Photo courtesy of Dr. James O'Gorman
Hill-Stead Museum
An interview with Cynthia Cagenello, Communications Manager of the Hill-Stead Museum
Mission Statement
What is your institution's mission?
Hill-Stead Museum, a National Historic Landmark, serves diverse audiences in Connecticut and beyond as a welcoming place for learning, reflection and enjoyment. The museum develops, preserves, documents, displays and interprets its exceptional Impressionist paintings, 1901 historic house, collections and 152-acre landscape for the benefit of present and future generations.
Collections
What are some of the collections offered and how were they obtained? What are some of the most prized/rare artifacts in the collection? Are there visitor favorites?
Collections include original furnishings, paintings by Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, James McNeill Whistler and Mary Cassatt, as well as numerous works on paper and Japanese woodblock prints. All items were collected by the Pope family (the museum's founding family) on their travels in Europe and Asia, some items directly from the artists themselves (as is the case with a Whistler painting, for example). Visitor favorites include Monet's Grainstacks, White Frost Effect (Oil, 1889), and Grainstacks, in Bright Sunlight (Oil, 1890) (two of his famous Grainstack series), Degas' Dancers in Pink (Oil, c. 1876) and The Tub (Pastel, 1886), as well as Katsushika Hokusai's The Great Wave (color woodblock print, c. 1830) and various European and Chinese ceramics. One of the rarest artifacts, and the oldest item in the collection, is a Corinthian head-pyxis, c. 600-575 BCE, the second largest of only 76 known to exist, noteworthy for its excellent condition and profusion of ornament.
Programs
What are some the programs created/administered at the museum?
Programs created and administered at the museum include: the renowned Sunken Garden Poetry & Music Festival, which in 2009 held its 17th successful season with Pulitzer Prize-winning poets Robert Hass and C.K. Williams et al., as well as award-winning musicians Freddie Bryant and Tomás Doncker; Summer Nature & Arts Adventure for children entering grades 1-6, a three-week program incorporating the museum's collections and natural landscape; Hay Day, a fall family festival; year-round guided nature & estate walks for all ages; First Sunday Gallery Talks on subjects ranging from the museum's founding family members to objects in the collection and archives; evening lectures on Art and Architecture by renowned architects, authors and art historians such as Witold Rybczynski, Ross King and Richard Kendall; Musicales featuring award-winning musicians such as classical guitarist Thomas Viloteau; May Market, a two-day garden emporium; a 16-week Farmers Market featuring locally-grown products from 15 vendors; Gardening workshops and lectures; Wreath Ramble; Meet the Family, a holiday program allowing participants to tour the decorated house at their own pace and chat with museum interpreters in vintage attire portraying members of the Pope family, their household staff and guests; and An American Collector's Christmas, where participants can enjoy a rare glimpse into the holiday environment of a well-to-do New England family at the turn of the 20th century, viewing dozens of rarely-exhibited art objects, books, prints and photographs from the Alfred Atmore Pope Collection.
Exhibitions
Are there any upcoming exhibitions you would like to highlight?
In the words of founder Theodate Pope Riddle's Last Will and Testament, "No works of art shall ever be accepted as gifts to said Museum, and no works of art belonging to said Museum shall ever be loaned." As such, Hill-Stead is a museum with collections kept in situ, and does not have changing exhibitions per se. Hill-Stead has a special opportunity to exhibit several Gee's Bend quilts in the museum during the fall and winter of 2009 - 2010. Starting in fall 2010 the museum will offer Themed Tours on select Friday evenings. These will coincide with small changing exhibitions drawn from the archives, and themes will reflect seasonal Pope family interests: Spiritualism in the fall; Holidays at Hill-Stead in the winter; Women at Hill-Stead in the spring; and the European Grand Tour in the summer.
In addition, research is being done into the rehanging of select paintings to more accurately reflect the way Alfred Atmore Pope and Theodate Pope Riddle lived with the artworks, based on archival photographs and postcards. When this is complete, the museum will have, in a sense, a new exhibition.
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