After several months of construction, the renovation of the Museum's outdoor courtyard is complete! We hope you enjoy this beautifully transformed space and all of the educational programs and special events it will host. Most importantly, we're excited for the improved accessibility these renovations provide, including new level paving and a permanent ADA entrance ramp that finally brings ALL visitors in through the Museum's front doors.
As we mentioned in the last issue of Catalyst, there will be additional construction work coming up in the year ahead as we undertake a major flood-hardening process to make the lower level of the Museum watertight. In this complex engineering procedure, openings—including windows and vents—will be removed or sealed; structural reinforcement and waterproof material will be applied to the building interior; and the foundation will be anchored to resist buoyancy forces. In keeping with our commitment to historic preservation, this project will not alter the exterior appearance of the historic Mill portion of the Museum building. All of this work is critical in ensuring that the Museum will be better prepared for future severe flooding events in the years ahead, so that we can remain focused on safeguarding our renowned collection and creating the highest-possible visitor experience.
We once again appreciate your continued patience and support as we undergo this disruptive, but vital work. While the Museum will remain open during construction, we will have modified hours from January 7–March 31, 2025. Hours of operation can be found at www.brandywine.org/hours.
BRANDYWINE ON THE ROAD
This fall, two of Brandywine’s special exhibitions are hitting the road! See Every Leaf & Twig: Andrew Wyeth’s Botanical Imagination on view at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, CT, now through January 5, 2025. And don’t miss Jamie Wyeth: Unsettled, on view at the Greenville County Museum of Art in Greenville, South Carolina from December 4, 2024 through February 16, 2025 and later traveling to the Dayton Art Institute (Dayton, OH) and the Frye Art Museum (Seattle, WA).
Member Spotlight
The Crafted World of Wharton Esherick
Holiday Trains & Wyeth in Miniature
Reeling in Quality Time
Up East: Andrew Wyeth in Maine
Robert Frank and Todd Webb: Across America, 1955
Celebrating 40 Years of Preservation of the King Ranch
Barbara Shermund’s Funny Ladies
Events Calendar
Memorials & Tributes
Catalyst is published semi-annually by the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art, a public charity founded in 1967. It is sent free to all members. Questions may be directed to Marketing & Communications, P.O. Box 141, Chadds Ford, PA 19317.
Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art is registered with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania under the provision of Act No. 1990-202. Solicitation of Funds for Charitable Purposes Act. A copy of the official registration and financial information may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll-free, within PA (800) 732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement.
A New Face at the Brandywine
The Brandywine is pleased to welcome Jane Allsopp to the team as its new Chief Development Officer. Jane is highly regarded in the Greater Philadelphia region for her fundraising expertise in the arts and culture sector. In her new role, Jane serves as a member of the Executive Leadership team and will help lead the expansion of Brandywine's philanthropic efforts in support of the organization’s mission and vision for the future.
Jane most recently served as the Chief Development Officer for the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) where she was responsible for the organization's multi-million-dollar revenue goals for annual operations and capital projects, along with building its endowment fund and base of planned giving donors. Prior to PAFA, Jane spent more than a decade at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in a variety of senior fundraising positions, most notably as Principal Gifts Officer
Become a Circle Member!
Brandywine Circle members are among our organization’s most generous donors. With a contribution of $10,000 or more, you can become a Circle member and enjoy complimentary admission to select Brandywine programs and lectures; behind-the-scenes events with program leaders and other experts from the fields of art and conservation; and invitations to exclusive day trips and regional travel opportunities—all in addition to the benefits of regular membership. At the same time, you’ll meet other like-minded individuals who have made supporting the Brandywine a philanthropic priority.
To learn how you can become a Brandywine Circle member, please contact Jane Allsopp, Chief Development Officer, at jallsopp@brandywine.org or 610-388-8361. Your membership provides vital support for our organization’s dynamic programs and initiatives. n
with a lead role in the organization’s successful comprehensive campaign that raised more than $600 million—the largest in the Museum’s history. In addition to these roles, Jane previously led fundraising efforts for Temple University’s School of Communications and Theater, and at the Pennsylvania Ballet. As an active volunteer in her community, Jane serves as the Board President for the MacGuffin Theatre & Film Company, and previously was a board member and Development Chair with BalletX and a member and chair of the National Philanthropy Awards Committee.
“Jane brings a wealth of fundraising and leadership experience to the Brandywine,” said Virginia Logan, The Frolic Weymouth Executive Director & C.E.O. “With her blend of engaging professionalism, strategic thinking, and deep experience, we are confident she will play a key role in achieving our transformational goals for the future.” n
Museum Circle members, pictured with artist Jamie Wyeth, on a recent trip to Maine led by Thomas Padon to visit artists’ studios, private collections, and key sites relating to three generations of the Wyeth family.
Photo by Jeffrey Holder Photography
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
A member since 2012, Emily Farrell spent 41 years as an English teacher before retiring and joining the Brandywine as a Museum docent. Since then, she has given tours of every special exhibition at the Museum. She's also a member of our Brandywine Heritage Society, which is dedicated to those who have provided for our organization in their estate plans or planned a future gift.
Although she worked primarily as an English teacher, Emily began learning about art while teaching a global studies course. She captivated her students by discussing works of art relevant to the English curriculum, bringing a new layer to the conversation. Later, she developed a passion for creating art and began working with mosaics, making art for herself and friends.
As a Museum docent, Emily is able to combine two of her passions—teaching and art. She proudly states that on each tour she learns something new about art through the unique perspective of each guest. Being a docent also means that she
is continually learning about different artists and mediums through Brandywine’s special exhibitions. Emily struggled to pick a favorite exhibition but mentioned her love of Frank Stewart’s Nexus: An American Photographer’s Journey, 1960s to the Present During her docent training for the diverse photography exhibition, she had difficulty deciding which themes of the exhibition she would focus on during her tours as she loved them all.
When asked why she was drawn to Brandywine, she replied that it was due to “the unique combination of art and nature” presented through the dual mission of the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art. Walking through the Museum building, Emily noted that the architecture lends itself wonderfully to displaying art while also showcasing the surroundings of the region, especially the Brandywine Creek. She delights in watching people enjoy different water activities throughout the summer, while she explains the origins of the Museum to visitors from the win-
dows above. In her words, each visit to the large windows of the Museum serves as a “brain refresh.”
