Message from Brian T. Allen
The Mary Stripp & R. Crosby Kemper Director
We’re having an exceptional season at the Addison, and as we pass the half way mark of our 75th birthday year, we have a lot to celebrate. Last year almost seven hundred new objects, all of the highest quality, joined the collection. That almost all came as gifts is testimony to the generosity of the Addison’s supporters as well as the renown of the collection. Steven Sherrill, profiled in this issue, was especially good to us.
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Arthur Wesley Dow (1857 - 1922)
Untitled View of Ipswich
cyanotype
purchased as the gift of R. Crosby Kemper and partial gift of George and Barbara Wright
© Addison Gallery of American Art
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One of the great additions to the collection was a magnificent group of photographs, drawings, and prints by Arthur Wesley Dow. The collection of nearly 300 objects remained in Dow’s family since his death in 1922. The Addison had only one Dow woodcut, a tragedy since he was so influential. Through the generosity of Crosby Kemper, who donated a substantial sum toward their purchase, and George and Barbara White, members of Dow’s family who gave us many objects, we now have an encyclopedic collection of his works on paper and one of the best in the country.
The Addison has very limited acquisition money, and with the astronomical prices of American art these days, we know that the collection can’t grow without gifts. Kudos to so many for making 2006 a banner year for the Addison’s already marvelous permanent collection.
