e-Newsletter | April 23, 2021 |
|
Over the centuries, Newbury and Newburyport have been home to numerous artists who have captured the essence of these special places in landscapes and seascapes and recorded the likenesses of many local citizens.
The life and works of many of these eighteenth and nineteenth century artists have been well chronicled. Moses Dupre Cole (1783-1849), an artist in his own right, fathered Charles Ocatvius Cole, Lyman Emerson Cole and Joseph Greenleaf Cole, all Newburyport portraitists -- a story for another time.
|
|
Henry Hammond Ahl (1869-1953) by Margaret Richardson. From the collections of the Museum of Old Newbury. Gift of Henry Curtis Ahl.
|
|
Less has been written about some of our 20th century artists and one family, somewhat overlooked and deserving of attention, is the Ahl family of Newbury.
Henry Hammond Ahl (1869-1953), the most prominent artist in the family, was born in East Hartford, Connecticut. He was a portraitist, muralist and landscape painter whose work received acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic.
At age seventeen, Henry Ahl was considered a skilled artist in oils.
He traveled to Europe and studied at the Royal Academy of Munich and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris under some of Europe's finest artists including Franz Von Stuck, Peter Paul Muller, and Jean Leon Gerome.
It was in Munich that Ahl was awarded his first prize in an exhibition.
|
|
By 1899 he had a solid reputation and had settled in Springfield, Massachusetts where he set up his first studio. Springfield was also where he met poet and painter Eleanor Isabella Curtis (1875-1953) who would become his wife in 1902.
Eleanor Ahl had been an art teacher but after her marriage, the couple traveled extensively in Europe. As an artist she became known for her watercolor landscapes and floral still lifes.
|
|
Eleanor Curtis Ahl “The Old Farm,” n.d., watercolor on paper. From the collections of Brenau University. |
|
After returning from Europe, the Ahls settled in Washington, D.C. where Henry established a studio on Pennsylvania Avenue that he maintained until 1912. He also had a studio on Fifth Avenue in New York City, both of which he shared with his wife.
During his time in the Capitol, Ahl earned prestige for his portraits of prominent political figures. In addition to his portraiture, he became interested in creating religious murals, several of which survive in churches in Boston and Providence, R.I. Some of these are frescoes and other works are on canvas. Many of these were created during the period that he had a studio in Boston.
One painting in particular entitled In the Shadow of the Cross toured the country in 1899 before being exhibited at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 where it drew large crowds. Art historians have referred to it as "the miracle painting" for its distinctive luminosity.
Ahl's career as a muralist came to an abrupt end in 1915 after a fall from scaffolding. At that time, he turned his attention to landscape painting specializing in New England scapes. Many of these were reproduced on cards and calendars ensuring financial security for his wife and son, Henry Curtis Ahl.
|
|
"Apple Trees in Springtime" by Henry Hammond Ahl. From the collections of the Museum of Old Newbury. Gift of Henry Curtis Ahl. |
|
In 1920, the close-knit family who immersed themselves in their art settled on Orchard Street near the Parker River in Byfield having purchased a large home dating from 1638 with later additions. A spacious room at the top of the house became Henry Ahl's final studio where he produced large, bold canvases of woodland and pastoral scenes with an impressionistic feel. Both he and Eleanor Ahl derived their inspiration from the landscapes surrounding their home.
During his long career, Ahl was a member of the American Artists Professional League, Boston's Copley Society, the Salmagundi Club and the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts.
His work was exhibited at and is in the collections of numerous museums across the country including the National Academy of Design, the American Watercolor Society, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Worcester Museum of Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Boston's Museum of Fine Arts.
In May 1953, Eleanor Ahl died after a long illness at age 78. In addition to her own reputation as an artist, she is credited with providing her son with the primary principles for his art education. Two weeks after the death of Eleanor, Henry Ahl died of pneumonia after contracting a virus. He was 84 years old.
A sad closing to the Ahls' life in Newbury was the complete destruction by fire of their much-loved homestead in September 1954.
Henry Curtis Ahl was fifteen when his parents made their last move and settled in Byfield.