While the combination of art and nature drew her into the Brandywine, the atmosphere of kindness and hospitality, along with the fig and pear grilled cheese sandwiches from the Millstone Café, convinced her to stay. A few years after becoming a member, Emily joined our Brandywine Heritage Society to further support the mission she believes in so strongly. Through being a docent and attending Brandywine Heritage Society events, she has been able to meet new people and continue her lifelong love of learning. n
Want to learn how you can become a member of the Brandywine Heritage Society? Contact Suzanne Regnier, Director of Development, at 610-388-8308 or sregnier@brandywine.org to explore how you can provide future support for the Brandywine in your estate plans.
Left: Emily Farrell giving a docent tour of the Andrew Wyeth Gallery.
THE CRAFTED WORLD OF WHARTON ESHERICK
On view through January 19, 2025
Delve into the fantastic realm of modern design at Brandywine with The Crafted World of Wharton Esherick. Now on view through January 19, 2025, this exhibition explores the artistic legacy of Wharton Esherick (1887-1970), one of the most creative and interdisciplinary figures of twentieth-century American art, craft, and design. Esherick is best known as the father of the Studio Furniture Movement, which saw artists bringing their unique voices to handmade, functional objects and craft traditions, often reinventing them with bold, experimental techniques and forms.
Co-organized by the Brandywine and the Wharton Esherick Museum (WEM), this major exhibition features more than 70 works by the artist and is the first to draw exclusively from WEM’s collection of over 3,000 objects. The Crafted World brings together works from across different media mastered by Esherick—from painting, sculpture, and printmaking to woodworking, furniture making, and illustration—including many objects never before seen outside of the artist’s home and studio.
Presented in thematic vignettes, The Crafted World focuses attention on recurring design explorations across Esherick’s body of creative work. Through a variety of forms, formats, and media, these vignettes invite visitors to examine the artist’s unconventional way of life and some of his key artistic interests—urban versus rural life, the movement of the body in space, the power of patterns, and the organic growth of the natural world. Organized thematically, rather than by chronology or media, the exhibition allows visitors to witness the evolution of Esherick’s thinking around these primary design concepts.
Esherick personifies an artist whose work is completely entwined with his personal history. He resolutely lived according to his distinctive aesthetic; therefore, biography is a key tool to understanding his creations. He considered his home and studio the best representation of his iconoclastic vision, calling it “an autobiography in three dimensions.” It is significant, then, that The Crafted World is the largest exhibition ever organized from the remarkable collection housed in the artist’s home and studio.
The exhibition and its accompanying catalogue are the fruit of a years-long collaboration between Brandywine and WEM, and it represents a new approach to conceptualizing the artist’s work while sharing the bounty of WEM’s holdings. WEM’s Director of Curatorial Affairs and Strategic Partnerships, Emily Zilber, led the team to bring the essence of Esherick’s creative world into the Brandywine’s gallery.
While nothing replaces a visit to a historic site, visitors to The Crafted World will be introduced to the artist’s singular voice, creativity, and skill in a way that recontextualizes the objects with innovative thematic approaches to his work. Similarly, the exhibition’s gorgeously illustrated
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catalogue, published by Rizzoli Electa, sheds new light on the artist’s work with newly commissioned photography by renowned architectural photographer Joshua McHugh. The included essays offer fresh perspectives and innovative biographical research with contributions by Zilber along with Holly Gore, WEM’s Director of Interpretation and Associate Curator of Special Collections; design and culture writer Sarah Archer; Ann Glasscock, Associate Curator and Decorative Arts Specialist at the Taft Museum of Art; and Colin Fanning, Assistant Curator of European Decorative Arts at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Support for the exhibition catalogue is provided by the Decorative Arts Trust and Furthermore, a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund.
Brandywine has also organized a two-venue travel tour for the exhibition that will raise the profile of this remarkable artist. After its debut in Chadds Ford, The Crafted World will travel to the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, Wisconsin and the Taft Museum of Art in Cincinnati, Ohio. n
Emil Luks, Wharton Esherick with Oblivion, ca. 1934, gelatin silver print.
Left:
Wharton Esherick, Flat Top Desk, 1929 and 1962. Walnut and padauk. Desk Chair, 1929. Walnut, padauk, laced leather seat. Desk Figure, Bronze casting of 1929 Cocobolo original. Wharton Esherick Museum Collection.
HOLIDAY TRAINS & WYETH IN MINIATURE
November 16, 2024–January 5, 2025
Holidays at the Brandywine Museum of Art have been a cherished tradition for generations of visitors. From the iconic Brandywine Railroad train display that’s been a mainstay since 1972, to our much beloved Critter ornaments that are handmade by our volunteers, the Museum is always extra magical during this special season. This year, in addition to these returning favorites, visitors will also be able to marvel at the miniature worlds created and loved by the Wyeth family in The Wonderful World of Wyeth Miniatures, on view in the Brandywine’s Strawbridge Family Gallery. Highlighting the spirit of imagination shared by children and adults alike, this new exhibition features dollhouses and model railroads owned and lovingly outfitted with tiny furnishings, paintings, and details handcrafted by members of the famously creative Wyeth family. Along with the Brandywine Railroad, The Wonderful World of Wyeth Miniatures will be on view at the Museum from November 16, 2024 through January 5, 2025.
Small Wonders
Anne Wyeth McCoy, the talented composer, pianist, and daughter of N.C. and Carolyn Bockius Wyeth, collected dolls her entire life. It was not until she was an adult that she had her first dollhouse, built by her husband, the artist John McCoy. One of the rooms from this captivating nine-foot-tall dollhouse is included in the Wyeth Miniatures exhibition.
Outfitted by her family with several handmade furnishings, the rooms were originally decorated with miniature
paintings by her sister and brother-in-law Henriette Wyeth and Peter Hurd, as well as by her brother Andrew Wyeth. One of Jamie Wyeth’s tiny paintings designed for the dollhouse will be displayed for the first time in years. Several miniature creations by Nathaniel Wyeth, Anne's mechanical engineer brother, will also be on view, including boats and furniture, as well as their hand-made crates, each carefully lettered: “It’s another miniature from the Wyeth shops.”
