|
Articles
Recent research about the work of New Hampshire schoolmaster-artist George Melvill, known primarily for the family record art he produced from the mid 1780s to 1800, has revealed an important drawing of a late-eighteenth-century, non-commissioned New Hampshire militia soldier. The…
Reconstructing an artist’s oeuvre is always a challenge. Although the miniatures of Rufus Porter (1792–1884) are greatly admired, many questions remain as to how his distinctive style evolved. Fortunately, inscriptions found on backing boards and attached to frames, often referred…
The Massachusetts Historical Society is primarily a manuscript repository holding the papers of individuals and families that document the entire course of American history. The Society’s 1791 founding date means that in many instances it collected materials for the study…
Slant-lid desk made by Elijah (1751–1825) and Jacob Sanderson (1757–1810), Salem, Mass., 1794. Primary woods: mahogany with figured mahogany veneers. Secondary woods: white pine and birch. H. 43-3/4, W. 40, D. 21-3/4 in. Private collection.A rare opportunity for furniture enthusiasts…
Newell Convers (N. C.) Wyeth (1882–1945), the father of iconic American artist Andrew Wyeth, did his groundbreaking work during the golden age of illustration in the early twentieth century. Wyeth is perhaps best known for his illustrations that appeared in…
The Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, has on view through November 28, 2010, eight superb American paintings from the collection of a Dartmouth parent. Installed alongside highlights from the museum’s American art collections, these…
Three generations of inspired Louisiana collectors have contributed in profound ways to the preservation and study of some of the most important furniture crafted in or imported into the Deep South. A much-needed study devoted to the region, Furnishing Louisiana:…
Weathervanes have been part of America's architectural landscape for hundreds of years. Used to indicate wind direction and as architectural ornaments in both secular and sacred contexts, they have their origins in ninth-century Europe.1 The desirability of weathervanes to folk…
The Misses Martin’s School for Young Ladies in Portland, Maine, was an important source for some of Federal America’s finest schoolgirl art. A distinctive group of objects, including embroidered silk pictures and paint-decorated tables, can be documented to some students,…
Rose Valley, a community established in 1901 just outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, exists as a rare and highly significant American Arts and Crafts movement experiment in utopian living. Architect William Lightfoot Price (1861–1916) was the primary founder and driving force in…
Over the last quarter of the twentieth century, collectors Joseph G. and Jean E. Sawtelle built a major collection of maritime art and artifacts related to the port town of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Their ultimate goal was to create a…
The Museum of the City of New York recently made available on its website some 62,000 historic images of New York City. The images, in the main, date from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1950s and were taken by such…
According to author Alice Van Leer Carrick, who wrote about portraitist Edwin Plummer (1802–1880) nearly ninety years ago, he was an artist who worked in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the 1820s, and painted tight little figures sitting on rigid mahogany…
Well before the term "historic preservation" came into vogue, New Englanders were saving old houses. The first documented preservation effort in America was launched at Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1847, where residents joined forces to save the Old Indian House, survivor…
For some eight decades, Will Barnet has made outstanding contributions to American art as a painter, printmaker, and teacher. In the course of a long, virtually unparalleled career, he has always taken a vigorously individual route, advancing to the pulse…
The Greek allegorical figure of Fame, trumpeting a triumph and bestowing a laurel wreath, was a rare subject for commercial weathervane manufacturers of the late nineteenth century. The delicate figure was undoubtedly difficult to execute and had only a limited…
Seguin Island sits at the mouth of the Kennebec River midway along the coast of Maine. The lighthouse on Seguin casts its beacon across two narrow reaches of land to either side of the river as it runs south from…
The coast of Maine is a magical place with rocky shorelines edged in evergreens. Sailboats and kayaks maneuver through the waters and the air is heavy with the sweet smell of sea grass and salt. The welcome signs to the…
The complex and nuanced lifestyle of the elite in Paris during the fifty-year reign of King Louis XV (reigned 1723-1774) is re-imagined through art and material culture in Paris: Life & Luxury, organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum in…
Busks were first used in the late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth centuries in Europe, England, and America as accompaniments to undergarments worn with fashionable attire for both men and women. Commonly associated with women's attire in early America, by the end of…
|
|
|
|
|
