Author’s Note: From the National Archives collection, this contemporaneous 20 minute highlights newsreel covers the sights and sounds from the historic March On Washington for Jobs and Freedom, distributed in 1964. In 2021, I timestamped the music splits, and identified the speakers and performers included in this particular POV reel. (Still missing a few. Can you help?) Re-sharing on this 60th milestone anniversary Aug. 28, 2023.
video title: The March on Washington, 1964 film by the US Information Agency compilation for overseas from the National Archives and Records Administration collection (20 min)
TIMESTAMP OF SPEAKERS AND PERFORMERS APPEARING IN FILM CLIP
Among the speakers and performers on the program (* appear in film clip):
Marian Anderson, Josephine Baker, Joan Baez* (audio early, then w/video 9:38-10:26), Harry Belafonte, Dr. Eugene Carson Blake* (16:59-17:28), Bobby Darin, Ossie Davis* (but only when he introduces Burt Lancaster 10:27), Ruby Dee (co-emcee with Ossie Davis), Bob Dylan, Freedom Singers* with choir (We shall not be moved 7:14 โ 9:06), Dick Gregory, Martin Luther King Jr.* (18:18 โ 18:59 press conference), Lena Horne, Mahalia Jackson, Eva Jessye Choir* (12:41 Freedom is the thing weโre talking about โ Yolanda Clarke on organ), Burt Lancaster* (traveled from Paris to speak, 10:35-12:02), John Lewis* (video only โ standing behind Reuther 17:29), Dr. Benjamin Mays* ( 14:34-15:36 benediction), Odetta, Peter Paul & Mary* (clips & audio of Blowin in the wind and If I had a hammer 3:18-4:33 first set), Asa Philip Randolph* (16:16-16:57 and again intro MLK 18:18), Bayard Rustin* (12:11 video only); Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth* (9:08- 9:27), Walter Reuther* (17:29-18:16), Camilla Williams (stepped up for the National Anthem; with the big crowds, Marian Anderson was too late, and would sing later in program. Williams famous, too, and worked with Jessye on Porgy & Bess.), Roy Wilkins* (13:41-14:28) and Josh White.
Opens with crowd walking and singing โwe stay home and youโll be goneโฆjail for more than a week, all I had was beans to eatโฆbecause my home is Danvilleโ **Can you identify this song?**
Parade and marching band 4:34-5:40.
About the Eva jessye Choir
Eva Jessye Choir at 7:14-9:06 with Freedom singers โWe shall not be movedโ and later โFreedom is the thing weโre talking aboutโ where Eva Jessye herself can be seen directing from back. Can you help identify the soloists- the gorgeous baritone, Robeson-esque at 12:36, and at 18:69 a stunning soprano soaring โWe shall overcomeโ choir version, with crowd? The Eva Jessye Choir was the official choir for the March on Washington. Her long and storied career took off as chorus director for the Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein opera, โFour Saints in Three Actsโ in 1934 and Gershwinโs โPorgy and Bessโ the following year. She worked with Marian Anderson, Paul Robeson and more.
OTHER NOTABLES
Among the notables marching with the crowd and/or mingling with dignitaries and speakers already mentioned above: Faye Anderson, Josephine Baker, James Baldwin, Leon Bibb, Marlon Brando, Diahann Carroll, Tony Curtis, Bobby Darin, Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Franciosa, James Garner, Charlton Heston, Kiyoshi Kuromiya, Joseph Mankiewicz, Rita Moreno, Gordon Parks, Paul Newman, Rosa Parks, Gregory Peck, Sam Peckinpah, Sidney Poitier, Jackie Robinson, Bill Russell, Robert Ryan, and Joanne Woodward. Senators present: Phillip Hart (D-Mich), Wayne Morse (D-OR), William Proxmire (D-WI), and Mayor Wagner (NYC).
The ‘Lincoln Memorial’ program and the newsreel do not mention one tragic impetus for this specific date: Emmett Till (1941-1955) lynching happened August 28
King delivered an earlier iteration of the sermon in Detroit, orchestrated by Rev. C.L. Franklin, Aretha Franklinโs father. During the march, news spread that W. E. B. DuBois died the previous night in Ghana. So much hope and progress, and mere weeks later, retaliation. The Birmingham Baptist church bombing was on September 15, 1963. Within five years of the March on Washington, Malcolm X and King were killed.
“Weโre going to march. Weโre going to walk together. Weโre going to stand together. Weโre going to sing together. Weโre going to stay together. Weโre going to moan together. Weโre going to groan together and after a while, we will have freedom, freedom, and freedom now. And we all shall be free.”
Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth not formally asked for the program but asked to speak that day, one of many adjustments on the fly, rose to the occasion, primed the crowd
1)Who were the choir members that day? [Eva Jessye Choirย at 7:14-9:06 with Freedom singers โWe shall not be movedโ and later โFreedom is the thing weโre talking aboutโ where Eva Jessye herself can be seen directing from back.] 2)Can you help identify the choir and soloists- the gorgeous baritone, Robeson-esque at min 12:36, and the women (with earrings )at min 18:69, and the stunning soprano soloist soaring โWe shall overcomeโ choir version, with crowd?
โARC Identifier 49737 / Local Identifier 306.3394. Scenes from Civil Rights March in Washington, D.C., August 1963. People walking up sidewalk; gathering on Mall, standing, singing. Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, crowd gathered on the Mall. People marching with signs, many men wearing UAW hats. People at speakers podium, men with guitars. Crowds outside of the White House, sign: The Catholic University of America. Band, people marching down street. Many signs, including All D.C. wants to vote! Home Rule for DC; Alpha Phi Alpha; and Woodstock Catholic Seminary for Equal Rights. Lincoln Memorial with crowds gathered around reflecting pool. People singing and clapping at speakers platform. Signs, people clapping. Man speaking, woman playing guitar and singing at podium. More speakers and shots of the crowd. A chorus, NAACP men in crowd. Close-ups of people in crowd with bowed heads. Shots taken from above of White House. More speakers, including Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Women at podium singing We Shall Overcome. Crowd swaying, singing, holding hands.โ
1963
1963 GORDON PARKS COLOR PHOTOGRAPH
photo: installation view at The Cooper Gallery Harvard, Gordon Parks exhibition 2019 by C. Ryan โ Parksโ photo journalist and cinematic chops in this sea of us momentous moment, March on Washington, 1963, view from Lincoln Memorial to Washington Monument. [*Lincoln designed by Daniel Chester French unveiled 1922; Washington Monument designed by Robert Mills; completed by Thomas Casey and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, dedicated 1884.] For more about Gordon Parks work in Gloucester, Mass. see 2012-14 here
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have a Dream” speech March On Washington Lincoln Memorial 1963.