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Detail of Jamie Wyeth's N-scale train display
Handmade miniature crate built by Nathaniel C. Wyeth
All Aboard for Miniature Magic
Also featured in the exhibition are model railroads beloved by the third generation of Wyeths, Nicholas and Jamie, sons of Andrew and Betsy James Wyeth. A marvelous standard gauge train layout belonging to Nicholas will be running in the gallery. Given to him in 1976 as a Christmas present from his former wife, this layout eventually became a year-round feature in his New York City apartment. In the whimsical spirit of childhood, their daughter, Victoria Wyeth, sent her toys (and occasionally breakfast!) on delightful rides aboard the expansive trains. Appearing on the layout is a grand bridge based on New York’s iconic Hellgate Bridge and a grouping of military miniatures collected by his father, Andrew.
Additionally, an N-scale train layout— one of the smallest model layouts—that previously belonged to Jamie Wyeth will be on view. This train set was a joint purchase
with Wyeth’s friend Andy Warhol, in whom he found a kindred spirit as both had a passion for collecting toys. The two enjoyed endless hours with the delightful diversion during Warhol’s visits to Jamie’s farm in Delaware. Originally a simple display layout found in a hobby shop, the two artists infused their artistic sensibilities into the scenery. They personalized the buildings with advertisements featuring their own artwork, transforming the layout into a unique and captivating work of art. The train travels through a miniature forest and a steel mill—a nod to Warhol’s upbringing in Pittsburgh—and also makes its way past a miniature figurine modeled after his famous Pumpkin Head self portrait.
The allure of miniatures extends beyond mere nostalgia or escapism in the hands of the Wyeths. It celebrates an appreciation for intricate craftsmanship and attention to detail that seems to run in the family. These
miniature creations, complete with tiny figures and meticulous details, invite us to explore a universe where creativity knows no bounds and imagination reigns. n
HOLIDAY HOURS:
Beginning November 16, 2024 through January 5, 2025, the Museum will be open daily from 9:30 a.m.–5 p.m.
EXTENDED HOLIDAY HOURS: Between December 26–30, the Museum will be open from 9:30 a.m.–6 p.m.
*The Museum will be closed Thanksgiving & Christmas Day, and closing early on Christmas Eve at 1 p.m.
Support for the Brandywine Railroad is provided by The Davenport Family Foundation Fund for Exhibitions, JPMorganChase, and Herr Foods.
Detail of Nicholas Wyeth's standard gauge train layout
REELING IN QUALITY TIME
On any given weekend during the hot summer months, public areas along the Brandywine Creek and other local waterways are filled with people excited to jump into the water for a day of leisurely fun with friends and family. Popular activities along the Creek range from picnicking, swimming, paddling in canoes, and even taking lazy river rides in a tube. Using this unifying natural resource as a way to bring people together, the Brandywine Conservancy is working with partners in the Brandywine Creek Greenway to increase equitable access to outdoor recreation and directly connect local communities to public spaces, parks, and waterways.
Let’s Go Fish!
Fishing is a multi-generational and beloved pastime for people of all ages, but many face barriers to participating in this activity. As a way to engage with local communities, the Conservancy worked with a committee of non-profit partners in Kennett Square, PA to host a series of programs this past spring that taught young anglers how to catch fish. Held at the Kennett Library and Mighty Writer’s El Futuro Kennett, these community locations provided easier access to dry casting, a type of fishing that is used to develop skills on land before attempting to catch live fish in water while using a rod, reel, hook, and bait. This programming was developed in partnership with Mid-Atlantic Youth Anglers/Legacy Land & Water Partners to provide families with proper equipment and a safe space to learn and practice fishing in their local waterways. By the end of the dry-casting programs, there were many new anglers excited to go out and reel in their first catch!
Following these practice sessions, a Community Fishing Day was held at Anson B. Nixon Park (Kennett Square) in May, funded through the William Penn Foundation and the Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Outdoor Fund. This event welcomed over 200 members of the local community, with family members of all ages having the opportunity to pick up a rod and catch a fish from the park's public pond. Participants snacked on popsicles and ice cream from La Michoacana and sipped cold drinks and fruit from GIANT Food Stores. In addition to fishing, the committee of local partner organizations offered other activities including a bilingual story-time of Senorita Mariposa, a fish-themed craft, and lawn
games. At the end of the afternoon, the Brandywine Conservancy was able to raffle off 17 fishing rods to future anglers. The smiling faces and giggles echoing around the pond after the first—or fifth!—catch radiated throughout the park that afternoon.
A Family Affair
These events were enjoyed by the community, with some attendees requesting additional opportunities to continue fishing as entire families. “My children and I usually watched their father fish, but this event provided the resources for us to all fish together as a family for the first time,” one participant shared. Alongside Brandywine
Conservancy and other partners, angling consultant Todd Pride returned to lead several pop-up Family Fishing Nights at Anson B. Nixon Park throughout the summer months. Once again, all fishing equipment was provided during the events, and families were invited to bring a picnic dinner to enjoy while everyone fished together with support from many volunteers. Some community members even showed off the fishing rods they had won at the Community Fishing Day raffle.
Expanding Access
These fishing events are the first to come out of the Conservancy’s newly established Diverse Community Outreach Committee (DCOC). This committee is comprised of several non-profit organizations in the Kennett Square region of Chester County, including Mighty Writers
and Casa Guanajuato—who have both long partnered with the Brandywine Museum of Art’s education and outreach programs—along with the Garage Community & Youth Center; Kennett Area Community Services; Kennett Area Park Authority; Kennett Library; Kennett Trails Alliance/Square Roots Collective; LCH Health and Community Services; CCIU Migrant Education Program; and National Park Service. All of these partner organizations have missions that support work to build a greater sense of community by advocating for education, housing, health and wellness, recreation, and more. The main goal of this partnership is to increase diversity and equitable access to local trails, open space, and recreation for all members of our community. We look forward to this continued work with our dedicated partner organizations. n
REACH YOUR PARK!