He studied under both his parents, attended nearby Governor Dummer Academy (The Governor's Academy) and graduated with a B.A. degree from Harvard University in the class of 1928. Much of his youth was spent exploring and painting the nearby woodlands and Newbury's Great Marsh.
|
|
"Cape Ann" by Henry Curtis Ahl, no date, from a private collection. |
|
A reclusive individual, he removed to a cabin in Newburyport following the death of his parents. He was a prolific painter of landscapes and seascapes with crashing waves. Later in his life, he traveled extensively to the Southwest, California, Florida and the Canadian Maritimes painting en plein air.
Curtis, as he was sometimes known, also wrote and illustrated many pamphlets reflecting his interests in natural history and American literature. One of these was A Visit to the House of Seven Gables.
His paintings are in the collections of the Georgia Museum of Art, the Farnsworth Museum, the Portland Museum of Art, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College.
Henry Curtis Ahl died in Seabrook, NH, in 1996 at age ninety. In 1997, a posthumous exhibition was held at the Museum of Old Newbury where his mother had also exhibited.
The Ahl family derived strength and inspiration from one another, and the body of their combined works is impressive.
|
|
Editor's note: Inconsistencies in spelling of names, etc., are from the historical record and not a typographical error. |
|
About Peter Henderson & Co. (continued from last week)
|
|
Peter Henderson was born in a small village south of Edinburgh, Scotland in 1822. He was the grandson of a shepherd and a son of a land steward who was wealthy enough to see that his three children were well educated.
The young Henderson emigrated to the United States in 1843 and secured two nursery jobs, the latter with Robert Buist who, at that time, was considered the leading nurseryman and florist in the United States. By 1847, Henderson began as a market gardener in Jersey City, New Jersey, where he spent the remainder of his life.
Henderson flourished in his career becoming known also as a florist and a seedsman. He devoted years to the development of vegetable and flower varieties suitable for the American climate and ran his growing seed company for 45 years. Gradually his work grew to include ornamental plantings and gardens and his name became synonymous with American horticulture.
|
|
|
|
His catalog Everything for the Garden was indeed that. The five color lithograph covers of his catalogs were grand indeed, and the contents were akin to a garden periodical, eagerly awaited by professional and amateur gardeners nationwide. Henderson produced many catalogues featuring old roses, for which he became well known.
This humble man was a prolific author producing at least a dozen books and hundreds of articles in periodicals. He has been described as never-tiring throughout his life and penned over 175,000 letters.
Peter Henderson considered himself first and foremost a seedsman, sowing seeds for new gardens across America. He died in Jersey City in 1890.
|
|
Early bird tickets now on sale!
Become a Museum of Old Newbury member ($40) and receive 2-for-1 "Sowing the Seeds" A Season of Renewal" Garden Tour ticket pricing! Press "Select a Date" and choose the day you wish to attend (Saturday or Sunday). Note: you are welcome both days, but to purchase tickets you need to pick one of the days.
With an eye to erring on the side of caution with regard to evolving COVID safety protocols, we request all tickets be purchased online. If needed, checks may be made payable to "Museum of Old Newbury" and sent to 98 High Street, Newburyport, MA 01950. Please include an email for sending a link to the digital program book with garden addresses, owner information and more.
|
|
Miss a Recent MOON Program? Watch here. |
|
Thanks to the wonder of the Zoom platform, all of our programs are recorded and available online shortly after presentation. Visit our website for upcoming events, previous recordings, including the four 2020 Virtual Garden Tours, our Annual Meeting, children's and holiday programs, as well as all episodes of "Yeat Yeat, Don't Tell Me!"
In lieu of a printed program book, we will be featuring monthly events here, as well as maintaining a complete list on our website: www.NewburyHistory.org.
All of our virtual programs are free, however donations are gratefully accepted to help defray speaker fees.
|
|
REGISTER:
Thursday, May 6, 2021 @ 3:00 p.m.
(Rain date: Friday, May 7, 2021 @ 3:00 p.m.)
Historian, author and 12th generation Newburyport-er Ghlee Woodworth will lead a COVID-safe walking tour through Old Hill Burying Ground.
This is an in-person event. Masks are required and we request attendees maintain a social distance of 6', as recommended by state COVID guidelines.