Asa Philip Randolph introduced MLK: “the moral leader of our nation”, “campaign against the citadel of racism”, “Martin Luther King”, “J.” “R.”– you can listen below in rare film clips shot on that day
1963
photo: installation view at The Cooper Gallery Harvard, Gordon Parks exhibition 2019 by C. Ryan — Parks’ photo journalist and cinematic chops in this sea of us momentous moment, March on Washington, 1963, view from Lincoln Memorial to Washington Monument. [*Lincoln designed by Daniel Chester French unveiled 1922; Washington Monument designed by Robert Mills; completed by Thomas Casey and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, dedicated 1884.] For more about Gordon Parks work in Gloucester, Mass. see my series 2012-14 here
The March on Washington, 1964 film by the US Information Agency compilation for overseas from the National Archives and Records Administration collection (20 min)
Among the speakers and performers (* appear in film clip): Marian Anderson, Josephine Baker, Joan Baez* (audio early, then w/video 9:38-10:26), Harry Belafonte, Dr. Eugene Carson Blake* (16:59-17:28), Bobby Darin, Ossie Davis* (but only when he introduces Burt Lancaster 10:27), Ruby Dee (co-emcee with Ossie Davis), Bob Dylan, Freedom Singers* with choir (We shall not be moved 7:14 – 9:06), Dick Gregory, Martin Luther King Jr.* (18:18 – 18:59 press conference), Lena Horne, Mahalia Jackson, Eva Jessye Choir* (12:41 Freedom is the thing we’re talking about – Yolanda Clarke on organ), Burt Lancaster* (traveled from Paris to speak, 10:35-12:02), John Lewis* (video only – standing behind Reuther 17:29), Dr. Benjamin Mays* ( 14:34-15:36 benediction), Odetta, Peter Paul & Mary* (clips & audio of Blowin in the wind and If I had a hammer 3:18-4:33 first set), Asa Philip Randolph* (16:16-16:57 and again intro MLK 18:18), Bayard Rustin* (12:11 video only); Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth* (9:08- 9:27), Walter Reuther* (17:29-18:16), Camilla Williams (stepped up for the National Anthem; with the big crowds, Marian Anderson was too late, and would sing later in program. Williams famous, too, and worked with Jessye on Porgy & Bess.), Roy Wilkins* (13:41-14:28) and Josh White.
Opens with crowd walking and singing “we stay home and you’ll be gone…jail for more than a week, all I had was beans to eat…because my home is Danville”; do you know the song?
Parade and marching band 4:34-5:40.
Eva Jessye Choir at 7:14-9:06 with Freedom singers “We shall not be moved” and later “Freedom is the thing we’re talking about” where Eva Jessye herself can be seen directing from back. I don’t know the soloists- the gorgeous baritone, Robeson-esque at 12:36, and at 18:69 a stunning soprano soaring “We shall overcome” choir version, with crowd. The Eva Jessye Choir was the official choir for the March on Washington. Her long and storied career took off as chorus director for the Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein opera, “Four Saints in Three Acts” in 1934 and Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” the following year. She worked with Marian Anderson, Paul Robeson and more.
Weโre going to march. Weโre going to walk together. Weโre going to stand together. Weโre going to sing together. Weโre going to stay together. Weโre going to moan together. Weโre going to groan together and after a while, we will have freedom, freedom, and freedom now. And we all shall be free
Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth not formally asked for the program but asked to speak that day, one of many adjustments on the fly, rose to the occasion, primed the crowd
Notables marching with the crowd and/or mingling with dignitaries and speakers included: Faye Anderson, Josephine Baker, James Baldwin, Leon Bibb, Marlon Brando, Diahann Carroll, Tony Curtis, Bobby Darin, Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Franciosa, James Garner, Charlton Heston, Kiyoshi Kuromiya, Joseph Mankiewicz, Rita Moreno, Gordon Parks, Paul Newman, Rosa Parks, Gregory Peck, Sam Peckinpah, Sidney Poitier, Jackie Robinson, Bill Russell, Robert Ryan, and Joanne Woodward. Senators present: Phillip Hart (D-Mich), Wayne Morse (D-OR), and William Proxmire (D-WI), and Mayor Wagner (NYC).
During the march, news spread that W. E. B. DuBois died the previous night in Ghana. King delivered an earlier iteration of the sermon in Detroit, orchestrated by Rev. C.L. Franklin, Aretha Franklin’s father.
So much hope and progress, and mere weeks later, retaliation. The Birmingham Baptist church bombing was on September 15, 1963. Within five years of the March on Washington, Malcolm X and King were killed.
archival description of the film: “ARC Identifier 49737 / Local Identifier 306.3394. Scenes from Civil Rights March in Washington, D.C., August 1963. People walking up sidewalk; gathering on Mall, standing, singing. Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, crowd gathered on the Mall. People marching with signs, many men wearing UAW hats. People at speakers podium, men with guitars. Crowds outside of the White House, sign: The Catholic University of America. Band, people marching down street. Many signs, including All D.C. wants to vote! Home Rule for DC; Alpha Phi Alpha; and Woodstock Catholic Seminary for Equal Rights. Lincoln Memorial with crowds gathered around reflecting pool. People singing and clapping at speakers platform. Signs, people clapping. Man speaking, woman playing guitar and singing at podium. More speakers and shots of the crowd. A chorus, NAACP men in crowd. Close-ups of people in crowd with bowed heads. Shots taken from above of White House. More speakers, including Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Women at podium singing We Shall Overcome. Crowd swaying, singing, holding hands.”
2013 MFA, Boston John Wilson exhibition of his many MLK studies
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Last Chance! These must see 2019 shows are closing soon: Don’t miss ICA Watershed Purple (installation view above) closing September 2;ย DeCordova New England Biennial and the Provincetown Art Association & Museum’s 1945 Chaim Gross exhibition close September 15; and catch Renoir at the Clark before it’s gone September 22nd.