To further expand access to outdoor recreation, while also addressing the challenges some face with affordable and flexible transportation, the Brandywine Conservancy is participating in a pilot program with the National Park Service (NPS) called “Reach Your Park / Llegar a Tu Parque.” The Conservancy was one of only three non-profits chosen nationwide to participate in this pilot program, which is a coordinated effort with NPS and the U.S. Department of Transportation to connect historically underserved communities with their local national parks. As a collaborator in this trial, the Conservancy has been able to provide access codes for free rides to and from First State National Historical Park in Delaware through Uber and Lyft ridesharing platforms. This pilot initiative is currently offered through the end of November 2024 while the NPS works to evaluate the program, with hopes of expanding it in the future.
Photos from the Community Fishing Day at Anson B. Nixon Park in May 2024.
Photo by Rick Maynard
UP EAST: ANDREW WYETH IN MAINE
On view through February 16, 2025
The latest exhibition to emerge from the Brandywine’s partnership with the Wyeth Foundation for American Art brings an overview of the other pole of Andrew Wyeth’s place-based practice to the galleries. Up East: Andrew Wyeth in Maine includes more than 30 watercolors—many of which have never been exhibited before—plus two important temperas, and fascinating archival materials that tell the story of the key sites that inspired the artist during a lifetime of Maine summers. In early 2023, Andrew Wyeth: Home Places delved into Wyeth’s multi-decade recursive response to his favorite landscapes and architectural subjects in the immediate Chadds Ford area. Up East is conceived as a counterpart to that exhibition, proceeding place by place through the subjects that defined his Maine work.
Maine’s rich landscape has produced a long and varied creative history, including millennia of Abenaki craft, the paintings of Frederic Edwin Church, photographs of Berenice Abbott, and the sculpture of Louise Nevelson, among countless others. While the fashionable harbors of Mount Desert Island or the heavily settled southern coastline closer to Portland have beckoned many famous
artists, Up East explores the humble, hard-working rural landscape in between that Wyeth made his focus. The banks of the St. George River and the islands of Muscongus Bay in a five-mile radius around the seaside village of Port Clyde comprise a world of fishing and subsistence farming, vernacular architecture and maritime spruce-fir forest. Here, Wyeth found some of his most important inspirations, including the Olson house, Walt Anderson, and Southern, Allen, and Benner Islands. Andrew Wyeth’s watercolors depicting these three islands, all of which were designed and transformed by his wife, Betsy James Wyeth, reveal aspects of their complex creative partnership, paving the way for a major study of her own creative legacy coming in 2026.
The works on view in Up East range across a whole career, including Fisherman’s Houses, which was in the group of paintings the then twenty-year-old artist sent to New York at the time of his smash success 1937 exhibition at Macbeth Gallery that launched his career. The latest work in the show is a previously unexhibited 2008 study for Goodbye, the last tempera he made shortly before his death. In between are the rich colors of his early “blue sky
Page 14: Andrew Wyeth, Maine Door – First Version (detail), 1970, watercolor on paper, M2102. Collection of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art
Above: Andrew Wyeth, Shellback Study, 2004, watercolor on paper, M3293. Collection of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art
period,” dark reflections on the trees and rocks at water’s edge, the old buildings of the region, and the specter of key models who recur throughout his work. A new map places the artworks in the geography of the midcoast, clarifying the tight orbit Wyeth explored in search of his material.
Of this exhibition's presentation in Chadds Ford is a pair of important works in Wyeth’s characteristic medium of egg tempera on panel: Pentecost (1989) and Maidenhair (1974). These well-loved and much reproduced works rarely travel, so this is an exciting chance to see them in the flesh. The former is a vision of nets drying on Allen Island, and the latter an imagined scene in an eighteenth-century Lutheran church in Waldoboro, Maine. Both paintings manifest Wyeth’s lifelong work to inhabit and evoke the timeless stories that are latent in the landscape.
Drawn from the collection of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, all the works in this exhibition are usually housed at the Brandywine’s facility on the campus of the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine that we call the “Wyeth Study Center North.” This is the start of traveling works more regularly between our offices, so Brandywine members can expect a fuller and richer telling of the Wyeth story beyond the Pennsylvania context alone in future projects.
The works in this exhibition were selected by Karen Baumgartner, Brandywine’s Collection Manager in the Wyeth Study Center South, in collaboration with our Maine staff—Collection Manager Amy Morey and Associate Collection Manager and Researcher Leith MacDonald—and interpretation was developed collaboratively, with important contributions from
Brandywine’s Head of Creative Services, Josh Schnapf.
We hope this glimpse of the Maine summer will be a welcome bit of warmth and offer an alternate perspective in our own colder months of the year, before the exhibition travels to the Farnsworth Museum in 2025. n
Above: Andrew Wyeth, Fisherman’s Houses, 1937, watercolor on paper, B0072r. Collection of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art
Page 17, top to bottom: Andrew Wyeth, Goodbye Study, 2007, watercolor on paper, M3417. Collection of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art
Andrew Wyeth, Pentecost, 1989, tempera and pencil on panel. Collection of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art.
In 1955, two young artists received prestigious fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation for projects in which they would photograph the United States on cross country road trips: Robert Frank and Todd Webb. Frank had a growing reputation as a photographer at the time, having traveled from country to country through Europe and South America. His proposed project turned his lens toward the United States from an outsider’s perspective. Webb, on the other hand, became a successful stockbroker before the stock market crash of 1929. His experiences during the Great Depression attuned him to an unsung America, which he set out to photograph. Though the men had no knowledge of each other during the application process, both had secured recommendations from renowned photographer Walker Evans.
In February, Brandywine Museum of Art will present Robert Frank and Todd Webb: Across America, 1955 . This special exhibition brings together over 100 photographs that came from both 1955 projects for the very first time, showcasing how the artists completed their assignments in radically different ways. Frank’s resulting work would become a defining moment in twentieth-century photography when he assembled the photos into his celebrated book, The Americans , in 1958. In contrast, Webb walked, boated, and biked across the United States (receiving a second Guggenheim Fellowship in 1956 to complete the project) to
depict “vanishing Americana, and the way of life that is taking its place.” His work remains relatively unknown. In a recent review of Across America in The Washington Post , critic Sebastian Smee surmised that “the beauty of this exhibition is that it invites us to take another look….it will make you see America and photography with freshly rinsed eyes.”
