: The Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities'
(SPNEA) renowned collection of fine and decorative arts will be
on view for the general public when the national tour of
"Cherished Possessions: A New England Legacy" opens at the Colby
College Museum of Art in Maine on July 16. The show will run
through October 27.
Since 1910 SPNEA has compiled the largest collection of New
England antiquities from the Seventeenth Century onward. The
Colby College Museum of Art is the only New England venue on the
exhibition's national tour; an opening reception will be held at
the museum on Wednesday, July 16, from 3 to 4:30 pm. It is open
to the public and free of charge.
The exhibit of nearly 200 fine and decorative arts objects forms
a picture of life in mid-Seventeenth to mid-Twentieth Century New
England. Objects include furniture and photographs, costumes and
jewelry, and paintings and textiles that chronicle the history of
more than 300 years of life in New England. From a 1735 high
chest from Boston to a 1891 pastoral photograph to an 1830
wedding dress, each tells a story about the changing tastes in
America, says Daniel Rosenfeld, the Carolyn Muzzy director of the
Colby College Museum of Art.
Each item in "Cherished Possessions" was selected based on its
ability to convey a story in the context of the region and the
nation. Items include a tall clock that has stood in the parlor
of the Sayward Wheeler House in York Harbor, Maine, for more than
200 years and a Navajo rug purchased in Wyoming in 1906 by Jane
A. Tucker of Wiscasset, Maine. The only two known surviving
American-made wax figures from 1720 to 1725 will be shown in
their original glass bell jars on wooden stands.
The elegant, fish-shaped, silver sewing kit owned by Abigail
Quincy, wife of the patriot Josiah Quincy, conceals a utilitarian
purpose -- it contains a small pair of scissors and a knife for
sewing. The kit reflects the useful work required of men and
women of every class in New England, as well as the relative
comfort in which Quincy lived. Other objects in the exhibit
include a japanned high chest that was twice rescued from house
fires before 1770, a girandole shaped like the Mt Auburn Cemetery
chapel in Cambridge, Mass., and small butterfly stools from 1956.
"Cherished Possessions" is organized around thematic sections
including religion, community, the Revolution, art and industry,
New Englanders abroad, slavery and abolitionism, and modernism
and antiquarianism.
The show will travel through 2005 with stops in Fort Worth,
Honolulu, New York City and Grand Rapids, Mich. The national tour
of the exhibition is made possible by Fidelity investments
through a grant from the Fidelity Foundation.
SPNEA, headquartered in Boston, was founded to protect New
England's cultural and architectural heritage. A leader in
preservation, research and programming, SPNEA collects and
preserves historic buildings, landscapes and objects. Its full
collection includes more than 100,000 objects and is the largest
assemblage of New England antiquities in the country. "Cherished
Possessions: A New England Legacy" is SPNEA's first major
traveling exhibition.
Founded in 1959, the Colby College Museum of Art has a diverse
permanent collection that includes Eighteenth Century American
portraits, Nineteenth Century landscapes and a wide selection of
Twentieth Century and Contemporary American artwork. The museum
houses the John Marin Collection, the largest holding of Marin's
work in any academic museum in the country. The museum also
features the Paul J. Schupf Wing for the Art of Alex Katz, with
10,000 square feet of exhibition space dedicated to Katz's
paintings and prints. Colby's permanent collection includes works
by John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Cole, George
Inness, Mary Cassatt, Winslow Homer, Fairfield Porter, Marsden
Hartley, Rockwell Kent, Richard Serra, Sol LeWitt and Robert
Rauschenberg.
The museum is at 5600 Mayflower Drive. For information,
207-872-3228 or www.colby.edu/museum/spnea.