A few of the listed upcoming exhibitions to note: the NEW building and exhibits at PEM are opening September 2019; Homer at the Beach is on display at Cape Ann Museum thru December 1 (and catch a Richard Ormond lecture on John Singer Sargent’s Charcoals Sept.28 at Cape Ann Museum (ahead of the Morgan exhibition opening October);ย three new shows opening at MFA; Gordon Parks at Addison; and Alma Thomas at Smith. A Seuss-focused experience was pronounced destined for Boston, ahead of its TBD venue, by the LA entertainment company co-founders. Some shows I’ve already visited and may write about, mostly from a dealer’s perspective as that is my background. Exhibition trends continue to evolve and reveal new directions. A few patterns I see in the exhibition titles: what’s annointed for display and how it’s contextualized (corrective labels); immersive exhibits; revisiting colonial methodologies and themes; major solo surveys; women artists (and this upcoming season boost underscoring womens’ suffrage and 100th anniversary of the ratification of women’s right to vote); illustration; environment; and issues of humanity and migration. The list is illustrated with images of the sites. All photographs mine unless otherwise noted. Right click or hover to see info; click to enlarge.ย – Catherine Ryan
The guide –ย Massachusetts Museum Guide, Fall 2019
Note from author: The list below is alphabetized by town, and details upcoming exhibitions at each venue as well as some that are closing soon. Click the word “website” (color gray on most monitors) for hyperlinks that redirect to venues. For a list alphabetically sorted by venue, see my Google Map (with a Candy Trail overlay) “Art Museums in Massachusetts”ย hereย and embedded at the end of this post. I pulled the map together several years ago. No apps to download or website jumping. Easy scroll down so you don’tย miss an exhibit that’s closer than you think to one that you may already be exploring.ย A few are open seasonally (summer) or weekends only–call first to check before visiting. Major new architectural building projects are underway at BU (closed) and MIT. The 54th Regiment Memorial on Boston Common will undergo restoration. Get ready for close observation of conservation in process.ย – Catherine
AMESBURY
1. John Greenleaf Whittier historic Home and Museumwebsiteย
18. Boston Harbor Islands National and State Parkwebsite
(photos show info gateway on the Greenway near the ferry access to Boston Harbor Islands)
Summer 2019 public art: Boston Harbor [Re]creation The Project: Artists Marsha Parrilla; Robin MacDonald-Foley; Brian Sonia-Wallace more(Jury: Luis Cotto MCC; Lucas Cowan, The Greenway; Celena illuzzi, National Parks; Caroly Lewenberg; Denise Sarno-Bucca DCR; Courtney Shape, City of Boston; Rebecca Smerling Boston Harbor Now; Kera Washingon; Cynthia Woo, Pao Arts Center)
Unveiled 2019 – Super A (Stefan Thelen)ย Resonance,ย 2019, latex and spray paint
Note to Greenway (see photo notes below): food trucks by the stop should be relocated to other food truck areas (and maybe one tree) to optimize and welcome sight line to the Greenway and public spaces from streets, sidewalk, and South Station. There are pauses elsewhere along the lattice park links, and a generous approach past the wine bar. The temporary commissioned mural could extend verso (or invite a second artist) so that the approach from Zakim Bridge/RT1/93North is as exciting as the approach from Cape Cod.
Skip the app AI download– swamped my phone battery despite free WiFi on the Greenway.
See complete list of 2019 public art currently on view at The Greenway here
The Greenway packs a lot of punch in a compressed area; its lattice of dynamic public spaces and quiet passages are an easy stroll into the North End or along the HarborWalk to the ICA, roughly similar in size and feel as walking Battery Park and Hudson River Park in New York City.
photo credit: Grounds help | College students from Boston University volunteering before the semester kicks off at The Greenway, Boston MAย ยฉ c ryan _20190828_
p.s. Need to add ICA to The Greenway wayfindingย
24. Innovation and Design building (aka Boston Design Building makeover in process in winter 2016 photos posted here)ย website
Through September 15, 2019 BIG PLANS: Picturing Social Reformmore
Through October 20, 2019 Contemporary Artย Joan Jonas: i know why they left more
Through January 14, 2020 Anne H. Fitzpatrick Facade Laura Owens: Untitledย
October 17, 2019 – January 20, 2020 In the Company of Artists featuring Sophie Calle, Bharti Kher, Luisa Lambri, Laura Owens, Rachel Perry, Dayanita Singh, and Su-Mei Tse
Through September 28, 2019 Annual Regional Juried Exhibition 2019ย Winners announced September 21, 2019. The 2018 gold winner, Leon Doucette of Gloucester, exhibiting again, and Melissa Cooper.ย more
Through September 2, 2019 at The Water Shed, ICA Bostonย John Akomfrah: Purplemoreย
What’s coming in 2020 to The Water Shed? Still TBA
Through September 22, 2019 ICAย Less Is a Bore: Maximilist Art & Designmore
Nice installation with a few surprises and thoughtful connection to other exhibtions on view. (The LeWit and Johns selections triggered what about that work or artist? I wish May Stevens and Harmony Hammond were included and my list grew from there. That’s part of the fun of the exhibit.)
September 24 – February 7, 2021 ICAย Yayoi Kusama: Love is Callingmore
September 24 – February 7, 2021 ICAย Beyond Infinity: Contemporary Art after Kusamamore
October 23, 2019 – January 26, 2020 ICAย When Home Won’t Let You Stay: Migration through Contemporary Artmore
Through December 31, 2019 ICAย 2019 James and Audrey Foster Prize Boston area artists: Rashin Fahandej; Josephine Halvorson; Lavaughan Jenkins; Helga Roht Poznanskimoreย
September 13, 2019 – May 3, 2021 Women Take the Floor (The fugitive textiles and printmaking sections will rotate outย Part 1 May 2020) at the MFAย moreย
October 12, 2019 – August 9, 2020 Weng Family Collection of Chinese Painting: Family and Friends at the MFAย more
October 13, 2019 – January 20, 2020 Ancient Nubia Now at the MFA moreย
Through October 14, 2019 Community Arts Mindful Mandlas at the MFA
Through December 15, 2019 Viewpoints: Photographs from art dealer Howard Greenberg Collection at the MFAย moreย
Through January 20, 2020 Make Believe: Five Contemporary photographers at the MFA more
Through January 20, 2020 Kay Nielsen’s Enchanted Vision at the MFAย more
Through February 20, 2020 Hyman Bloom: Matters of Life and Death at the MFAย more
Through February 23, 2020ย Jackson Pollock |ย Katharina Grosse Abstraction on a Massive Scale at the MFAย more
March 1, 2020ย – May 25, 2010 Lucian Freud: The Self Portraits at the MFAย moreย
Through March 8, 2020 Collecting Stories: Mid Century Experiment at the MFA
Through March 29, 2020 Boston Made Arts and Crafts Jewelry and Metalwork at the MFAย more
Through June 30, 2020 Conservation in Action: Japanes Buddhist Sculpureย at the MFA
33. Otis House Museum, Historic New England websiteย historic house museum
41. Museum of American Bird Art at Mass Audubon website
Through September 15, 2019 Under Pressure– Birds in the Printed Landscape: Linocuts by Sherrie Yorkmore
Through September 29, 2019 The Shorebird Decoys of Gardner & Dextermore
CAMBRIDGE
Harvard –ย
42.ย Harvard Art Museums (Fogg; Busch-Reisinger; and Arthur M. Sackler) website
Why do any of the Harvard museums charge an entrance fee?
Through January 5, 2020 Winslow Homer: Eyewitness (in conjunction with Cape Ann Museum Homer exhibition) University Research Gallery
Through January 5, 2020 Early Christian Africa: Arts of Transformation
Through January 5, 2020 Critical Printing
Through January 5, 2020 Crossing Lines, Constructing Home: Displacement and Belonging in Contemporary Art
Through November 14, 2021 On Site Clay — Modeling African Design
43. Harvard – Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts website
Through September 29, 2019 Anna Oppermann: Drawings
The Carpenter Center was closed for an event on the day I scheduled to see the Oppermann exhibition – good reminder to call first for the must see shows on your list.