The grainy, off-kilter style of Robert Frank’s images was matched with his examination of the darker side of American life. An immigrant born in Switzerland, Frank (1924–2019) harnessed an outsider’s perspective. The tender, carefully composed images created by Detroit-born Webb (1905–2000) celebrated the individual oddities of the American way of life. Ultimately, comparing the work of these photographers as each one finds themselves along the road reveals the complexity of their projects and the impossibility of capturing a singular vision of “America.”
In some instances, Frank’s and Webb’s images are strikingly similar—both men took photographs of the highway, portraits
of laborers, and dim, smoky barrooms. Because each was unaware of the other’s work, these similarities can be traced to popular cultural trends and shared ideologies. Both men, after all, engaged in projects that challenged the idealism of the “American Roadtrip” and the mythology of American prosperity as depicted in popular culture. “America is an interesting country,” Frank wrote, “but there is a lot here that I do not like and that I would never accept. I am also trying to show this in my photos.” Examples in the exhibition of photographs by the two artists created in the same location further reveal the photographers’ diverse perspectives and approaches.
Organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Robert Frank and Todd Webb: Across America, 1955 , is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, America and Other Myths: Photographs by Robert Frank and Todd Webb, 1955 , with an essay by curator Lisa Volpe and an afterward by author Susan Straight. n
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF PRESERVATION OF THE KING RANCH
In Southern Chester County, along Route 82, there is an agrarian oasis. The landscape undulates, with hay growing on rolling hillsides and copses of woods dotting the viewshed. Small streams meander through the lowlands, carrying some of the highest quality water in the region to the Brandywine Creek. Looking closely, you’ll notice farmhouses here and there; some old, and most nearly hidden from view. While it may feel like the aesthetics and character of this landscape are happenstance, the story of this idyllic place, like most stories about land, started with a vision. It's with this vision that an iconic landscape came to be and sparked a conservation movement throughout our region 40 years ago.
History of the Land
In the early 1900s, Mr. Lammot du Pont began buying land in the area with aspirations of creating a reservoir to capture six million gallons of water a day from the Buck and Doe Runs, the two main streams that flow through the valley into the west branch of the Brandywine. The reservoir would guarantee a stable source of drinking water for the city of Wilmington and would have dramatically changed the valley forever. The plan didn’t come to fruition, and by the 1940s the dam project was no longer practical.
The next vision for the land came from Texas. In 1946, Mr. Robert Kleberg, a King Ranch cattleman, purchased 8,000 acres from Mr. Lammot du Pont’s
estate with a plan to ship his cattle up from Texas and rest them on this land before selling them to mid-Atlantic consumers. For over 30 years he successfully raised cattle in the Unionville, PA area for the urban markets.
Nearby in Chadds Ford, in the mid1960s, a group of conservation-minded community members, concerned with the progression of rapid development in the surrounding area, began purchasing at-risk lands and using conservation easements to protect their valuable resources. This group, initially named the Tri-County Conservancy of the Brandywine, is today’s Brandywine Conservancy. As the Conservancy grew as an organization,
so did its geographic reach. One of the founding members, George A. "Frolic" Weymouth," kept in frequent contact over the years with Mr. Kleberg as he began to consider the future of his satellite operation in Unionville. Mr. Kleberg was supportive of preserving the scenic countryside, but he ultimately passed away before the land could be conserved.
In the following years, the Conservancy concluded that in order to preserve the land, they would need to begin by purchasing it outright. In the early 1980s, Frolic and the Conservancy brought together a devoted group of community investors to achieve this daunting dream: buy the 5,367-acre Buck and Doe Valley Farm and
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Photo by Alec Thayer
Left:
Photo by Chuck Bowers
forever protect the farmland, forests, and meadows, along with their valuable water resources, from development. The former King Ranch lands would soon become one of the largest private conservation achievements in Pennsylvania.
Looking Back at the King Ranch Conservation Project
The King Ranch deal did not happen overnight. This vision, to guarantee the health of the large landscape by voluntarily restricting development, came to fruition through a huge undertaking that required community involvement on a large scale. Brought together by the Conservancy, these community investors formed the Buck and Doe Associates Limited Partnership, and were crucial to the King Ranch project’s success, which finally came to fruition with its closing in 1984.
Many individuals who became members of the Buck and Doe Associates L.P. invested with the intent to live or farm on some of the ranch’s parcels. As part of the easement’s conditions, acceptable locations for residential development were meticulously chosen, endeavoring to minimize impacts to the environment and the public view sheds. Farm sizes averaged one farm per 33 acres—an unheard-of restriction in those times. Of the 5,367 acres placed under the easement, the center 771 acres, where the Buck and Doe Runs join, was donated to the Conservancy and became the Laurels Preserve—now open to Brandywine members and protected under its own conservation easement held by Natural Lands.
Forty Years Later
The King Ranch project was not only a permanent vision for the area but set the scene for a continuous preservation effort that has held strong for 40 years. This effort created a contiguous mass of over 26,000 acres of preserved land to the original King Ranch lands and has ushered in the conservation of over 158,000 acres of land throughout Chester County. The close-knit community of current King Ranch land residents exemplify this effort, and through the community-led Buck and
Doe Trust, they communicate the importance of protecting the landscape through the limitation of their development rights.
This initial effort by the Brandywine Conservancy and the surrounding community created the foundation for the organization's mission: to protect and conserve the land, water, natural, and cultural resources of the Brandywine-Christina watershed—and further honed its focus on working with and providing benefit to community members throughout the region.
In 2024, on the 40th Anniversary of the King Ranch easement, the property has greatly evolved from when it was first protected. Much of the pastureland of the previous King Ranch is now established forest and meadow ecosystems containing some of the healthiest waterways in the area.
