Winthrop Collection's Masterpieces of 19th-Century Western Art Return from International Tour for Permanent Viewing at Harvard's Fogg Art Museum

To Students of Art and Lovers of Beauty: Highlights from the Collection of Grenville L. Winthrop Opens April 17 in the Permanent Galleries of the Fogg

CAMBRIDGE, MA (April 9, 2004)-After a critically acclaimed world tour that included Tokyo, London, New York, and Lyon, the Fogg Art Museums' masterpieces of 19th-century Western art from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection have returned home and go on display in a new installation this month. To Students of Art and Lovers of Beauty: Highlights from the Collection of Grenville L. Winthrop will present about 100 paintings and sculptures. The selection that went on tour-the first presentation of the collection outside the Harvard University Art Museums-has been enhanced to more fully detail Winthrop's rich collecting interests.

The salon-style installation opening on April 17 at the Fogg will focus on Winthrop's extraordinary holdings of 19th-century French, British, and American art, including works by Blake, David, Degas, Gericault, Ingres, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Rodin, Rossetti, Sargent, and Whistler. Notable additions to the works that went on tour are four more paintings by Moreau, three paintings by Rossetti, and works by Couture and Fantin-Latour.

"We are indebted to the generosity and support of people like Grenville Winthrop," said Thomas Lentz, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums. "His collection of more than 4,000 works of art was pivotal in establishing the legacy of the Art Museums and furthering our role as the nation's premier training ground for museum professionals and scholars."

To Students of Art and Lovers of Beauty will offer insight into Winthrop's focus, such as his preference for depictions of literary themes and portraits, and his unique interest in bringing together the French and British artistic traditions. Winthrop assembled a significant collection of works by Pre-Raphaelites, and the exhibition will showcase works by Edward Burne-Jones and William Holman Hunt, among others. In this respect, the collection remains one of the most important ever assembled.

"Winthrop's bequest of his collection altered profoundly the character of the Fogg's holdings," said Stephan Wolohojian, curator of paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts. "My goal with the return of these works was not simply to show masterpieces, but to present the scope and depth of Mr. Winthrop's commitment to the 19th century. I think we have a fuller sense of his sensibility and taste for the material."

The collection's highlights incorporated in this presentation are masterpieces by David, including Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès (1817); paintings by Ingres, among them his celebrated Raphael and the Fornarina (1812) and Odalisque with a Slave (1837-40); paintings by Edward Burne-Jones, including Danaë Watching the Building of the Brazen Tower (1872) and Pan and Psyche (1872-74); and works by Renoir, including Spring Bouquet (1866). Winthrop's prized works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti-The Blessed Damozel (1871-78) and La Donna della Finestra (1879) will also be included. American artists are well represented; among the highlights are several works by Whistler, Sargent's The Breakfast Table (1883-84), and Inness's October Noon (1891). In 1941 Winthrop acquired the Henderson collection of works by Whistler, which will be represented in the exhibition by his masterpiece Nocturne in Blue and Silver (c. 1871-72).

Programming

Docent Tour
Friday, April 30, 2004, 12:15-12:45
Free with the price of admission

About the Harvard University Art Museums
The Harvard University Art Museums are one of the world's leading arts institutions, with the Arthur M. Sackler, Busch-Reisinger, and Fogg art museums, the Straus Center for Conservation, and the U.S. headquarters for the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, an excavation project in western Turkey.

The Harvard University Art Museums are distinguished by the range and depth of their collections, their groundbreaking exhibitions, and the original research of their staff. As an integral part of the Harvard community, the three art museums serve as a resource for all students, adding a special dimension to their areas of study. The public is welcome to experience the collections and exhibitions as well as to enjoy lectures, symposia, and other programs.

For more than a century, the Harvard University Art Museums have been the nation's premier training ground for museum professionals and scholars and are renowned for their role in the development of the discipline of art history in this country.

Location and Hours
The Fogg Art Museum and the Busch-Reisinger Museum are located at 32 Quincy Street in Cambridge. The Arthur M. Sackler Museum is located next door at 485 Broadway. Each Museum is a short walk from the Harvard Square MBTA station.

Hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sunday 1 - 5 p.m.; the Museums are closed on national holidays. Admission is $6.50; $5 for seniors; $5 for students; and free for those under 18 years of age. The Museums are free to everyone Saturday mornings, 10 a.m. - noon. The Harvard University Art Museums receive support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. More detailed information is available at 617-495-9400 or on the Internet at www.artmuseums.harvard.edu.

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For more information on this appointment or the Harvard University Art Museums, please contact:

Matthew Barone
Harvard University Art Museums
tel 617-495-2397; fax 617-496-9762
mbarone@fas.harvard.edu

or

Kim Gilbert/Jacquelyn Burke
Resnicow Schroeder Associates
tel 212-671-5157; fax 212-595-8354
kgilbert@resnicowschroeder.com
jburke@resnicowschroeder.com