ย Jonathan Berger: An Introduction to Nameless Love
Harvard Film Archive weekly film series
44. Harvard – ‘The Cooper Gallery’ / The Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African and African American Artย website
September 16 – December 13, 2019 The Sound of My Soul: Frank Stewart’s Life in Jazz photography, curated by Ruth Fine
the Gordon Park exhibition that recently closed was on my list of top shows for 2019
Through October 20, 2019 Wrestling With Angels Icons from the Prosopon School of Iconology and Iconographymore
November 15, 2019 – March 8, 2020 Emil Hoppe: Photographs from the Ballet Russesmore
CONCORD
64. Louisa May Alcott Orchard Houseย 399 Lexington Road, Concord, Massachusetts 01742, United States (978) 369-4118ย guided tours year round plus special events
Through October 20, 2019 Ship of State…Paintings by Robert Henry
Through December 21, 2019 Interpreting Their World: Varujan Boghosian, Carmen Cicero, Elspeth Halvorsen and Pual Resika
DUXBURYย
71. The Art Complex Museum (Weyerhaeuser collection) website
August 18 – November 10, 2019 Steve Novick: Approximationย
September 15 -January 12, 2020 Draw the Line
September 15 – January 12, 2020 Rotations: Highlights From the Permanent Collection Nocturne includingย Lowell Birge Harrison (American, 1854โ1929), Suzanne Hodes (American, b. 1939), Kawase Hasui (Japanese, 1883โ1957), George Inness (American, 1825โ1894), Johan Barthold Jongkind (Dutch, 1819โ1891) Martin Lewis (American, 1881โ1962), andย Henri Eugene Le Sidaner (French, 1862-1939)
November 17 – February 16, 2020 George Herman Found Paintings
EAST SANDWICH
72. Thornton W. Burgess Society Green Briar Nature Center & Jam Kitchen websiteย *may join Cape Cod Museum of Natural History in Brewster to combine and become the Cape Cod Museums of Natural History
September 8th and 15th, 2019 Clam Basket Making Workshop
September 12-13th,2019ย ย The Great Rowing Adventure, the first collaborative rowing program with Lowellโs Boat Shop and the Essex Shipbuilding Museum
74. TOHP Burnham Town Hall & Library, Essexwebsiteย don’t miss Alexia Parker paper collage
Through September 1, 2019 84th Regional Exhibition of Art and Craft
Through September 1, 2019 Broad Strokes: American Painting of the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries from the FAM collection
September 7, 2019 – January 5, 2020 Sageย Sohier/David Hilliard: Our Parents, Ourselvesmore
September 21, 2019 – November 10, 2019 Adria Arch: Reframing Eleanormore
September 21, 2019 Daniela Rivera: Labored Landscapes (Where Hand Meets Ground)moreย
September 21, 2019 – January 12, 2020 David Katz: Earth Waresmore
Ongoing Evoking Eleanor; Discover Ancient Egypt; Thurston sculpture by Douglas Kornfeld
FRAMINGHAM
76. Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham State Univ.ย ย website
September 7 – October 13, 2019 Populux Steven Duede | Sean Sullivan on display in the works on paper gallery
September 7 – December 30, 2019 Dressed! Exhibiting artists include Catherine Bertulli, Jodi Colella, Merill Comeau, Mia Cross, Nancy Grace Horton, and Marky Kauffmann
September 7 – May 2020 Highlights from the Permanent Collection
1951 notice indicates AAA show and artist’s studio in Carnegie Hall in NY and Bradford building in Gloucester, Mass.
The Art of Winslow Wilson & Pico Miran: Two Artists โ One Life
June 8 โ July 8, 2019
Rockport Art Association and Museum
12 Main Street, Rockport, MA
There are about forty Winslow Wilson (1892-1974) paintings in the exhibit and a new catalogue. I look foward to considering his work in person.
Back in February 2017, I wrote about Wilson/Miran in response to a GMG query from the artist’s granddaughter, Claudia Wilson-Howard, and her painstaking research and writing about his mysterious life and forgotten art, and filled in more context. Her excellent work is the genesis for the museum show and rediscovery of the artist.ย Wilson was a member and teacher at the Rockport Art Association.ย For local readers, Claudia’s online catalogue about his workย ย www.winslowwilson.comย helpfully provides some Gloucester addresses associated with Wilson.
June 21, 1951: Bradford Building, 209 Main Room 208, Gloucester, MA
August 1, 1951: Marine Basin, E. Gloucester, MA
June 18, 1952: Bradford Building, 209 Main Room 208, Gloucester, MA
July 26, 1955: Bradford Building, 209 Main Room 208, Gloucester, MA
1967 maybe 195 Main Street, Gloucester, MA
1969 maybe 195 Main Street, Gloucester, MA
June 2, 1971: PO. Box 414, Gloucester, MA
I added these:ย 21 Est 15th Street, 154 East 39th Street, Carnegie Hall, 3 Washington Square North in Greenwich Village, Woodstock, N.Y., and Lime Rock, CT.
page from Gloucester’s annual “Cape Ann Festival for the Arts” 1954. Artist Margaret Fitzhugh Brown selected his work for her group.
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โโฆI think a history of Christianity, which is a kind of story, serves us better if it has all the loose ends, the complexities, the multiple voices, the difficulties, the things that donโt add up, the roads not takenโall of that,โ she says. โWe need complexity for the complexity of our lives.โย
โKarenโs book really shifted the discussion,โ says Princeton religion scholar Elaine Pagels, Ph.D. โ70, LL.D. โ13, whose 1979 bestsellerย The Gnostic Gospelsย dislodged the idea of early Christianity as a unified movement and launched the conversation thatย What Is Gnosticism?ย later took up. โKarenโs book showed how those termsโโGnosticism, heresy, orthodoxyโโwere coined, how those concepts were shaped, and how late they came into scholarly discourse,โ says Pagels. โItโs like clearing away the brush, so that people could look at these texts with a much more open mind.โ
“As an undergraduate at the University of Montana in the early 1970s, King took a religious studies course from John Turner, one of the scholars working to edit and translate the Nag Hammadi texts. In class, she and other students read unpublished drafts of English translations that the wider public wouldnโt see for several years. It was electrifying. King had never imagined that there were early Christian writings beyond the Bible. โWhy these texts and not those?โ she wondered. And: โWho decided, and why?โ
I was fortunate enough to spend another day at Endicott College photographing the Boston Cannons Major League Lacrosse game….this time against none other than the New York Lizards and their Paul Rabil. The Boston/New York rivalry exists on the lacrosse field as it does on the court, the rink, and in the end zones of other major league sports.ย Both teams were phenomenal to watch and at many points during the game the score was tied.ย After an unreal beginning to the 4th quarter, the Cannons were able to rally and finish the game up 15-13.
As with before, I was struck by not only the fast paced and action packed game, but also the incredibly fan-friendly environment.ย Lacrosse is no joke and the speed, agility, and fierceness demonstrated on the field is in stark contrast to the friendly and engaging fan experience that takes place on the sidelines after the game.ย Which simply adds to its appeal.