Agriculture still flourishes on the property through equestrian use, smaller cattle operations, and haying. The Laurels Preserve, now recognized by the National Audubon Society as an Important Bird Area, provides a place for Brandywine Members to wander through the woods and fields and admire the landscape that has inspired so many. As we reflect on these 40 years, we remain thankful to the original community investors who trusted the Conservancy’s vision and committed such significant resources to this large-scale project, ensuring it would be protected forever. n
Archival photos of the King Ranch property.
Above:
Photo by Emily A. Hart.
Right:
Photo courtesy of King Ranch, Inc.
INTRODUCING THE FOREVER LANDS FUND
The Conservancy recently established the Forever Lands Fund as an important land protection funding pool to strategically acquire conservation easements and fee lands. Building upon its proven track record of conservation successes, the Conservancy is planning into the future to ensure dollars are always available for important land protection projects. A significant founding gift to the fund was made by Lida A. Wright, an ardent conservationist, Conservancy easement landowner, and carriage driver in the Willistown area who was deeply committed to the Conservancy’s mission of land protection.
There are still many key parcels of land that need to be conserved, and the opportunity to protect them may only come once in a generation. The Forever Lands Fund, designed as a revolving fund, ensures that when those key parcels are at a transition point or at risk for development, the Conservancy possesses the funds needed to act rapidly to protect these properties in perpetuity. If interested in helping us protect our landscapes forever through a contribution to the Fund, please contact Jane Allsopp, Chief Development Officer, at jallsopp@brandywine.org.
BARBARA SHERMUND’S FUNNY LADIES
February 15–May 15, 2025
Barbara Shermund (1899–1978) was one of the first women cartoonists to work for The New Yorker magazine, which is marking its 100th anniversary in 2025. In celebration of Shermund’s unheralded mastery of cartooning, Brandywine is proud to present our first-ever exhibition devoted to a female cartoonist, titled Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund. With well over 70 original drawings, in addition to letters, photographs, and other materials that help tell Shermund’s story, the Brandywine’s Strawbridge Family Gallery will be a place to laugh out loud at the artist’s clever take on modern womanhood.
The exhibition’s title is drawn from a 1950s-era cartoon by Shermund in which a little girl requests a different kind of fairy tale from her father. Both the sassy little girl and the characters she longs to hear about are the very women Shermund drew in her playful yet sophisticated cartoons. Her work had a fierce and feminist electricity rarely seen in that era of male-dominated cartooning. Shermund’s sharp wit and loose style boldly tapped the zeitgeist of first-wave feminism of the flapper-era with vivid characters that were alive and astute. Her female subjects spoke their mind about sex, marriage, and society, all while smoking, drinking, and breaking other social taboos. Later in her career, as she was more frequently assigned to illustrate jokes written by men, her approach became more subversive, adding a level of sarcastic humor all her own.
Born in San Francisco, Shermund briefly attended the California School of Fine Arts before moving to New York. Beginning at The New Yorker in the magazine’s first year of publication, she contributed nine covers and hundreds of cartoons to the magazine, and she later became a renowned mainstay at Esquire as well, in addition to contributing to Collier’s, LIFE, and other publications. In a savvy business move, she syndicated her own cartoon panel entitled “Shermund’s Sallies” that ran in newspapers across the country and was one of the first three women granted membership to the National Cartoonist Society.
Tell Me A Story is expertly curated by Caitlin McGurk, Curator of Comics and Cartoons and Assistant Professor at The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at The Ohio State University. McGurk is also Shermund’s first biographer, with her new book sharing the same title as the exhibition. Her extensive research illuminates Shermund’s somewhat mysterious existence. Little is known about her private life other than her frequent travels. Shermund never had a formal studio and rarely even had a permanent address. At the time of her death in 1978, New York newspapers were on strike, and Shermund did not receive an obituary until 2022, when The New York Times included her in their “Overlooked No More” series honoring important individuals who did not receive recognition at their deaths. n
Page 24:
Barbara Shermund, Of course it’s a woman— they don’t do landscapes in marble, 1939. The New Yorker, October 29, 1939, ink on paper. The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum
Above:
Barbara Shermund, Untitled rough, 1939. The New Yorker, March 18, 1939, watercolor and gouache on paper. The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum
EVENTS CALENDAR
Fall–Winter 2024
NOVEMBER 2024
1 & 3
Plein Air Day at Kuerner Farm
9:30 a.m.–4 p.m.
Artists working in all media are invited to sketch or paint this National Historic Landmark.
3
Free First Sunday at Brandywine
10 a.m.–4 p.m.+
Enjoy free all-day admission to the Museum and join creative art activities for all ages.
6
ARTZ @ the Museum
1–2 p.m.+
A welcoming in-person program for visitors with dementia and their caregivers.
8
Stroller Tour
10:30 a.m.^
A guided tour designed especially for adults accompanied by babies.
9
Stewardship Walk at the Laurels Preserve
9–11 a.m.+
Enjoy a leisurely hike around the Laurels Preserve, guided by our Preserve Stewards, to discuss recent stewardship work on the property and the reasons behind the activities.
13
Plein Air Day at Wharton Esherick Museum
9:30 a.m–4 p.m.
Artists working in all media are invited to explore the property where they can sketch, paint, or photograph outdoors at this National Historic Landmark for Architecture.
14
In the Studio: Wharton Esherick and N.C. Wyeth
2 p.m.
Explore the creative worlds of Wharton Esherick and N.C. Wyeth through a lively online discussion comparing the artists’ studios and artistic practices.
15
Native Plants, Nativars, Cultivars & Straight Species: What You Want to Know
12–1 p.m.
Join Horticulture Staff to learn what these frequently used, but all too often misunderstood, terms actually mean.
After-hours access for individuals on the autism spectrum or with sensory processing disorder and their families.
Member Preview: Critter Sale
10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Hosted at the Museum. Credit card sales only.
21–24
Critter Sale at the Museum
10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Hosted at the Museum. Credit card sales only.
24
Breakfast with the Trains
8:30–10 a.m.
Enjoy early access to the Brandywine Railroad before the Museum opens, plus a continental breakfast in the Millstone Café.
Stewardship Walk at the Laurels Preserve
9–11 a.m.+
Event Information
Children & Family
Virtual Event
Tours & Talks
Workshops & Classes
Members Only
Special Events
Unless otherwise noted, all programs and events are ticketed and/or require advance registration.
