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Picture Perfect: Images of Northwest Connecticut

June 1 - September 18, 2003

 

Picture Perfect: Images of Northwest Connecticut is a major exhibition of paintings of northwest Connecticut, created by leading American artists between 1790 and 1940, borrowed from major art museums and private collections from around the country. Picture Perfect explores the beauty of the Litchfield Hills as seen by he artists of the past. Artists include Ralph Earl, Jasper Cropsey, Homer Dodge Martin, David Johnson, William Trost Richards, Emil Carlsen, Ernest Lawson, and others. Subjects include scenes from Washington, Litchfield, Sharon, Salisbury, Kent and New Milford. The exhibition will travel to the Newington Cropsey Foundation, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, October 5 - November 14, 2003. (right: Dines Carlsen, Bronze and Silver, n.d., Private collection)

At the Mattatuck Museum, the exhibit includes 35 Hudson River School, Impressionist, and Modern paintings, all of which were painted in towns throughout the Litchfield Hills. Visitors will see historic photographs and maps that tell the story of the 250-plus artists who worked in the Litchfield Hills before 1940, explore a database revealing hundreds of Litchfield County artworks, many of which have not been seen by the public in nearly a century, and pick up a free self-guided tour and a "Picture Perfect Passport" which will lead guests to seven other Picture Perfect exhibits, each spotlighting individual artists of Litchfield County. The self-guided tour will also lead visitors to the actual locations painted by the artists, and to artworks on public view in towns throughout northwest Connecticut. (right: Ralph Earl, Landscape View of the Canfield House, 1796, Collection of the Litchfield Historical Society, Litchfield, CT)

Other paintings from the exhibit:

Edward Gay, Twin Lakes with Cattle, 1868. (Private Collection)

 

William Hamilton Gibson, Mid Summer, Washington, CT, 1890. (Collection of the Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, CT)

 

Robert Nisbet, Kent Landscape, n.d. (Private Collection)

Other exhibits include:

Picture Perfect Bethlehem: Lauren Ford
Old Bethlem Historical Society
(203) 266-5196
 
An exhibit of the work of Lauren Ford (1891-1973), prominent illustrator who created Christmas scenes from Bethlehem that became nationally known.
 
Picture Perfect Cornwall: James Henry Moser
Cornwall Free Library
(860) 672-6874
 
An exhibit of the work of James Henry Moser (1854-1913), renowned artist of African American life in the South after the Civil War. Moser spent the summer with his in-laws the Scovilles in Cornwall, painting the countryside for thirty years. This exhibit, from the collections of the Cornwall Historical Society, is co-sponsored with the Cornwall Library.


Picture Perfect Kent: George Laurence Nelson
Kent Historical Society
(860) 927-4587
 
An exhibit of the work of George Laurence Nelson (1887-1978) and the new Nelson Gallery. Nelson was a prize-winning portrait painter and member of the National Academy of Design, who left his home, studio and gardens to the Kent Historical Society.
 
Picture Perfect Litchfield: Deming, Van Laer, and VanderPoel
Litchfield Historical Society
(860) 567-4501
 
An exhibit of the landscapes of three turn-of-the-century Litchfield artists: Alexander T. Van Laer, Emily VanderPoel and Adelaide Deming. Successful artists in New York, these artists attracted sizable crowds to their summer exhibits of the gardens and landscapes of Litchfield's golden era. The exhibit will include archival materials relating to their exhibits and activities in Litchfield.
 
Picture Perfect New Milford: Edith Newton
New Milford Historical Society
(860) 354-3069
 
An exhibit of the work of printmaker Edith Newton (1878-1964) featuring drawings, paintings and artifacts of the artist who catalogued the streetscapes of the village and its surrounding countryside in charming detail.
 
Picture Perfect Washington: John Folinsbee
Gunn Historical Museum
(860) 868-7756
 
An exhibit of the work of John Folinsbee (1892-1940) , later known as a member of the Art colony in New Hope PA, Folinsbee came to Washington as a student at The Gunnery and married a daughter of the local Baldwin family.
 
Picture Perfect Woodbury: Natalie Van Vleck
Flanders Nature Center
(203) 263-3711
 
An exhibit of the work of Natalie Van Vleck (1901-1982), a world traveler who established a model farm, now the Flanders Nature Center in Woodbury, where she pursued her artistic interest in the natural world.

 

For additional information about Picture Perfect, visit www.LitchfieldHillsArtTrail.org or call the Mattatuck Museum.

Support for this project has been received from the Connecticut Humanities Co

 

Read more articles and essays concerning this institutional source by visiting the sub-index page for the Mattatuck Museum in Resource Library Magazine

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