Among the rich resources
provided for students is a fine, small art collection comprised mostly
of gifts from generous alumni and other donors. The collection includes
eighteenth-through early twenty-first century American and European
paintings, prints, and sculpture; vintage photographs; and contemporary
American sculpture and paintings. Recent acquisitions build on the strength
of the existing collections.
The mission statement
for the art collection is to document, conserve, exhibit, and make accessible
the College’s art collection to the students, public, and scholars
through exhibitions, publications, reproductions, and by granting access
for research purposes.
Also part of the
art collection are two superb Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company figurative stained glass windows (1898 & 1899) depicting Alcuin
and Charlemagne and "The Death of Sir Philip Sidney" depicting Sir Philip Sidney at the Battle of Zutphen.
The centerpiece
of the art collection is the Kirby Collection of Historical Paintings,
which consists of American portraits, history paintings, and sculpture.
Assembled by Allan P. Kirby '15 with the assistance of his friend and
New York art dealer, E. J. Rousuck, Kirby described his criteria: "it
was intended to have broadly represented the many fields of achievement
through which men can leave lasting impressions upon the nation."
Many of the portraits
can been seen in Kirby Hall of Civil Rights, built in 1929–30,
given by Allan P. Kirby's father, Fred Morgan Kirby, to house the Department
of Government and Law. Of special note are Andrew Jackson by
Rembrandt Peale, Thomas Jefferson at the Natural Bridge by
Caleb Boyle, Grover Cleveland by Eastman Johnson, George
Washington by Charles Willson Peale, and Gouverneur Morris by Thomas Sully. The Kirby Collection’s historical paintings include Barbara Frietchie by Dennis Malone Carter and The Landing
of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock by Peter Frederick Rothermell.
Rousuck also assisted
Kirby in acquiring British and European paintings for the 1930s Chateau
Chavaniac, built as a private retreat by Allan P. Kirby, and named after
the birthplace of the Marquis de Lafayette. The F.M. Kirby Foundation
gave the Chateau, located north of the campus in Easton, with its collection
of decorative arts and paintings, to the college in 1984.
Of course, there
are many representations of the Marquis de Lafayette in the collection,
including a full-size bronze sculpture of Lafayette by Daniel Chester
French, which was cast from a plaster model given to the college by
French. Another gift from French is a small bronze cast of the maquette
for his bas relief sculpture of Lafayette at Prospect Park, Brooklyn,
New York—the same plaster model of Lafayette was used for both
sculptures. |