For more information, program descriptions or to register, please visit brandywine.org/events
† Registration required, but free admission
* Free; no registration required
^ Free with Museum admission; no registration required
Holiday Critter Sale!
Browse and shop from thousands of unique, handcrafted ornaments made from all-natural materials by the Brandywine’s dedicated and talented volunteers. Whimsical creations include woodland creatures, musical bears, foxes, reindeer, birds, Plein Air artists, cozy cottages, tabletop displays, and more. A special selection of limited-edition, “pop culture-themed" Critters will also be available while supplies last.
Member Preview Sale
Wednesday, November 20, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Public Sale
Thursday–Sunday, November 21–24, 10 a.m.–5 p.m
This year’s sale will be held in person at the Brandywine Museum of Art in the new Waterview Room on the second floor. Beginning November 25, the remaining inventory of Critters will be available for purchase in the Museum Shop. Can’t make it to shop in person? Critters are also available for purchase online and can be shipped across the country. Visit www.brandywine.org/critters
Proceeds from the sale benefit the Brandywine’s Art Education and Public Programming.
December 2024
4
ARTZ-Connect at Brandywine 11 a.m.–12 p.m.+
A welcoming virtual program for visitors with dementia and their caregivers.
Polar Express Read-Aloud Pajama Night
6:30–8 p.m.
Children are invited to wear their pajamas as they delight in the tale of The Polar Express and enjoy hot chocolate and cookies.
7
Breakfast with the Trains 8:30–10 a.m.
11
Children’s Holiday Party 6–8 p.m.
12
Artist Demo: Hand Cut Joinery 1–3 p.m.*
Stop by and learn about the tools and techniques of wood joinery with woodworker Larissa Huff.
After-hours access for individuals on the autism spectrum or with sensory processing disorder and their families.
4
Breakfast with the Trains
8:30–10 a.m.
Enjoy early access to the Brandywine Railroad before the Museum opens, plus a continental breakfast in the Millstone Café.
Penguin Court Virtual Programs
Offered January–March Penguin Court is planning a series of virtual programs this winter with a "For the Birds" theme. Learn more and register at brandywine.org/events
11 & 26
Stewardship Walk at the Laurels Preserve
9–11 a.m.+
11
Yoga on the Brandywine 10–11 a.m.
Join us at the Museum for an inclusive and beginner-friendly yoga class designed for practitioners of all levels to explore the transformative benefits of yoga in just one hour.
24
Chef's Table: Burns Supper
6–9 p.m.
Celebrate the life and poetry of Robert Burns with a traditional Scottish menu and whisky tasting.
February 2025
2
Free First Sunday at Brandywine 10 a.m.–4 p.m.+
Enjoy free all-day admission to the Museum and join creative art activities for all ages.
Children’s Read-Aloud Tours
Thursdays, February 6 through March 13
10:30 a.m.
Young children and their grownups hear a story, interact with art in the Museum and make their own creative works. Online registration is requested.
6
PA Game Commission’s Cavity Nester Program
6:30–7:45 p.m.
As part of Penguin Court's winter virtual series, "For the Birds," Stefan Karkuff, an Avian Recovery Biologist with the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) will share information on the PGC's "Cavity Nester Program."
8
Yoga on the Brandywine 10–11 a.m.
SUMMER INTERNSHIPS
This summer, the Brandywine Museum of Art is seeking undergraduate or graduate students with an interest in the museum career field to apply for internships. Paid opportunities are available in five departments: Collections Management, Curatorial, Education, Marketing, and the Research Center. This 10-week-long internship includes practical museum training, hands-on projects, off-site field trips, and networking opportunities to help prepare interns for future jobs in the museum field. Applications for Summer 2025 will be opening in January. Learn more at www.brandywine.org/museum-internship
8 & 23
Stewardship Walk at the Laurels Preserve 9–11 a.m.+
18
PA Bird Atlas & Volunteer Opportunities
6:30–7:45 p.m.
Amber Wiewel, the Pennsylvania State Atlas Coordinator, will introduce participants to the third Pennsylvania Bird Atlas that is designed to document breeding and wintering bird species across the Commonwealth.
2025 Native Plants Series –Virtual and In-Person
Offered seasonally throughout the year.
Looking to pique your interest in native plants this upcoming year? Stay tuned for virtual and in-person program offerings in our 2025 Native Plant Series. Learn more and register at brandywine.org/events
March 2025 April 2025
2
Free First Sunday at Brandywine 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.+
Enjoy free all-day admission to the Museum and join creative art activities for all ages.
8 & 23
Stewardship Walk at the Laurels Preserve
9–11 a.m.+
Enjoy a leisurely hike around the Laurels Preserve, guided by our Preserve Stewards, to discuss recent stewardship work on the property and the reasons behind the activities.
8
Yoga on the Brandywine 10–11 a.m.
Join us at the Museum for an inclusive and beginner-friendly yoga class designed for practitioners of all levels.
14
Stroller Tour 10:30 a.m.^
A guided tour designed especially for adults accompanied by babies.
20 Chef’s Dinner 6–9 p.m.
6
Free First Sunday at Brandywine 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.+
Enjoy free all-day admission to the Museum and join creative art activities for all ages.
12
Yoga on the Brandywine 10–11 a.m.
Join us at the Museum for an inclusive and beginner-friendly yoga class designed for practitioners of all levels to explore the transformative benefits of yoga in just one hour.
12 & 27
Stewardship Walk at the Laurels Preserve
9–11 a.m.+
Enjoy a leisurely hike around the Laurels Preserve, guided by our Preserve Stewards, to discuss recent stewardship work on the property and the reasons behind the activities.
Save the Date: Native Plant Sale Returns May 9–11, 2025!
Brandywine Museum Shop
Artfully inspired gifts for the holidays
Visit BrandywineMuseumShop.org for a full selection of gifts, including art reproductions, exclusive holiday ornaments, jewelry, books, notecards, calendars, toys, and more.