LIMIT: 20 (ONLY A FEW SPOTS LEFT)
|
|
REGISTER:
Thursday, May 20, 2021 @ 7:00 p.m.
Lucinda A. Brockway is the Program Director for Cultural Resources at The Trustees of Reservations where she is responsible for 112 properties and 25,000 acres of Massachusetts cultural landscape.
Join us for her online presentation, Cushing House Garden: A Closer Look, when she shares the history, restoration and evolution of the MOON's Cushing House Garden.
|
|
Rocket Man Program a Blast!
Tianyu M. Fang, a 2020 graduate of The Governor's Academy and a first-year student at Stanford University, presented his cautionary tale of Qian Xuesen, the famously deported MIT- and Cal Tech-trained engineer, who had been developing rocket engines in Cal Tech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and later went on to boost China's space and ballistic missile technologies. More than 65 people registered for the event.
Watch the fascinating program here.
|
|
Yeat Yeat, The Show Must Go On!
Jack Santos, Custom House Maritime Museum, and Colleen Turner Secino, Museum of Old Newbury, kept it together on April 16, 2021's episode despite malfunctions and mishaps.
Secino shares, "Though a few snafus could be remedied in post-production, the missing fourth question slide could not. Ah, the beauty of being live!"
The question is read aloud during the recording, but here it is if you are playing along:
Question 4. In 1656, the General Court of Mass. Appointed a committee to determine the division line between Newbury and Rowley. The agreed line was defined how?
- a) Beginning at the “three trees” and continuing to the heap of stones near Plum Island.
- b) Beginning at a white oak-tree on the NW side of Easton’s River…to a heap of stones one mile to the northwest.
- c) Situated on the westerly side of the driveway running along Plum Island, at a point 2 ½ miles south of the U.S. Life Saving Station.
- d) Starting at Ye Olde Rusty Can southeasterly to Fraser’s Rock.
Watch here for the answer (or email info@newburyhistory.org) and plan to join us for the next show on Friday, April 30, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. (Zoom in here).
|
|
|
|
Puzzle Me This...
Detail from a four paneled folding screen with ivory that was made for the U.S. market in the late 19th century.
It is believed to have been exhibited at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. The screen was bequeathed to the museum in 1910 by Susan Parsons Brown Forbes of Fatherland Farm in Byfield.
From the collections of the Museum of Old Newbury.
Click on the image to begin.
|
|
Something is Always Cooking at the Museum
April showers (and a Nor'easter for good measure) should be bringing May flowers, but not necessarily warm temperatures. A big, cheesy bowl of Peg McClure's onion soup will, however, take the chill off.
French Onion Soup
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup olive oil
4 pounds Spanish onions, halved and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/2 cup dry sherry
1/2 cup brandy
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
8 cups beef broth
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
6 slices baguette, 1/2 inch thick and toasted
6 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated
6 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, shredded
In a large stock pot over medium-high heat, melt butter and oil. Add onions and cook for about 35 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add sherry and brandy, scraping up brown bits off bottom of pan for about 5 minutes. Add wine and simmer 15 minutes. Add beef broth, bay leaves, sea salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. Remove bay leaves and taste for seasoning. Preheat broiler. Ladle soup into serving bowls. Top with tasted baguette slice. Sprinkle generously with Gruyere cheese. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese. Broil until golden brown. Serves 6.
|
|
Newburyport Literary Festival Kicks Off Tonight @ 6:00 p.m.
Over 100 authors will be featured at the 16th annual Newburyport Literary Festival, the largest one yet. Due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns, all events are virtual, allowing organizers to bring in writers who might not otherwise be able to visit Newburyport.
The festival runs from today Friday, April 23, through Sunday, April 25, 2021. Find the full schedule of events and registration links and information here.
|
|
During this difficult period of COVID-19, we rely on your support more than ever. We continue to develop new, online programs for you to enjoy and keep us connected and look forward to in-person events as protocols for safety loosen. We hope, if you are able, that you will consider a donation to the museum. Thank you for your continued support.
|
|
Museum e-Newsletter made possible through the
generosity of our sponsors:
|
|
|
Museum of Old Newbury
98 High Street
Newburyport, MA 01950
978-462-2681
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
