The Florence Griswold Museum is an Art Museum at 96 Lyme Street in Old Lyme, Connecticut centered on the home of Florence Griswold (1850–1937), which was the center of the Old Lyme Art Colony, a main nexus of American Impressionism. The Museum is noted for its collection of American Impressionist paintings. The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1993. The site encompasses 12-acres of historic buildings, grounds, gardens, and walking trails.
Museum
The Museum's Robert and Nancy Krieble Gallery, featuring 9,500 square feet (880 m2) of exhibit space and sweeping views of the Lieutenant River, designed by Centerbrook Architects, opened in 2002.[2]
In 2001, the Museum acquired the corporate collection of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company, once the world's largest insurer against equipment breakdown.[3] The collection included 157 oil paintings, 31 works on paper and 2 works of sculpture, all Connecticut-related.[3]
Rebekah Beaulieu, Ph.D., became Director of the Museum in February 2018, succeeding Jeff Andersen, who led the Museum for 41 years.[4] Beaulieu holds a bachelor's degree in American Studies from George Washington University, a Master's in Art History and Museum Studies from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a Master's in Arts Administration from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in American and New England Studies from Boston University.[5]
Summer Evening, oil on canvas, Childe Hassam, 1886
East Rock, New Haven, oil on canvas, John Ferguson Weir, 1901
Thawing Brook, oil on canvas, Williard Metcalf, 1911
The Charter Oak at Hartford, oil on canvas, Frederic Church, 1846
Florence Griswold House
The Florence Griswold House in Old Lyme, Connecticut was a boardinghouse run by Florence Griswold, where American Impressionist artists lived and painted—often directly on the walls and doors of the house. The building is now part of the campus of the Florence Griswold Museum.
Old Lyme resident Harry Hoffman helped to save Griswold's house through a fund-raising campaign so that it could be converted into a Museum.[7]
Appearance and Layout
I saw a charming house that appeared like a Roman temple among the trees. Admiringly, I beheld the broad steps surmounted by four huge ionic columns that towered to the roof and formed a magnificent adornment to the mansion's front, the handsome old doorway of which stood hospitably open. — Arthur Heming, artist of the Lyme Art Colony[6]
The entire first floor has been furnished to reflect its appearance in about 1910, the height of its years as an artists' boardinghouse.[6] Visitors enter through a wide center hall, where an "informal gallery" displays paintings on grass cloth walls. The hall also contains Colonial and Empire furniture. Two bedrooms are off the hallway — Miss Florence's bedroom and a guest artist's bedroom.
A parlor on the first floor has artists' brushes on the mantel and the extravagant gold harp Robert Griswold brought back for his daughter from England. In that room the artist-boarders would present various types of entertainment for each other.[6] There is a formal dining room on the first floor, and a large covered porch marks the entrance.
The second floor is exhibition space in five galleries with rotating selections from the permanent collection, as well as new acquisitions.
The house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1993.[1] In July 2007 the building reopened after a 14-month restoration project.
The Painted Panels
The dining room of the Florence Griswold House in Old Lyme, CT showcasing painted wall panels by 19th century American artist-boarders.
The house's dining room, where artists would gather to debate topics of the day, became a showcase for painted wall and door panels created by the artist-boarders. The artists who painted on the house's doors and walls were probably following a tradition imported from hostelries in the French art colonies at Barbizon, Giverny, and Pont-Aven, where many of them had visited and stayed on their own travels abroad. A total of 41 painted panels are in the downstairs rooms.[6]
Miss Florence's bedroom was her only private space in the house and is furnished today with memories of her life: books, art, gifts, and letters from many of the artists who became her lifelong friends. The entire rest of the first floor and the two upstairs floors of the house were taken up by her artist-boarders (and several resident cats.)[10]
Most of the artists traveled by train from New York or Boston along the Connecticut shore to Miss Florence's. During the day, artists would paint en plein air on the grounds by the Lieutenant River, in the apple orchard, or other nearby bucolic landscapes. Often cattle and other wildlife were brought in as subjects from local farms for the artists to paint from life. In the evenings, after boisterous dinners held in the dining room or on the side porch when indoor air became too stuffy, groups retired to the parlor for music, games, and entertainment. In their invented "Wiggle Game," an artist would draw a small number of lines (or "wiggles") on a piece of paper to be completed by a fellow artist into a finished drawing.[11]
Childe Hassam famously called a visit to Old Lyme and Miss Florence's "an excursion to Bohemia," and "just the place for high-thinking and low-living."[10] The artists enjoyed pageants, parades, visits to nearby beaches, canoeing, swimming, and all manner of countryside pursuits on their visits from nearby cities where most resided. Some so enjoyed life in Old Lyme they later relocated permanently or purchased summer residences in the area.[12]
The historic Florence Griswold Museum Gardens in Old Lyme, CT in bloom, June 2020.
Gardens and Grounds
Historic Gardens
The 12-acre site is home to historic gardens tended and maintained by staff and volunteers, populated with historic flowers, herbs, vegetables, and plants. Behind the house there were four distinct gardens: one for herbs and produce such as strawberries, lettuce, peas, corn, and potatoes; one for roses; and two for flowers, which Miss Florence also sold to make ends meet.[13]
The Museum is a member of Connecticut's Historic Gardens, an organization which celebrates the diversity of gardens at distinctive historic homes throughout the state of Connecticut.[14]
Robert F. Schumann Artists' Trail
In July 2019, the Museum opened the Robert F. Schumann Artists' Trail, a series of walking paths, landscaping features, and native plantings around the historic site.[15][16] The four distinct walks (the river, hedgerow, woodland, and garden) encompass 0.5 miles in length and give modern day visitors an understanding of why artists were drawn to paint en plein air on the landscape. Markers designate sites of historic importance, such as the location of Childe Hassam's studio in the orchard. Funding from the Robert F. Schumann Foundation supported the project.[13] Stephen Stimson Associates Landscape Architects of Cambridge, MA designed and implemented the Artists' Trail and it received an Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects.[17]
Chadwick Studio
American Impressionist William Chadwick (1879-1962) was an artist of the Lyme Art Colony and Old Lyme resident. From about 1920 until his death in 1962, the structure now on Museum Campus served as his artist's studio. This building is open for visitors the first Saturday in April through December.[18]
^ ab"Florence Griswold House". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved October 3, 2007.
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