wedgwood, The First Day’s Vase, c.1769 (Wedgwood Museum). Inscribed ‘artes Etruriae renascuntur’ (‘the arts of Etruria are reborn’).
The Wedgwood Collection, one of the most important industrial archives in the world and a unique record of over 250 years of British art, is under threat of being separated and sold off.
The Art Fund now has the opportunity to purchase it for the nation intact, provided the final £2.74m of a total £15.75m fundraising target can be raised by 30 November 2014. This is the only chance to keep the collection in one piece and on public display, preserving this unique record of British history and global commerce.
The collection is the major asset of the Wedgwood Museum Trust, which inherited £134m of pension debt as a result of the UK subsidary of Waterford Wedgwood Plc going into administration in 2009. The debt transferred from company to Trust because the two had been linked through a shared pension fund. Although the Pension Protection Fund (PPF)—the industry body set up by the government to compensate individual pensioners in the event of a company insolvency—will absorb the liability, it has a duty to claw back as much as it can from sale of assets.
In December 2011 the High Court ruled that the Wedgwood Collection was indeed an asset of the Wedgwood Museum Trust that should be sold in order to repay some of the debt owed, and in March 2012 the Attorney General upheld this ruling. Since then, the Art Fund and other partners have looked at all options to prevent the Collection from being broken up and sold on the open market. However, after exploring several avenues, all parties have now agreed that the only option is for the Art Fund to raise the necessary funds to purchase the Collection on behalf of the nation. In order to protect the Collection from ever being at risk again, if the money can be raised, the Art Fund plans to gift it to the Victoria & Albert Museum, the national museum of art and design. Without needing to move it, but with its ownership secure in perpetuity, the V&A intends to assign it on long-term loan to the Wedgwood Museum at Barlaston, which will lie at the heart of a major new visitor experience as part of Waterford Wedgwood Royal Doulton’s (WWRD) £34m redevelopment of the site—set for completion in spring 2015.
The Art Fund has launched an appeal to raise the full £15.75m needed for the purchase, in order to keep this irreplaceable Collection together and on display. Thanks to major support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Art Fund and a number of private trusts and foundations, over £13m has already been raised. The campaign has until 30 November to find the remaining £2.74m necessary to purchase—and save—the Collection.
The future of the remarkable Wedgwood Collection has never looked brighter—provided the funds can be raised.
Donate to the appeal online or text WEDGWOOD to 70800 to give £10.
Mark Brown’s coverage for The Guardian (1 September 2014) is available here»
A. N. Wilson’s essay “Wedgwood: The Legacy Must Live On” appears in the Autumn 2014 issue of Art Quarterly and is also available at Save the Wedgwood Collection (4 September 2014).
Sweden’s Nationalmuseum Launches Free Online Journal, Volume 20
Press release (3 September 2014) from the Nationalmuseum:
Stockholm’s Nationalmuseum has launched its first digital journal, available online to download and read free of charge. The Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Stockholm contains academic articles on art history relating to Nationalmuseum’s collections. The journal is moving to digital-only format and will be available through the DiVA portal (a Swedish publishing system for academic research and student theses) and the museum’s own website. The Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Stockholm is an annual publication containing academic articles on art history relating to Nationalmuseum’s collections. The journal has existed in print form since 1996, but is now switching to digital-only format, starting with volume 20. The journal’s established graphic design will be enhanced through the addition of digital media features such as metadata, live links to chapter headings and page references, and high-resolution images.
“For an art institution like Nationalmuseum, it’s important to offer our readers high-quality images that do full justice to the works,” said Janna Herder, editor of the Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Stockholm. “Readers therefore have the option of downloading the entire journal in low-resolution format or individual articles in high-resolution format.”
Nationalmuseum expects to attract a larger and wider readership now that the journal and its articles are freely available and searchable via Google and other search engines. As a member of the DiVA portal, the museum is able to distribute the publication more effectively in the academic community. “This is a further step in the digital evolution of Nationalmuseum and a key initiative in fulfilling our mandate to improve access to and awareness of our collections,” said Magdalena Gram, the museum’s head of research, library and archives and the journal’s editor-in-chief. “Another aspect of our mandate involves collaboration with other institutions such as universities and colleges. Offering an established publication like the Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Stockholm in digital format through the DiVA portal marks a breakthrough in terms of our ability to make specialized knowledge and information freely available.”
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Articles related to the eighteenth century (visit the Nationalmuseum website for the full contents) . . .
Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Stockholm 20 (2013).
A C Q U I S I T I O N S
Carina Fryklund, “Three 17th-Century Paintings from the Collection of Gustaf Adolf Sparre (1746–94),” pp. 11–16.
