: Hailed in his time as the "poet laureate" of the New England
hills, Willard Metcalf (1858-1925), after a long period of
neglect, has recently regained his standing as one of America's
finest Impressionist painters. Metcalf created tranquil,
harmonious landscapes that retain their appeal and charm to this
day. Particularly noteworthy are his splendid paintings of
winter.
In his relentless search for ideal subjects during his mature
years, Metcalf made frequent forays from his New York City base
to scenic places throughout his native New England. He found
inspiration in western Massachusetts and Vermont, in midcoast
Maine and in the art colonies of Cornish, N.H., and Old Lyme. His
sojourns at Miss Florence Griswold's celebrated boarding house in
the latter community changed the course of his career and led to
some of his finest achievements.
It is fitting, therefore, that the Florence Griswold Museum
should organize and host "May Night: Willard Metcalf at Old
Lyme," on view through September 11.
In what the museum properly terms "an unprecedented synthesis of
Metcalf's greatest loves - art and the natural world," more than
40 paintings are displayed alongside the painter's collections of
precisely organized and labeled birds' eggs and nests, moths and
butterflies. Indeed, the Griswold has the largest public
collection of Metcalf artifacts, ranging from paintings, pastels
and silverpoints to sketchbooks, a diary and a natural history
cabinet of "curiosities." The latter, a tall wooden collection
chest with 28 drawers containing eggs, nests, moths and
butterflies, is exhibited publicly for the first time.