Browse a curated selection of favorites in our Holiday Gift Guide at brandywine.org/gift-guide
Newly Renovated Meeting Space at Brandywine Museum of Art
Featuring floor-to-ceiling panoramic window views of the Brandywine Creek, the Museum’s new Waterview Room is now available to book for board meetings, team retreats, small parties, group trainings/seminars, and more. Be inspired and generate new ideas in this unique meeting space with beautiful views.
The Waterview Room is available for both full-day and half-day rentals. Catering options are provided by the Millstone Café at the Brandywine Museum of Art. This event space is just over 1,200 square feet. The meeting capacity is up to 30 with a U-shape table layout and up to 80 for lecture style presentations.
To inquire about reserving the Waterview Room for your next event, please email events@brandywine.org. Please include your event date(s), expected attendance, and a brief description. n
YOUR SUPPORT CONTINUES TO MAKE GREAT THINGS POSSIBLE!
This giving season, we hope you'll consider making a fully tax-deductible donation to the Brandywine's Annual Giving fund. Contributions to Annual Giving are an important source of operating support and help make all of our programs possible. Supporting this fund is an easy way to have an immediate impact on Brandywine's programs and the initiatives that are important to you!
Learn more or make a contribution today at: www.brandywine.org/give
MEMORIALS & TRIBUTES
The Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art gratefully accepts and acknowledges gifts in honor or in memory of family and special friends, and in appreciation of our staff and volunteers. Recent gifts include:
IN MEMORY OF DIANE LOUISE BRICKER
(in addition to previous gifts)
Mrs. Karen R. Statz
IN HONOR OF AMANDA BURDAN
(in addition to previous gifts)
Margaret R. Mukherjee
Ms. JoAnn Tracey
IN MEMORY OF FORD B. DRAPER JR.
Wentworth & Barry Caldwell
Mrs. Ruth M. Colket
James W. Crichton Jr. &
Pamela E. Crichton
Charles S. Crompton Jr.
Alice Warner Donaghy
Kimberly & John Gordon
Lisa & Neal Howard
Mr. & Mrs. H. David Lunger
The McCausland Foundation
Mr. Nathan Newport
Mrs. George M. Parker
Barbara B. Simonds
C. Thomas & Lynne T. Swartz
IN HONOR OF KEVIN C. FRYBERGER
(in addition to previous gifts)
Mr. Paxton Ramsdell
IN MEMORY OF JUDITH COOLIDGE CARPENTER HERDEG
Mrs. Roland J. Hawkins
IN MEMORY OF EDMUND L. HOLCROFT
Mrs. Barbara Holcroft
IN MEMORY OF HARRIETT IMBIEROWICZ
Chadds Ford Area Women’s Club
Ms. Monica Irwin
Ms. Gwen Littleton & Mr. Michael Montoya
Liz & Ted Purcell
IN MEMORY OF PAUL THOMAS MURPHY
John N. Happ
Bryn Mawr Medical Specialists Association
IN MEMORY OF BARBARA NEWBY
Ms. Merri Lee Newby
IN MEMORY OF JOSEPH W. PACKER JR.
Michael & Mary Landa
IN HONOR OF ANNE PISTELL
Mr. & Mrs. David M. Kozak
IN HONOR OF SUZANNE M. REGNIER
(in addition to previous gifts)
Molly Constable
Alexandra Powers
IN MEMORY OF EDWARD ALLEN SPANG
(in addition to previous gifts)
Ellen M. Dickens
Mrs. Lauren Lyons
Nancy Nesselrotte
Nancy Tweed
Christine A. Wampler
Ken & Linda Woodward
IN HONOR OF W. DONALD SPARKS II, ESQ.
(in addition to previous gifts)
The Lefrak Trust Company
IN MEMORY OF GARRET
STEPHEN VOORHEES II
Mr. Pieter Voorhees Jr. &
Ms. Laura Beasley
Mr. Shaun Conway
Mrs. Kina Simeone Clark
Mr. Peter Evans
Mrs. Martha Philpott
Mr. Russell Ressler
John & Marilyn Stone
IN MEMORY OF GEORGE A. “FROLIC” WEYMOUTH
(in addition to previous gifts)
Scott & Martha Schroeder
John & Rita Razze
Ford B. “Pete” Draper Jr. (1942- 2024) was a long-time and well-known resident of Chadds Ford and a former Brandywine trustee. Growing up along the banks of the Brandywine Creek, Ford developed a passion for the outdoors as a child and throughout his life found great joy in hunting, boating, and fly fishing, particularly with his family.
After leaving the area for school where he studied both natural science and business, Ford returned to live on his family farm and in 1982 opened his own investment firm, having honed his financial skills at other companies. Over the years, he was active with many conservation organizations in addition to the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art. In addition to donating one of the Conservancy’s very first easements on his property, he also devoted time and resources to helping the Conservancy and other partners establish the Twin Bridges Rural Historic District which was named to the National Register of Historic Places. Both efforts helped protect the natural resources and historic significance of the area he so loved. We will miss Ford’s zest for life but will be forever grateful for the time and talent he devoted to furthering Brandywine’s mission.
Natalie Black Kohler (1949–2024) was a great supporter and dear friend of the Brandywine over the years. Together with her late husband and former board member, Herbert V. Kohler Jr., they donated Jamie Wyeth’s vibrant 2016 painting, titled Frolic , to the Museum, which they unveiled at Brandywine’s 50th Anniversary Gala in 2017.
Kohler worked in a variety of leadership roles over her 33-year career with Kohler Co., where she helped guide and expand the company into new global markets, provide valuable legal counsel, and lead successful and notable communications and advertising strategies. She also led several charitable initiatives, including the Kohler Foundation. Her family noted her “candor, work ethic, and commitment to fairness and ethics” as hallmark traits that she will be remembered by, in addition to her “gregarious demeanor, infectious smile, sharp wit, and cunning sense of humor.” Kohler’s impressive business career and her many philanthropic activities will leave a long-lasting legacy. We will greatly miss her friendship, along with her valued insight and support of Brandywine’s growth, which helped shape our current trajectory.
P.O. Box 141, Route 1
Chadds Ford, PA 19317
MUSEUM HOURS
Visit www.brandywine.org/hours
INFORMATION brandywine.org/museum information@brandywine.org
610.388.2700
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