A new permanent exhibition is set to open October 3, 2008 in the Slater Museum’s Gualtieri Gallery. The gallery, located between the Cast Gallery and the Converse Art Gallery on the main floor of the museum, is named for Joe Gualtieri, long-time (1963-2000) Slater Museum director. Though not directly linked to the city’s Semiseptcentennial, the exhibition, entitled Crocker’s Norwich: The Long Nineteenth Century, ties together art and industry in Norwich during what might have been its most successful era.
The concept of the “Long 19th Century,” as defined by British Marxist Eric Hobsbawm, refers to the period between the years 1789 and 1914 during which the French Revolution established a non-monarchical republic in Europe. The period ends with the start of World War I and its events had such a strong influence on world history and culture that they defined the era. The rise of the industrial over the agrarian is evident in Norwich’s ascendance during the era and is evident in the art and image of the city.
Artists represented in the exhibition include John Denison Crocker (1822-1907) a Salem native who worked extensively in Norwich and its environs, residing here most of his life. His local landscapes and portraits of the city’s leading citizens are truly worth thousands of words in any discussion about Norwich’s history and what life was like during the Long Nineteenth century. Crocker painted the farmland, rivers and mills of the nine miles square from vantage points in some cases now obscured by highways and recent development.
Like Crocker, Alexander Hamilton Emmons (1816-1884), a Norwich native whose work is also represented in the show, recorded the city’s luminaries. Commissioned by the founders of one of Norwich’s most prominent 19th century businesses to paint portraits of “worthy” citizens for the city’s new library, Emmons worked frantically to finish the job for the opening.
The work of Ozias Dodge (1868-1925), a Vermont Native who came to Norwich as the Norwich Art School’s (of NFA) director (1897-1910) is extensively represented. Dodge and his wife Hannah made themselves an integral part of the city’s cultural life. He became an inventor and entrepreneur and despite physical weaknesses, his work outside of art helped Norwich immeasurably during WWI.
Also represented are Daniel Wadsworth Coit (1787-1876), Henry V. Edmond (?) and Chauncey Bradley Ives(1810-1894), Henry Dexter (1806-1876), John Trumbull (1756-1843) and Shepard Alonzo Mount (1804-1868).
The story of the lives outside of art of those represented in the exhibition are as fascinating as the images they created. The images represent a Norwich both idyllic and beloved by generations of natives, scholars and visitors.
The Slater Memorial Museum and Converse Art Gallery are part of the Norwich Free Academy, 108 Crescent Street, Norwich 06360. Housed in an exemplary Romanesque Revival building (1886), the museum features full scale plaster casts of Egyptian, Archaic, Greek, Roman and Renaissance sculpture; 17th – 20th c. Americana, fine and decorative Art, Native American artifacts; Asian, African, Oceanic, Egyptian, and European art and ethnographic material. Fine and decorative art representing 350 years of Norwich history. Open year round. Tues – Fri, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Sat/Sun 1 – 4:00 p.m. Please call 860-887-2506 for directions and general information.