2 days ago
Wadsworth museum's ‘Made in Hartford' exhibit makes the city look artfully good
The 'Made in Hartford: A Capital City Creates' exhibit at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford will be gone in less than a month. It's a solid small showcase of a city that's endlessly in flux, a terrific complement to the museum's larger and more permanent decorative arts displays.
Curated by Philippe Halbert, associate curator of American decorative arts at the Wadsworth, the exhibit, located on the museum's Avery 2 level, is a concise one-gallery gathering of Hartford-specific items that span centuries of local history and culture. They range from a shard of a Native American pot from the 16th or 17th century to a stoneware vessel sculpted just a couple of years ago by local artist and Wangunk tribe elder Gary 'Red Oak' O'Neil.
The small but wide-ranging exhibit also features furniture, fashions and paintings, including a four-part panoramic view of the city by landscape artist Joseph Ropes. Naturally, one of the gallery walls is emblazoned with a quote from Mark Twain: 'Of all the beautiful towns it has been my fortune to see, this is the chief,' from a letter he published in San Francisco's Alta Journal in 1868, six years before the famed writer made Hartford his home.
It's an aesthetically pleasing compact view of Hartford history, cultural and otherwise.
Made in Hartford: A Capital City Creates' is at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 600 Main St., Hartford, through July 13. Viewing hours are Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Admission, is $20, $15 for seniors, $10 for students and free for Hartford residents and youth under 17.
