The Boston Athenaeum

Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018 - Recently going down "Internet rabbit holes", I found myself looking at past exhibitions at the Boston Athenaeum:

and and I discovered their past exhibition of "Chromo-Mania!". Since most exhibitions include pieces from the host museum's collection, I searched their on-line database and discovered 3 pieces I wanted to see (Moran, Durand and Winslow Homer). I also discovered a beautiful engraving by JMW Turner, so I made an appointment to view these pieces at 10 AM Thursday Dec. 13.

I arrived a little before 10:

and was escorted upstairs:

and into a side-room, where I was able to see the beauties.

JMW Turner - "Ancient Italy", steel engraving, published 1859-1861

detail:


Winslow Homer - "The North Woods", 1896 chromolithograph:


The piece I wanted to see by Thomas Moran was listed in the database as a single chromolithograph ("Summit of the Sierras Nevada"). I didn't see it lying in the display room, but there was a big red book. Imagine my surprise and joy when the librarian said to me "I saw that you requested a single plate, which is how we have it listed in our database, but it should be listed a part of a folio." They have the ENTIRE FOLIO of "The Yellowstone National Park, and the Mountain Regions of Portions of Idaho, Nevada, Colorado and Utah", published by L. Prang and Company, Boston, 1876!!!




There are actually 15 chromolithographs in the folio. I won't show them all, but highlights include:

"Hot Springs of Gardiner's River, Yellowstone National Park":

"Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National Park":

"The Grand Cañon of the Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park":

"The Towers of Tower Falls, Yellowstone National Park":

"Summit of the Sierra Nevada":


I feel honored and privileged to have seen many of these sights in real life.

Then because I was spending more time there than I had anticipated, I was able to request the actual folio that drew me to the Boston Athenaeum to begin with - "Original Etchings by American Artists", 1883:


It has 20 plates, and my 3 favorites are:

Thomas Moran - "A Tower of Cortez":

Samuel Coleman - "A Cloudy Day in Venice":

James D. Smillie - "At Marblehead Neck":


I finished at 11:30 - plenty of time to make the noon train back up to the North Shore! Thank You God for these WONDERFUL Adventures!