From Harbor to Haven:

Connecticut Scenes and Artist Printmakers from
the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams

John Steuart Curry (1897-1946)
Danbury Fair, 1930
Lithograph Image: 330 x 249 mm

April 1 to August 17, 2008  

Curator: Kathie Bennewitz, Curator of Exhibitions, Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich

Drawn from the collection of Reba and Dave Williams, this original exhibition features over sixty 19th- and 20th-century prints with a focus on Connecticut --its scenes and sites by artists­­ who lived and worked in the state.

The show is comprised of two sections; prints of Connecticut, depicting Connecticut scenes and sites; and prints by artists who lived or actively worked in the state. Artists include Cos Cob art colony artists John Henry Twachtman, Childe Hassam, and Kerr Eby. Other represented American artists include Will Barnett, Asa Cheffetz, John Steuart Curry, James Daugherty, Stephen Dohanas, Wanda Gag, Ruth Chrisman Gannet., Martin Lewis, Thomas Nason, Ann Nooney, and Charles Adams Platt. Artists who lived and worked in Connecticut include Julian Alden Weir, John Taylor Arms, Clarence Bolton, Gifford Beal, Armin Landeck, Philip Evergood, Alexander Calder, Robert Motherwell, Helen Frankenthaler, and Jasper Johns.

The Williams began collecting American prints in the early 1970s and today their collection numbers more than 5,000 works and represents over 2,000 artists from the 19th century to present time. It is the largest collection of American prints in private hands. In 2003 they founded The Print Research Foundation in Stamford, CT to provide research facilities for the study of prints made by American artists during the last 150 years.

John Taylor Arms (1887-1953) U.S.S. Columbia, 1945 Etching and drypoint Image: 310 x 440 mm   View more images from the exhibition

Jules André Smith (1880-1959) Evening Marshes, 1921 Etching and aquatint Image: 266 x 296 mm

Permanent Exhibition:

The Bush-Holley House is open to the public through guided tours. The house museum has a dual interpretation including documentation and presentation of two significant periods in the history of the house– the Colonial Period when the Bush family was in residence from 1790 to 1825 and the Cos Cob art colony from 1890 to 1920. Eight evocative, well-documented rooms tell a story of change over time, beginning with the turn of the century and moving backward in time to the Federal era.