09/14/2001

Images of Contentment

John Frederick Kensett and the Connecticut Shore, an exhibit of paintings by one of the nation's most loved landscape painters, will open at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury on September 15, 2001. This will be the first exhibition to focus on the paintings that the artist created from his home and studio in Connecticut in the years following the Civil War. Along with the exhibit there is a wide range of events including lectures, gallery talks, a one-day symposium, excursions and programs for children and families.

Between 1867 and 1872, Kensett painted the views from Contentment Island, on the coast of Darien, over and over. This work captures his intimate understanding of the effects of color and light on the land and water. This was the only land the painter ever owned and his deep perception of nature at this place led to some of his most innovative work. Over the years, many of these paintings have been wrongly attributed to coastal Rhode Island or Massachusetts, but it is now understood that Kensett actually painted more than 60 views of the Connecticut shore.

The exhibit will bring together more than 20 of these paintings and drawings for the first time, pairing the Connecticut scenes with historic photographs, maps and mariner's charts. In addition to Kensett's Connecticut paintings and drawings, the exhibit will include examples of the artist's shoreline paintings done elsewhere for comparison.

There will also be several examples of the painting of Kensett's neighbor, Vincent Colyer. Paintings in the exhibit include work from the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the New York Historical Society, the Montclair Art Museum in New Jersey, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pennsylvania, and the Amon Carter Museum in Texas, as well as paintings from smaller institutions and private collections that have not been publicly exhibited before.

A catalogue of the exhibit will be published with color illustrations of all the paintings and drawings identified as Connecticut scenes, including several that were not available for the exhibit. The catalogue includes a substantial essay on Kensett and his Contentment Island paintings written by Dr. Janice Simon of the University of Georgia, and an essay by Ann Smith, Curator of the Mattatuck Museum, on the artist's experience at Contentment Island. The 52 page catalogue is illustrated with 36 images, including historical views of the scenes from Kensett's studio and maps of the area.

Major funding for this project was provided by the Connecticut Humanities Council and by a private donor. Additional support came from the Waterbury Region Convention and Visitor's Bureau, the Connecticut Office of Tourism, The Connecticut Tourism Council, Fleet Bank, American Bank of Connecticut and American Savings Bank.

The Mattatuck, which specializes in the art of Connecticut, is located on the northwest corner of the Green in Waterbury at 144 West Main St., (two blocks north of exit 21 on I-84.) Public parking is conveniently located behind the museum. Exhibition hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon till 5 p.m. The Museum's acclaimed café serves lunch from 11 .m. to 2 p.m.

Speakers at public programs will include Dr. Franklin Kelly, curator of the National Gallery, Dr. John Driscoll, Director of the Kensett catalogue raisonne, Dr. Roger Stein, one of the authors and an editor of Picturing Old New England, and Dr. David Challinor, Scientist Emeritus, Smithsonian Institution. For a complete schedule, visit the project's website, www.Kensett.org, or call the Mattatuck Museum at 203-753-0381.

Link:

Art Galleries in Connecticut

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