The two games at Endicott College were part of the Boston Cannons Cannons in Your Community initiative that’s goal was to bring Major League Lacrosse to both the North and South Shore areas.ย The South Shore games took place in Hingham.
Endicott was a spectacular venue for a large sporting event and nothing would make me happier than hearing that the Cannons will be returning next summer.ย That being said, I look forward to heading into Boston later this season to catch the action on their home field at Harvard Stadium.
The Cannons’ next home game is on Saturday, July 28th at 5:00 pm
Justice Lowy’s JUDGEMENT was released April 5, 2018.ย The Museum may sell Shuffleton’s Barbershop, and — via Sotheby’s– the remaining 39 works free of any restrictions.
“The museum has satisfied its burden of establishing that is has become impossible or impracticable to administer the Museum strictly in accordance with its chartiable purpose, thus entitling the Museum to relief under the doctrine of equitable deviation. Accordingly the court allows the Museum’s request for equitable relief to sell the designated artwork.”
Justice Lowy MEMO OF UNDERSTANDING
Reaction from Sotheby’s Auction House:
โWe are very pleased that the court approved the agreement reached between the Berkshire Museum and the Massachusetts Attorney General. We look forward to working with the museum to ensure a bright future for the people of Pittsfield and Western Massachusetts.โ Judge Lowy’s decision came in just in time to meet the auction’s press deadline clearing for art sales this spring, else sales would have been pushed back till the fall at the earliest. The catalogue pages are ready from last fall’s prep.
Reaction fromย Elizabeth McGraw, President, Berkshire Museum Board of Trustees:
โThis is great news for the people of Berkshire County and everyone who visits the Berkshire Museum for one-of-a-kind experiences in history, art, and science. We recognize this decision may not please those who have opposed the museumโs plans. Still, we hope people will be able to move forward in a constructive way to help us secure and strengthen the future of this museum, at a time when our community needs it more than ever. โ
โSave the Art-Save the Museum continues to oppose the sale of the Berkshire Museumโs art treasures and its unrestricted use of the resulting funds. We also regret the judge’s disregard of the public trust in which the museum held its collections. The impending sale will not only diminish Pittsfield as a city claiming to be of cultural import to Berkshire County, but will reverberate destructively for years through collections similarly held in trust throughout the state and country. As a group, we will make a more detailed statement after meeting in person to consider the loss to our community and its impact.โ
1953
Have a look back at an inspiring 1965 Berkshire Eagle profile about Berkshire Museum Director Stuart C. Henry, and an earlier feature from theย Berkshire Evening Eagle, publishedย Thursday, Aug. 20, 1953, heralding the Berkshire Museum’s 50th anniversary. Both convey the museum’s seamless blend of high art, science, community and education.
From the United States Hockey Hall of Fame printed matter, hockey player and stellar hockey coach, Ben Smith:
Ben Smithย (Gloucester, Mass.) served as head coach of the U.S. Olympic Womenโs Ice Hockey Team in 1998, 2002 and 2006, leading Team USA to the first-ever gold medal in womenโs hockey at the 1998 Winter Olympic Games. It was the crowning achievement in a storied coaching career.ย
Described by his players as a direct and passionate perfectionist, Smith compiled a 37-7 record in IIHF Womenโs World Championship and Olympic competition during his tenure at the helm from 1996 to 2006, a span that included two gold medals, six silver medals and one bronze medal. And while Smithโs high-profile exploits as a womenโs hockey coach gained him enshrinement into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2016, his hall-of-fame rรฉsumรฉ extends far beyond a single brilliant decade.ย
The son of a U.S. Senator*, Smith was a standout hockey player at Harvard University in the late 1960s. After graduation, he served as an assistant menโs hockey coach at the University of Massachusetts Amherst while also coaching high school hockey in Gloucester. He eventually became a menโs hockey assistant coach at Yale University, where he served for five seasons before joining Jack Parkerโs coaching staff at Boston University. During his nine seasons at BU, the Terriers made three NCAA Tournament appearances and won four Beanpot Tournament championships.ย
Smithโs first taste of international competition came in 1985 when he was named an assistant coach for the U.S. National Junior Team. He served in a similar capacity in 1986 and 1987 and was also an assistant coach for the 1987 U.S. Menโs National Team. In 1988, Smith was appointed as an assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic Menโs Ice Hockey Team. He soon earned his first head coaching appointment, taking the helm at Dartmouth College in 1990 and then moving to the same role at Northeastern University, where he led the Huskies to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 1994.
Smith remains active with USA Hockey serving in a player evaluation role for many international teams, including the gold medal-winning 2017 U.S. National Junior Team.”
2017. Christies, the New York auction power house, is currently marketing the Peggy and David Rockefeller art collection across the (art)world–Hong Kong, London, and Los Angeles– before the spring 2018 live sale back in New York. The collection includes a painting by American artist, Edward Hopper (1882-1967), that was inspired by Gloucester.
Cape Ann Graniteis one of the rare Hopper paintings remaining that’s not currently held in a museum. There are more than 110 Gloucester houses and vistas depicted by Edward Hopper.
Advance promotion of Christie’s upcoming Rockefeller auction have yet to illustrate the painting, although the artist’s recognizable name is mentioned in every press release and the painting is included in the world tour highlights exhibit. The catalogue for the sale is not ready.
two Former owners of Cape Ann Granite have in common connections to Harvard, banking, and art collecting
Billionaire and philanthropist, David Rockefeller (1915-2017), was a Harvard graduate and longtime CEO of Chase Manhattan bank (later JP Morgan Chase). His art appreciation began early, influenced by both parents and the Rockefeller family collections. His father was the only son of John D. Rockefeller, a co-founder of Standard Oil Corp. His mother, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (1874-1948), helped establish the Museum of Modern Art, and the fund in her name helped secure Hopper’s Corner Saloon for the permanent collection. Several family members were Trustees. After his mother’s death, David took her Trustee seat.
Like David Rockefeller, the first owner to acquire Cape Ann Granite was a Harvard graduate, art collector and financier, about the same age as Rockefeller’s parents, and Hopper. Benjamin Harrison Dibblee (1876 โ 1945) was the scion of California businessman, Albert Dibblee. The family estate “Fernhill” was built in 1870 in Ross, California (later the Katharine Branson School). Benjamin H Dibblee was a Harvard graduate (1895-1899), an All-American Crimson football player (halfback and Team Captain), and head coach (1899-1900). W.H. Lewis, a famous center rush, was the Assistant Coach. (Harvard football dominated under this coaching team. See the standings below the “read more’ break.) In 1909, Dibblee donated his father’s historic papers concerning California’s secret Civil War group “The Home Guard of 1861” including its muster roll and pledge of loyalty to Lincoln and the Union cause.Dibblee was an alternate delegate from California to the Republican National Convention in 1912. As a Lt. Col. he was listed as one of five California committee members for the American Legion in 1919. He was a big wheel investment banker at EH Rollins & Sons, a firm impacted by the Wall Street crash of 1929.
