19th-century American Painting
THE HENRY MELVILLE FULLER COLLECTION

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February 2 - March 11, 2002

A Bequest to the Currier Gallery of Art

One of New Hampshire's most distinguished collectors, Henry Fuller acquired art in several areas. Some of his most significant acquisitions were in nineteenth-century American painting. He was particularly interested in the artists of the Hudson River School and their contemporaries, and he became a connoisseur of their work. His collection is rich in the pastoral landscapes and the dramatic views of New England's seacoast that appealed to a wide audience in nineteenth-century America. The Fuller Collection also includes several fine examples of still-life subjects and genre scenes. Mr. Fuller assembled the majority of this collection in the 1960s, before the field garnered widespread appeal. This bequest of 60 paintings is the single most important gift of artwork to the Currier Gallery of Art in its 77-year history.

The importance of the Fuller Collection has been widely recognized in the art community, and these works were frequently lent to museum exhibitions. The Fuller Collection was first exhibited at the Currier Gallery of Art in 1971. In the years since, Mr. Fuller gave the Currier major paintings by American artists William Holbrook Beard, Asher Brown Durand, Frederic E. Church, Lily Martin Spencer and Charles Caleb Ward - works that have been on view regularly. The remainder of the collection, Mr. Fuller's most recent bequest, adds greatly to the Currier's holdings, which already include important works by Jasper Cropsey, Albert Bierstadt and Martin Johnson Heade.

The exhibition will feature highlights from the Fuller Collection, including works by the recognized masters of nineteenth-century American painting including Bierstadt, Alfred Bricher, Thomas Cole, Cropsey, Sanford Gifford, Heade, Eastman Johnson, John Kensett, and Fitz Hugh Lane. Additionally, several well-known New Hampshire painters such as Benjamin Champney, George Henry Hall, Frank Shapleigh and Aaron Draper Shattuck will be featured.

This presentation will also include a selection from the extensive collection of over 300 antique and modern glass paperweights that Mr. Fuller gave to the Currier in 1998. This extraordinary acquisition gave the museum one of the top five paperweight collections in the nation, and includes works from the French glass houses of Baccarat, Clichy and Saint-Louis along with examples by prominent contemporary artists.