ism of the Week - week 2

Each week during our current exhibition, ...isms: Unlocking Art's Mysteries, we will post deeper insight into one of the paintings on view. Past the credit line, past the exhibition label, Assistant Curator Amanda Burdan shares her thoughts:

In the first week of our Winter Studies class we talked about the peculiar case of “Luminism,” an “ism” that was invented a century after the Luminist painters worked. One of the paintings in the Luminist section of the current exhibition is John F. Kensett’s Fort Dumpling, although this particular work, like many others in the exhibition, might have been comfortably situated in other sections of the exhibition. Kensett is typically known as a Hudson River School painter, creating landscapes that romanticized American scenery. Hudson River School artists were highly skilled technicians who rendered their paintings with a high degree of finish and detail. Other Hudson River School paintings appear in the “Romanticism” section of the exhibition.

The Luminist painters were noted for their somewhat “quieter” scenes that lacked the drama and bravado of the Hudson River School works. Luminists also painted with virtuoso brushwork and crystalline details, but their compositions frequently felt simplified, or even empty. Fort Dumpling gives us a vast expanse of sky and sea along with the silhouette of the hilltop fort. Although the nominal subject is the fort, the glowing sunset helps us understand how the Luminist movement acquired its name.

Kensett’s Fort Dumpling would have been equally at home in the “Historicism” section of the exhibition. The fort itself is an interesting landmark that stands at the entrance to Narragansett Bay in Jamestown, Rhode Island. A strategic location for control of the Bay, the fort was occupied by American, French, and British troops during the American Revolution. By the time Kensett painted it, nearly a hundred years after the British evacuated Newport, the site was a romantic reminder of the bygone Revolutionary era.

John Frederick Kensett (1818–1872)

Fort Dumpling, ca. 1871

Oil on canvas
Florence Griswold Museum

Gift of The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company

Opening for Sewell Sillman: Pushing Limits

What a wonderful start to the exhibition! Over 300 people attended the opening of Sewell Sillman: Pushing Limits. The Museum was so fortunate to have Jim McNair and all the people who made the exhibition possible in one place. Read more about the exhibition...

On being a Faerie Architect

This blog is by one of the Wee Faerie Village Architects, Lisa Kenyon. Everyone at the Museum is very excited about the start of the Village! Only three more weeks to go! If you haven't taken a look at all the wonderful special events planned, check them out now. The Village is open October 10 through November 1.

From Lisa....

Late summer is the perfect time to be creating a faerie dwelling. On routine walks through my neighborhood, I find beautiful wild flowers to dry, seed pods that can act as flowers in a faerie flower box and tons and tons of acorns that make great stone walls. It’s almost impossible to go anywhere without finding some natural object that might be useful if you were a three inch faerie.

My dwelling is going to sit in the middle of the vegetable garden otherwise known as Vegetable Valley. I decided early on that I would focus on the exterior so it could be viewed from all angles. My faerie, Iris, is the muse of Matilda Browne and I wanted to model the structure after her painting Saltbox by Moonlight. I am very grateful that my husband is much handier with a saw than I am because he made the concept come true. I will be using my various natural objects to adorn the house and it doesn’t stop there. A house must have a vegetable garden, some restful sitting areas and landscaping.

With just a few more weeks to wrap up, I am looking forward to the last minute treasures I will find on my walks. You never know what a sea shell, twig or flower might become to a faerie.

Well Constructed

Last month Facilities Manager Ted Gaffney and I (and our accommodating spouses Dylan and Maureen) went to a dinner and ceremony to receive an Excellence in Construction Award for the Florence Griswold House restoration from the Associated Builders & Contractors of Connecticut, Inc.

Actually, the award was given jointly to the Museum and to Kronenberger & Sons Restoration, Inc. in Middletown. Kronenberger served as the construction manager for this preservation project, the most extensive in the nearly 200-year history of this landmark building. Completed in 2006, the restoration of the Griswold House has been cited as an example of “best practices” among historic houses for its effective use of “green” geothermal technology to maintain the interior environment and for the years of careful research that led to its interpretation as a boarding house for artists when it was a center of Impressionism in America. If you haven’t had a chance to see the Griswold House I hope you will do so soon.

We are starting a new project with Kronenberger. Beginning later this month, they will be undertaking the restoration of a historic barn on the Museum’s property. This mid-19th century barn will be transformed into the John and Dyanne Rafal Landscape Center where visitors will learn about the landscape traditions of the Lyme region. Scheduled to open this summer, you can follow the progress right here on this blog!

Flo on the Go!

Just last week I was flipping through my stack of week old Daily Variety and was thrilled to see that the pre-Broadway run for the revival of West Side Story was getting great reviews. Phew! I just that week secured 50 highly desirable seats in the front mezzanine for museum members and friends for a trip to Broadway on Wednesday, May 6th. What makes this revival so important is that this version will be bilingual for the first time with Spanish text and lyrics for the Puerto Rican Sharks. Although WSS is turning 50, both the Arthur Laurents and Steven Sondheim who created the original version are involved with the rewrites—very cool. Click HERE for FGM tickets! Day trips are open to Museum members and friends and information is available online.

Wood Engraving Explained

Tammi helped me make this video to explain the process of wood engraving. The blocks shown in the video are two versions of Birches on for the cover and one for the title page of Robert Frost's 1959 volume You Come Too.