Wikipedia photo of Dibblee from The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association football guide, 1899
It’s fun to think about Dibblee possibly visiting Gloucester during his time at Harvard, like so many students and faculty; then, decades later, acquiring a major Hopper because it was both a modern masterpiece, and a Gloucester landscape.
[The Hopper Cape Ann Granite painting has me itching to research all Crimson team photos– not simply varsity nor football circa 1895-97– because of the (remote) chance of another Gloucester-Harvard and athletic connection. In 1895 Dibblee was involved with sports at Harvard at the same time as author and Olympian, James Connolly. In 1899 both were involved with football; Dibblee as the Harvard coach and Connolly as Gloucester’s athletic director and football player*. Maybe they scrimmaged. Maybe they scrimmaged in Gloucester. *scroll down to notes below]
Hopper’s artist inventory log pages for ‘1928 oils’ itemizes Cape Ann Granite as follows: “Sent on from Gloucester September 27, 1928, 3 canvases. Cape Ann Granite, 29 x 40, Green picture on hill with rocks. Fresh green in foreground. Slanting shadows cast by rocks and boulders. Sky blue with clouds. Small tree on R. BH Mr. Dibblee 49 Wall Streeet of San Francisco (Lived near 14 miles from San Francisco. Knows Alex Baldwin in Calif. (SanFrancisco) 1500 -1/3. 1000 on June 5, 194 ”
Image: From Hopper’s Artist’s ledger -Book, ink graphite on paper, Whitney Museum of American Art, Gift of Lloyd Goodrich
The pencil annotation “Modern Masters EH 1933” accompanying the thumbnail sketch for the painting on the right of this entry may be mixed up. There was a “Modern Masters” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) held in 1940 but it did not include this painting on the checklist. There was an Edward Hopper Retrospective held at MoMA October 30โDecember 8 in 1933 that did list this Gloucester painting, and the lender, Dibblee. (Incidentally, two other 1928 oils catalogued on that same inventory page, Manhattan Bridge Loop and Freightcars Gloucester, would both end up in the Addison Gallery collection at Phillips Academy.)
The Pure Landscapes
Excerpts from the 1933 MoMa Hopper retrospective exhibition catalogue:
“…When Hopper went to art school the swagger brushstroke of such painters as Duveneck, Henri, and Chase was much admired. Perhaps as a reaction against this his own brushwork has grown more and more modest until it is scarcely noticeable. He shuns all richness of surface save where it helps him to express a particular sensation…in spite of his matter-of-factness, Hopper is a master of pictorial drama. But his actors are rarely human: the houses and thoroughfares of humanity are there, but they are peopled more often by fire hydrants, lamp posts, barber poles and telegraph poles than by human beings. When he does introduce figures among his buildings they often seem merely incidental. Perhaps during his long years as an illustrator he grew tired drawing obviously dramatic figures for magazines. Hopper has painted a few pictures in which there are neither men nor houses. The pure landscapes Cape Ann Granite (9), Hills, South Truro (16), Camel’s Hump (22) occupy a place apart in his work. they reveal a power which is disconcertingly hard to analyze. Cezanne and Courbet and John Crome convey sometimes a similar depth of feeling towards the earth and nature…” Alfred Barr, 1933
“In its most limited sense, modern art would seem to concern itself only with the technical innovations of the period. In its larger and to me irrevocable sense it is the art of all time; of definite personalities that remain forever modern by the fundamental truth that is in them. It makes Moliere at his greatest as new as Ibsen, or Giotto as modern as Cezanne.” Edward Hopper, 1933
Yale owns a related watercolor by Edward Hopper, Cape Ann Pasture
Proceeds from the sale of the Peggy and David Rockefeller art collection at Christie’s next spring will benefit 10 selected charities. Perhaps a magnanimous collector might consider this Hopper Dogtown purchase for the Cape Ann Museum, a philanthropic twofer in this case, and needed. Cape Ann Museum does not possess a Hopper Gloucester painting and if any museum should, it’s CAM. We need to eventually guide back the Hopper painting Gloucester Street, too.
Christie’s
To date Christie’s auction house has promoted primarily a Picasso and Matisse as the star lots from this collection of masterpieces because of their hefty valuation. The presale estimate for the Matisse Odalisque coucheฬe aux magnolias (1923) is 50 million. The Picasso painting, Fillette ร la corbeille fleurie (1905), a “Rose period Masterwork”, is estimated to top 70 million. The presale estimate for the Hopper is 6 million to 8 million.
Image: Christie’s first press roll out features the Picasso and Matisse.โNot the Hopper
Picasso/Stein/Toklas/Rockefeller
The Picasso was displayed in the library of the Rockefeller Upper East Side mansion at 146 East 65th Street. The first owners were Gertrude and Leo Stein. Gertrude Stein hated it though her brother bought it anyway. After Alice B. Toklas (Stein’s partner) died in 1965, MoMa trustees drew lots and were offered first pass on the legendary Stein collection. David Rockefeller won first pick, and selected the Picasso. I wonder how it will fare in this #metoo awakening. At the time of her death, Toklas had long been evicted from their Paris home as she had no legal standing nor benefit from any estate sales.
installation Leo and Gertrude SteinImage: installation Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas
Williams 29-0 Bowdoin 13-0 Wesleyan 20-0 Amherst 41-0 at Army (Westpoint) 18-0 Bates 29-0 Brown 11-0 Carlisle 22-10 Penn 16-0 Dartmouth 11-0 Yale 0-0 TIE
1900: 10-1
Wesleyan 24-0 Williams 12-0 Bowdoin 12-0 Amherst 18-0 Columbia 24-0 Bates 41-0 Army 29-0 Carlisle 17-5 Penn 17-5 Brown 11-6 Yale 0-28
Harvard Crimson Football team 1900
**I wrote about Connolly in a prior GMG post. “While still twenty-five pounds underweight from tropic fever, I took a job as physical director of the Gloucester Athletic Club. I played football on the Athletic Club eleven, spent the fall and winter (1899-1900) there, chucked that job in the spring, took a steerage trip to England, looked the London slums over, and went on to Paris, to take in the Paris Exposition, and, incidentally, compete in the Second Olympic Games.”
Image: James Brendan Connolly 1896 Olympics wiki commons image from Bulgaria State Archives
Riley James, a Junior at Barnstable High School and two time Boston Herald All Scholastic gave $1000 to a cause near and dear to her heart: Cape Cod Champs Special Olympics. She won the money from earning the distinction ofย Gatorade MA Volleyball Player of the Year.ย Riley went on to win the national Gatorade Play it Forward contest which awarded an additional $10,000! Riley wrote about her friend, Sara, and the programs in Barnstable schools and Cape Cod Champs where she volunteers.ย Sara is my goddaughter.
Coach Tom Turco led the Barnstable girls volleyball team to 18 Division One State Championships, the most wins in Massachusetts girls’ volleyball history. Turco established adapted physical education in Barnstable.
