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The Most Widely Read Collector's Newspaper In The East Published Weekly By Joel Sater Publications www.antiquesandauctionnews.net
VOL. 45, NO. 6 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 7, 2014
A Rich And Varied Culture: The Material World Of The Early South groundbreaking exhibition examining the material culture of the early South from the 17th century through 1840, the first of its kind to include a wide variety of media, will open at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum, one of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, on Friday, Feb. 14. “A Rich and Varied Culture: The Material World of the Early South,” will feature a dozen categories of media and represent four geographic regions of the South. More than 400 objects will be drawn from the Colonial Williamsburg collections, those of 10 other institutions and 14 private collections. Many of the items in the exhibition will be on public view for the first time in a museum setting. Like the culture they represent, the objects are diverse, chronologically telling the story of the region’s population as it expanded westward and southward toward the frontier. “The early American South has long been depicted as a society that produced almost none of the objects used by its substantial populace. However, the opposite is true. Southern artists and artisans generated a vast body of material in virtually every
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Black walnut armchair, coastal South Carolina, 1690-1715. Colonial Williamsburg Museum Purchase, 1953-585.
Flask, attributed to Rudolph Christ, Salem (now WinstonSalem), N.C., 1780-1800. Leadglazed earthenware, a Colonial Williamsburg Museum Purchase, 2005.900.2.
Desk and bookcase, attributed to Johannes Krause, Salem (now Winston-Salem), N.C., 1774-1796. Made of Black walnut, tulip poplar, cherry, yellow pine, and cypress. Colonial Williamsburg Museum Purchase, 2004-.3
majority of the objects and medium. The abundance paintings in the exhibition and diverse cultural resocome from the various colnance of these goods will lections of the Colonial be powerfully conveyed Williamsburg Foundation, by the objects assembled several sister institutions for this exhibition,” said are also lending to this Ronald L. Hurst, the important undertaking. Colonial Williamsburg Chief among them is The Foundation’s vice presiMuseum of Early Southern dent for collections, conDecorative Arts (MESDA) servation, and museums at Old Salem Museums and and its Carlisle H. Gardens in WinstonHumelsine Chief Curator. Salem, N.C., with which Featured in “A Rich the Art Museums recently and Varied Culture” will announced a five-year partbe furniture, paintings, prints, metals (silver and Oil on canvas of The Reverend nership; it is the largest pewter), ceramics, William Hume, Ralph E. W. Earl, lender with 39 objects. mechanical arts and arms, Nashville, Tenn., ca. 1820, from the Other lenders include Drayton Hall, a Historic architectural elements, Tennessee State Museum. Site of the National Trust archaeological objects, rare books, maps, costumes and accessories, for Historic Preservation in Charleston, S,C,; and musical instruments. These objects are The Charleston Museum; Washington and each receiving detailed, exhaustive research Lee University in Lexington, Va.; The that sometimes challenges previous find- Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library in ings. In one example, a remarkable paint- Winterthur, Del.; Historic Charleston ing of Frances Parke Custis, on loan Foundation; Tennessee State Museum; the from Washington and Lee University, University of Tennessee’s Department of has recently been identified as the work Anthropology and McClung Museum of of the Brodnax Limner, a little-known Natural History and Culture; Marble Springs artist who worked in Virginia during State Historic Site in Knoxville, Tenn.; and the 1720s. Similarly, an elab- The President’s House Collection at The orately decorated 1770s College of William & Mary in Williamsburg. “dresser” or hutch was long Fourteen private collectors are also generthought to be a Pennsylvania ously lending to the exhibition. As visitors walk through the exhibition product, but has proven galleries, they will be instead to be transported to the the work of a Chesapeake region of Quaker cabicoastal Maryland, netmaker Virginia and northeastern working in North Carolina. Next they Chatham will encounter the County, N.C. Carolina Low Country, While the reaching from southeastern North Carolina through coastal South Carolina and Georgia. Viewers then will confront works from the Backcountry South, including the western reaches of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, as well as West Virginia, the Georgia Piedmont and the states of Kentucky and Silver Belt Plate, possibly Thomas Tennessee. A final section Coram, Charleston, S.C., ca. 1780. of the exhibition features Colonial Williamsburg Museum works from the vital setPurchase, 2005-251. tlements along the Gulf Coast. In addition to objects and paintings made in these regions, the exhibition will include a selection of materials imported to the South
Tall Case Clock (movement by Thomas Harrison of Liverpool, England, ca. 1775), cabinetmaker unknown, from Fredericksburg, Va., 1805-1815. Made of mahogany, yellow pine, satinwood, and maple, from Colonial Williamsburg, bequest of Frederica McKenney Rapley, 1987-547.
Lead glass decanter, England, ca. 1790, from Colonial Williamsburg, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Cameron Hilton, 2010-101.
Bound Atlas from London, England, circa 1698. Made of paper, leather, and ink, from the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library in Colonial Williamsburg.
Tureen and Stand, China, 1765-1775. Crafted of hard-paste porcelain, from Colonial Williamsburg, Gift of Mrs. William S. Clough, 2001-848.
from New England, the Middle Atlantic colonies, Great Britain, Germany, and China. “While many of the objects produced in the Chesapeake and the Carolina Low Country display a heavy reliance on British taste, the adventurous and entrepreneurial character of the ethnically diverse populations that migrated into the Backcountry is immediately apparent as one enters that section of the exhibition. These artisans produced highly sophisticated objects that exploited the availability of local materials, often profusely decorating them with motifs that reflect a wide array of cultural backgrounds,” observed Margaret Beck Pritchard, Colonial Williamsburg’s senior curator and curator of prints, maps and wallpapers. “A Rich and Varied Culture” is curated by Mr. Hurst and Ms. Pritchard. Robert A. Leath, vice president of collections and research and chief curator at Old Salem Museums and Gardens, is consulting curator. The exhibition was entirely funded by Williamsburg residents Carolyn and Michael McNamara. All images, unless otherwise stated, are courtesy of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg. For more information on the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, visit www.history.org.
Silver teapot, Asa Blanchard, Lexington, Ky., ca. 1820. Colonial Williamsburg Museum Purchase, 2013-26