Worcester Art Museum Opening Exhibtion
Artist
Frederick K. Coulson
(American, 1869–1931)
DateJune 13, 1898
Mediumcyanotype on cream wove paper
Dimensionsimage: 13.7 × 18.6 cm (5 3/8 × 7 5/16 in.)
sheet: 19.6 × 24.8 cm (7 11/16 × 9 3/4 in.)
bound: 20.5 × 25.4 × 2 cm (8 1/16 × 10 × 13/16 in.)
sheet: 19.6 × 24.8 cm (7 11/16 × 9 3/4 in.)
bound: 20.5 × 25.4 × 2 cm (8 1/16 × 10 × 13/16 in.)
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineEliza S. Paine Fund
Object number2010.271.48
DescriptionInterior view of a gallery within the Worcester Art Museum. Photograph from an album of 208 cyanotypes on cream wove paper.On May 10, 1898, the Worcester Art Museum opened with an exhibition of works from private collections, organized by the Worcester Art Society. This cyanotype made the following month includes a life-size portrait of Mrs. Edward L. Davis and her son, Livingston, painted in Worcester by John Singer Sargent in 1890. The salon-style installation, in which works were hung clustered close together, was soon abandoned by the Museum to give greater space to the individual objects.
–"Frederick Coulson: Blueprints of a Golden Age," by James A. Welu, p.56, plate 35
Label TextAt the turn-of-the-century, Worcester was photographed from many angles, as shown here in works by Frederick Coulson, architect Stephen Earle, and an anonymous photographer, likely a local resident who printed on silk. Most notable of this group is Coulson’s photograph of a gallery here at the Worcester Art Museum, one of the first known interior photographs of the museum. These cyanotypes allow the viewer to travel back into Worcester’s history, showing familiar places through the lens of a different era.ProvenanceLee Gallery, Winchester, MA
On View
Not on view
Frederick K. Coulson
late 19th–early 20th century