“Everyone has their needs, just in different ways,” (Coach) Turcoย
“You’re only as successful as the will of your players,” Turco said. “You have to practice and take time to develop the will of your players.”ย
Sara loves sports and manages the high school volleyball team. Here she is #16 with the Cape Cod Champs volleyball team at Special Olympics, Harvard, Boston MA.ย
Cape Cod Champs – team before game (riley speaking with sara)
Waiting for the next volleyball game Riley and Sara with Cape Cod Champs
volleyball Special Olympics Harvard field House Cape Cod Champs
The Cape Cod Champs Special Olympics equivalent organization here in Gloucester and throughout Cape Ann is Cape Ann SNAP. Learn more about theย Cape Ann Special Needs Assistance Programย http://capeannsnap.org/ Localย friends and supporters include: CATA, Azorean, North Shore 104.9, Dunkin Donuts, The Bridge Cape Ann, Turning Point Systems, Maplewood Car Wash, Gloucester House, Beauport ambulance, Protective Packaging, Beauport Princess, George’s of Gloucester, Beauport Princess, USA Demolition, JM Vacation Home Rentals, Prince Insurance Agency, Jalapenos, Sudbay, Passports, Katrina’s, Destinos, Wicked Peacock, Lat 43, and microfiber greens towel.ย Support also includes Mark Adrian, Lone Gull, Kids Unlimited, Topside Grill, Marshall’s Farmstand and the Fish Shack
Read the fabulous Riley James Cape Cod Champs essay for Gatorade Massachusetts Volleyball Player of the Year, plus a bit more inspiration from amazing Coach Turco
“…Eliotโs father, Henry, who ran a company that manufactured bricks, took the family to Massachusetts every summer, and in 1896, the year Eliot turned eight, Henry built a big house on Cape Ann, in Gloucester, overlooking the outer harbor. Until Eliot went off to Europe, in 1914, he spent his summers there…”
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The Gloucester Daily Times published this imageย in 1923 with the photo caption:ย “Now Under Construction on the Southern Side of Western Avenue, this Project When Completed Will Give Gloucester one of the Finest Approaches of Any City on the Atlantic Seaboard.” ย The meticulously hand drawn credit within the drawing itself caught my eye as much as the drawing:ย “Proposed Treatment of Waterfront, Gloucester, Mass. Thomas W. Sears Landscape Architect, Providence RI”.ย Thomas W. Sears was a remarkable 20th Century landscape designer.ย The modern Boulevard work completed in 2014-17 gracefully carries out and returns to the original dreams for the Western Avenue highway and park that are more than a century in the making.
photo caption: Boulevard construction progress ยฉ Catherine Ryan, December 2016
Thomas Warren Sears (1880-1966) preliminary designs for Gloucester’s future Boulevard
Thomas Warren Sears was born in 1880 in Brookline, Massachusetts, and grew up in this elegant abode at the corner of Beacon and Charles Street. This black and white house portrait was shot in 1897.
Here’s a Google street view photo for comparison today.
After being ousted from the New York City parks department, the ‘father of American landscape design’, Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903), launched his business a ten minute walk from the Sears family home. The headquarters at 99 Warren Street was named “Fairsted” and was in operation until 1979 when it was declared a National Historic Site and transferred to the National Parks.
photo caption: Frederick Law Olmsted Fairsted ยฉ Jack Boucher, Library of Congress collection
If there was no neighbor connection early on, a professional one came soon: Sears worked for the Olmsted Brothers immediately after receiving two degrees from Harvard– his BA in 1903 and his BS in 1906. (There may have been an earlier Brookline connection.) Rather quickly Sears left to set up his own firm: first in Providence, RI, when he did work for Gloucester’s Boulevard, and not long after in Philadelphia. In 1911 he gave a talk for the Proceedings of the Engineers’ Club of Philadelphia 28 (April 1911):147-158., “The Functions of the Landscape Architect in Connection with the Improvement of a City”available online as part of an urban planning anthology compiled by John W. Reps, Professor Emeritus, Cornell University. I wonder if he shared his Gloucester photographs as part of his talk?
“There are two main approaches to cities: (1) On water by boat, and (2) on land by railroad. Along both of these lines of approach land should be taken for public use, and for very different reasons. Take first the use of water fronts: Unless some provision is made for the public, the whole water front, whether it be river or harbor, may be usurped by commercial enterprise and the public deprived of ever seeing the water except when aboard a boat. In certain cases, as in New York, where the water front must of necessity be utilised for dockage, a combination of commercial and public use may be successfully employed. There the docks are owned by the city and leased by the steamship companies; in this way their appearance can be controlled. At present it is planned to build on the tops of these docks huge recreation parks which may be used by the public.”- 1911 Thomas W. Sears
Mike Hale’s contemporary perspective shares a similar philosophy with Sears:
“An effort has been made in this paper to show clearly that landscape architecture is utilitarian quite as much as esthetic; that whatever one is designing, whether it be a city plan or any of the elements in a city, the design should be governed by use as much as beauty.” – 1911 Thomas W. Sears
By 1917 Sears was commissioned regularly and had a long, full career including notable designs for the Reynolda estate now part of Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and the wildly influential outdoor amphitheater for Swarthmore College, the Scott Outdoor Auditorium. His work in Gloucester is rarely mentioned.
Since the Gloucester drawing was marked ‘Providence’, I knew the drawing was done long before the 1923 construction. I tentatively dated the schematic ca.1910. Thankfully Thomas Warren Sears was a photographer, too. Turns out that this image is a Sears’ photograph of a lovely Sears’ design. The glass negative is dated 1908 which squares with his professional career timeline.
ALL NEW LED LIGHTS
One of the modern design elements is the welcome ornamentation of lights. They feel like they were always here because line is such an essential part of design and they add the vertical visual interest. When I saw the new light bases I thought of the line of trees in the Sears drawing. I love the mix of natural and formal design in his rendering, but am equally gobsmacked by the sweeping open vista. Both are sensitive approaches and part of the context of the Boulevard’s build.
photo caption: animation emphasizing new lights, late November 2016, ยฉc. ryan
BEFORE THE BOULEVARD- Sears photos
Thomas Warren Sears photographed Western Avenue for his preparatory work. See the homes along the beach that were later removed for the construction of the Boulevard; distant vistas to the Surfside Hotel (built after Pavilion burned) and Stage Fort park; and Western Avenue street scenes looking east and west before the road was widened.
“This Saturday morning forum is offered in collaboration with Essex County Greenbelt, Friends of Dogtown, Lanesville Community Center and Mass Audubon and held at Cape Ann Museum.ย The forum will be moderated by Ed Becker, President of the Essex County Greenbelt Association.”
UPDATE: Cape Ann TV is scheduled to film the event!
