Abstract American Artists From The Gould Collection

New Britain, Conn.

:For the past decade and a half, Michael Gould and his wife, Marilyn, manager of the Wilton, Conn., antiques shows and executive director of the Wilton Historical Society and Heritage Museum, have encouraged people to collect. An exhibition at the New Britain Museum of American Art through October 28 documents the Goulds' own treasure hunt and provides a template for others interested in the chase.

Far from showcasing American folk art, as those who know the Goulds might have guessed, the New Britain exhibition canvasses a single, little known chapter in the history of American avant-garde art: early abstract works on paper made between 1918 and 1949 that prefigure Abstract Expressionism.

The Goulds collected the 51 drawings, watercolors and mixed-media collages on view over the last decade. Their sources included specialist galleries, art fairs and antiques shows. Inveterate antiquers, the Goulds were headed to Farmington Antiques Weekend about a year ago when inclement weather prompted a detour to the New Britain Museum of American Art, 15 minutes away. Impressed both with the museum's collection and its sophisticated presentation, the Goulds approached director Douglas Hyland about mounting a show of their own.

Founded in 1903, the New Britain Museum of American Art became the first museum dedicated to American art in the United States. Adjacent to Walnut Hill Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the museum entered a new era in 2006 with the opening of the Chase Family Building, a handsome limestone, cherrywood, oak and glass addition by Ann Beha Architects of Boston.

Encompassing paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, photographs and illustrations, the museum's 5,000-piece collection is rich in Colonial and Federal portraits, Hudson River School paintings, and Impressionist, post-Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary American art.

A small selection of works by members of the American Abstract Artists (AAA) made the New Britain Museum a sympathetic setting for the Gould display. As Hyland explained, "We haven't really specialized in abstraction. The Gould collection filled a gap."