Exhibition Reviews

"An American Vision: Henry Francis du Pont's Winterthur Museum." National Gallery of Art, 6th St. and Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20565.
     Temporary exhibition, May 5–Oct. 6, 2002. C. 300 objects. Wendy A. Cooper, curator.
     An American Vision: Henry Francis du Pont's Winterthur Museum. By Wendy A. Cooper with Tara L. Gleason and Katharine A. John. (Washington: National Gallery of Art, 2002. 216 pp. Cloth, $60.00, ISBN 0-85331-859-X. Paper, $35.00, ISBN 0-89468-294-6.)
     Internet: exhibition checklist, brochure, description, Winterthur chronology, biography of and quotations from Henry Francis du Pont, and selections from the exhibition <http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/winterthurinfo.htm> (Feb. 18, 2003).

This is the rare occasion when the Journal of American History publishes a review of an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art. This exhibition represents one of the infrequent appearances of decorative arts—especially American decorative arts—in the country's national art museum. (In the past thirty years decorative arts exhibitions have appeared at the National Gallery in 1980, 1985, and 2000, with small decorative arts portions in other exhibitions.) Decorative arts are intrinsically historical, and much of their importance and pertinence derives from that characteristic. In fact, for this show, two of the four principles of artifact selection were "historical association" and "provenance," in addition to the more traditional categories of rarity and beauty (catalog, p. 25). And while there was a large aesthetic and even "art for art's sake" component in this show (and in all the collections of the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, dating from those of the founder, Henry Francis du Pont himself), it behooves any historian to become familiar with this object-oriented aspect of history, whether it be considered "material culture" or connoisseurship. Thus it is appropriate to review this exhibition in the pages of this journal.	1
In this instance the National Gallery of Art co-organized and hosted an exhibition whose artifacts, the paintings excepted, stood almost entirely outside the area of its own staff expertise and its traditional interests. The exhibition came in toto from Winterthur's collections and was curated by Winterthur staff, though in such cases one assumes there was some minor vetting by the host museum's staff.	2
The National Gallery presumably accepted Winterthur's proffer not so much for the history in the show, however, as from a desire—or at least a willingness—to offer the public a chance to view a thrilling collection that includes the most beautiful furniture, paintings, textiles, metalwares, ceramics, wood carving, and glass made or used in North America between about 1640 and 1860. In effect, this was a public relations dream for both institutions: a "best of Winterthur" show, useful for familiarizing a new and larger public in a different and popular location with Winterthur and its collections. The National Gallery's art for art's sake exhibition philosophy accorded well with the presentation of these items of great beauty.	3
The exhibition, which contained some three hundred objects, was divided into five thematic sections—"Early Settlement and Sophistication," "Passion for Rococo," "East Meets West," "The Arts of the Pennsylvania Germans," and "American Classicism"—each representing an aspect of Winterthur's great collections as conceived of by Henry Francis du Pont. (Later I will briefly consider one of the five sections.) Throughout the exhibition, the three-dimensional artifacts were strongly supported by Winterthur's splendid American (and a few foreign) paintings, which are well reproduced in the catalog. John Singleton Copley, Charles Willson Peale, Henry Benbridge, Benjamin West, Ralph Earl, Gilbert Stuart, John Trumbull, Edward Savage, Rembrandt Peale, Samuel Jennings, and John Lewis Krimmel may be found in their expected places and relate favorably to the National Gallery's own collection of American art.	. . .