Edward Hopper Cape Ann Pasture watercolor drawing (ca.1928) was gifted to Yale University in 1930
East Gloucester Atwood’s Gallery on the Moors as seen on the left in 1921–open vistas at that time
Chris Leahy gave a presentation at Gloucester Lyceum & Sawyer Free Library on February 23, 2017:ย Dogtown- the Biography of a Landscape:ย 750 Million Years Ago to the Present A photographic history through slides presented by the Gloucester Lyceum and the Friends of the Library. Mary Weissblum opened the program.
Chris broadly covered the history of the local landscape from an ecological bent with a bias to birds and blueberry picking, naturally.ย New England is a patchwork of forested landscapes. He stressed the evolution of bio diversity and succession phenomenon when the earth and climate change. “Nature takes a lot of courses.” He focused on Dogtown, “a very special place”, and possible merits of land stewardship geared at fostering greater biodiversity. Perhaps some of the core acres could be coaxed to grasslands as when parts of Gloucester were described as moors? Characteristic wildlife, butterflies, and birds no longer present may swing back. ย There were many philosophical takeaways and tips: he recommends visiting the dioramas “Changes in New England Landscape” display at Harvard Forest HQ inย Petersham.
“Isolation of islands is a main driver of evolution”
“Broad Meadow Brook Wildlife Sanctuary in Worcester has the highest concentration* of native butterflies in all of Massachusetts because of secondary habitats.” ย *of Mass Audubon’s c.40,000 acres of wildlife sanctuaries statewide. “The fact that Brook Meadow Brook is in greater Worcester, rather than a forested wilderness, underscores the value of secondary habitats.”
“1830– roughly the time of Thoreau (1817-1862)– was the maximum period of clearing thus the heyday for grasslands…As farmsteads were abandoned, stages of forests return.”
Below are photos from February 23, 2017. I added some images of art inspired by Dogtown. I also pulled out a photograph by Frank L Cox, David Cox’s father, of Gallery on the Moors ย (then) compared with a photo of mine from 2011 to illustrate how the picturesque description wasn’t isolated to Dogtown.
Edward Hopper, Cape Ann Granite, 1928, oil on canvas can we get this painting into the Cape Ann Museum collection?
Louise Upton Brumback (1867-1929), Dogtown- Cape Ann, 1920ย oil on canvas
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I love the designs of the Papel Picado, especially the Dia de los Muertos skeletons doing everyday things. I found some at Nomad in Cambridge. Deb Colburn, the owner, curates gorgeous folk art for her shop from all around Mexico, and from all around the world. She’s aย very sweet person to stop in and visit with, and is also very knowledge about Mexican culture.ย Nomad is located at 1741 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge.
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There is a beautiful ofrenda at the Peabody Museum at Harvard, which is where I learned about the Mexicanย Purรฉpechaย indigenous people’s name for the Monarch butterfly, the “Harvester.” The altar is part of the Museum’s permanent collection and is on display year round.
The Peabody Museum’s exhibition of a Day of the Dead ofrenda or altar is located in the Encounters With the Americas gallery. The exhibit features pieces from the Alice P. Melvin Collection of Mexican Folk Art and represents the Aztec origins of the holiday and the Catholic symbols incorporated into the tradition, from skeletons to plush Jesus figures.
The altar is contained within a box covered with panels that were decorated by local students and regional and international artists. The altars were designed by the Peabody exhibitions staff and Mexican artists Mizael Sanchez and Monica Martinez.
Originating with the Aztecs, the Mexican Day of the Dead is a unique blend of Mesoamerican and Christian rituals. The holiday, which is celebrated on November 1, All Saintsโ Day, is usually dedicated to children; November 2, All Soulsโ Day, is dedicated to adults.
Traditions vary from region to region, but generally families gather at cemeteries to tend and decorate the graves of their departed loved ones and remember them by telling stories, eating their favorite foods, and dancing in their honor. Many families build altars at home, decorated with flowers and food, especially pan de muerto or โbread of the dead.โ A festive and social occasion, the holiday welcomes the return of those who have died and recognizes the human cycle of life and death.
The Peabody’s permanent altar features items from the Alice P. Melvin collection of Mexican folk art. To see these items, click here.
Curated by Davรญd Carrasco, Neil L. Rudenstine Professor of the Study of Latin America and Mexican artist Mizael Sanchez.
To watch a video interview with Mizael Sanchez, click here.
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Before he was a Harvard spurner, a Veteran, a Gloucester Master Mariner, a sea tales chronicler and beloved writer, ย James Connolly (1868-1957) was one of 14 American athletes (5 were Bostonians) to compete in the international Games of the I Olympiad in Athens, Greece, 1896.Twenty percent of the international competitors were from the United States.
Connolly medalled. Twice. On the first final of the opening day, Connolly won what is now the triple jump and came in 2nd in the high jump. He sailed home a champion, the first Olympic medal winner in 1500 years. This recognition no doubt helped his byline and he rapidly gained a reputation as a fantastic writer. The Boston Globe published his first war correspondence, โLetters from the Front in Cubaโ where he served with the Irish 9th Infantry of Massachusetts. His career soars after writing about Gloucestermen from his days working in Gloucester. Iโll let Connolly take it from here, it’s so good:
โWhile still twenty-five pounds underweight from tropic fever, I took a job as physical director of the Gloucester Athletic Club. I played football on the Athletic Club cleven, spent the fall and winter (1899-1900) there, chucked that job in the spring, took a steerage trip to Englandโฆparticipated in second Olympics (second place)โฆreturned to US againโฆMy next move was to make fishing trips with the captains I had come to know while in Gloucester with the Athletic Club. I had no intention of writing them up, but at this stage of my development I was able to appraise men fairly well. Here were great men, and all the greater because they did not know that they were great. I began by writing of actual experiences with the Gloucestermen, continued with them as the heroic men they were in short stories. My first stories were sent to Scribnerโs Magazine, and immediately accepted. And the first half dozen stories were brought out in the volume, Out of Gloucester, by Charles Scribnerโs Sons.โ
James Connolly
James Brendan Connollyโs parents were Irish immigrants and his dad was a fisherman. Connolly was born in 1868 in southie, Boston, one of 12 children. He died in 1957. You can see the first ever modern Olympic medal at Colby, which was donated by his daughter, Brenda. Severalย Gloucester writers and notables mention him. TS Eliot wrote the introduction to Connollyโs 1928 Fisherman of the Banks. NC Wyeth illustrated some of his books. His sailing chops were envied.
In Gloucester, MA:
Today is the first day of track and field at OโMaley Innovation Middle School. On this 120th anniversary of the first day of the modern Olympics (thanks Google Doodle), may our student athletes be inspired by James Brendan Connolly. Checkย out a Connolly book from Sawyer Free or look for vintage editions at Main Street Antiques andย Dogtown Book Shop.
Photo caption: The memorial to Connolly, dedicated in 1987 and designed by artist Thomas Haxo. The memorial was paid for through a grant by the Edward Ingersoll Browne Trust Fund. Rosso/Boston Globe
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Louise Upton Brumback (1867-1929), Dogtown- Cape Ann, 1920ย oil on canvas
Good Morning Gloucester 