NANTUCKET, MA: The Friends of the Nantucket Historical Association succeeded in purchasing an oil-on-board painting by major nineteenth-century American landscape artist George Inness (1825–94) titled Back of Nichols’ Barn, ’Sconset (1883) at the recent Christie’s Fine American Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture sale on March 3, 2011.
The painting depicts a charming rural scene of sheep wandering through a broken fence in a ramshackle farmyard in ’Sconset, past a group of whale-oil casks that have been converted for use as water barrels. Back of Nichol’s Barn, ’Sconset is one of only a handful of canvases that Inness is known to have composed with Nantucket subjects, and one of a select number of island scenes by leading American artists of the nineteenth century.
“There aren’t many opportunities to pursue important works by major artists with Nantucket subjects for the collections,” said Ben Simons, NHA Robyn & John Davis Chief Curator. “We were thrilled to be able to secure this lovely ’Sconset landscape by George Inness for posterity. The NHA collections did not have any works by Inness prior to the sale. The painting was once owned by Walter Beinecke Jr. and has been on our wish list for some time. It is a major acquisition, and we are hugely grateful to the Friends for making it possible.”
The painting was purchased for the permanent collection by the Friends of the Nantucket Historical Association, who have contributed many of the most significant additions to the NHA over the past twenty-five years. Additional support was provided by the NHA Acquisition Fund and the Max and Heidi Berry Acquisition Fund. The painting will be included in the upcoming Friends twenty-fifth anniversary catalog, Island Treasures: Gifts of the Friends of the Nantucket Historical Association (June 2011), and in the exhibition Eastman Johnson and His Contemporaries on Nantucket (opening April 15 in the Whitney Gallery, NHA Research Library, 7 Fair Street), and thereafter on permanent display at the Whaling Museum.
George Inness visited Nantucket on several occasions, and spent the summer of 1883 in Siasconset. He wrote letters describing his stay to his wife, Lizzie, including one that mentions the painting in detail: “Sconset August 4, 1883/ Dear Lizzie . . . I have had a great success with another painted out of doors back of Nichols' barn—some sheep coming through a gateway.” Inness’s other Nantucket works include: The Lone Farm, Nantucket (The Art Institute of Chicago), Morning Walk, ’Sconset (A Windy Day) (Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma), and Siasconset Beach (Private Collection).
Support from the Friends of the Nantucket Historical Association, organized in 1986 to seek significant acquisitions for the collections of the NHA, has enabled the NHA to acquire numerous works of art and artifacts and to ensure that such objects stay on or return to Nantucket to be shared with future generations. The organization has also supported such projects as the construction of the NHA’s Gosnold Center, the collection-storage facility; the conservation of paintings and other artifacts; and restoration of the parlor in the Hadwen House. The gracious assistance of the Friends has greatly strengthened the preservation and acquisition efforts of the NHA.
Max and Heidi Berry Acquisition Fund Donates Lillian Gertrude Smith Watercolor of ’Sconset
In other acquisition news, the Max and Heidi Berry Acquisition Fund has donated to the NHA collections a watercolor of ’Sconset by early-twentieth-century artist Lillian Gertrude Smith (d. 1945). The artist worked and lived in the summer from 1909 to 1930 in Auld Lang Syne on Broadway in ’Sconset, where she painted charming watercolors of the ancient houses and lanes of the historic village. Her work was featured in the 2007 NHA exhibition The Nantucket Art Colony: 1920–45, an exhibition catalog. This is the first work by Smith to be preserved in the NHA collections.