Magnus Olausson, “Roslin’s Self-Portrait with his Wife Marie Suzanne Giroust Painting a Portrait of Henrik Wilhelm Peill (1767),” pp. 17–18.
Magnus Olausson, “Wertmüller’s Portrait of Henri Bertholet-Campan with the Dog Aline (1786),” pp. 19–20.
Guilhem Scherf, “Une Statuette en Terre Cuite de Jean-Baptiste Stouf au Nationalmuseum,” pp. 27–36.
Magnus Olausson, “Madame Lefranc Painting a Portrait of her Husband Charles Lefranc (1779): A Miniature by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard,” pp. 37–8.
Anders Bengtsson, “A Unique Plate Warmer,” pp. 39–40.
Anders Bengtsson, “A Chair Fit for a Prince,” pp. 41–2.
Acquisitions 2013: Exposé, pp. 61–96.
A R T I C L E S O N T H E H I S T O R Y A N D T H E O R Y O F A R T
Martin Olin, “An Italian Architecture Library under the Polar Star: Nicodemus Tessin the Younger’s Collection of Books and Prints,” pp. 109–18.
Magnus Olausson, “Louis Gauffier’s Portrait of Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt (1793): A Political or a Conspiratorial Painting?,” pp. 119–22.
Ulf Cederlöf, “An Exceptionally Protracted Affair: The Nationalmuseum’s Acquisition of Sergel’s Collections of Drawings and Prints, 1875–76,” pp. 123–34.
S H O R T E R N O T I C E S
Görel Cavalli-Björkman and Margaretha Rossholm-Lagerlöf, “A Source-Critical Comment on Roger de Robelin’s “On the Provenance of Rembrandt’s The Conspiracy of the Batavians under Claudius Civilis,” 135–36.
Roger de Robelin, “Response to “A Source-Critical Comment etc.,” pp. 137–38.
R E P O R T
Helen Evans and Helena Kåberg, “The Nationalmuseum Lighting Lab,” pp. 139–46.
Salacious Gossip Tours of Hampton Court Palace
As the summer of the Georgians winds down, I thought I would mention this bit of programming. In connection with The Glorious Georges exhibition, Hampton Court Palace is featuring ‘Salacious Gossip Tours’ to highlight the “racy stories” they “dare not tell during the day!”
Historic Royal Palaces has done these in the past for The Wild, the Beautiful and the Damned exhibition (2012), and I would speculate—though it is only speculation—that the racy bits are comparable to what many of us present in class to keep students’ attention. I mention it here, in part, because as I was thinking about what readers might want from a newsletter like this one several years ago, someone perceptively replied ‘gossip!’. Ever since then, I’ve been trying (unsuccessfully) to pull that off. As with other things, suggestions are most welcome. As for the tours, participants must be at least 18 years old, tickets are £25, and the tours begins at 7:15. My hunch is that it probably adds up to a fine way to avoid the crowds, and walking out of Hampton Court Palace at 9:00 or so isn’t a bad evening. A champagne reception at the beginning couldn’t hurt either. –CH
Historic Willoughby-Baylor House Reopens
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From the Chrysler Museum:
The Willoughby-Baylor House, the long-time home of the Norfolk History Museum, reopens August 16 after a long closure for structural renovations and a complete re-imagination of the displays and artifacts related to the history and art of one of America’s original heritage port cities.
The ground floor greets visitors with a new exhibition, Democratic Designs: American Folk Paintings from the Chrysler Museum. “This exhibition is our largest display of American folk art in more than three decades,” said Crawford Alexander Mann III, the Brock Curator of American Art at the Chrysler Museum. “Few museums surpass the Chrysler’s depth in this field, and it’s time to put our masterpieces in the spotlight.”
Jeremiah Andrews, Covered Sugar Bowl, silver, ca. 1791 (Chrysler Museum)
On the second floor you’ll find The Norfolk Rooms. This suite of Norfolk-made art and artifacts includes period paintings, furniture, and silver. Highlights includes Cephas Thompson’s stately portrait of Norfolk attorney John Nivison, painted in 1812, and a delicately engraved silver sugar bowl by Jeremiah Andrews created around 1791. “Andrews and other local silversmiths often embossed their wares with both their initials and the word Norfolk, building name recognition for this city as a source of fine craftsmanship,” said Mann. “We’ve built new cases to show off more of their work, and we will switch these displays periodically.”
The Willoughby-Baylor House is a two-story brick townhouse built in 1794 by Captain William Willoughby, a descendent of one of Norfolk’s founding families. After falling into disrepair, it was saved from demolition and opened as a house museum in 1970. A complete look at the history of the Willoughby-Baylor House is available here.
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