Maryhill Museum of Art

Last updated

Maryhill Museum of Art
MaryhillMuseumFront.jpg
Maryhill Museum of Art
Established1940
Locationnear Maryhill, Washington
Website www.maryhillmuseum.org
Maryhill
USA Washington location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Nearest city Goldendale, Washington
Coordinates 45°40′40″N120°51′48″W / 45.67778°N 120.86333°W / 45.67778; -120.86333
Area34 acres (13.8 ha)
Built1914
ArchitectHornblower & Marshall
Architectural styleBeaux-Arts
NRHP reference No. 74001966 [1] [2]
Added to NRHPDecember 31, 1974

Maryhill Museum of Art is a small museum with an eclectic collection, located near what is now the community of Maryhill in the U.S. state of Washington.

Contents

The museum is situated on a bluff overlooking the eastern end of the Columbia River Gorge. The structure was originally intended as a mansion for entrepreneur Samuel Hill (1857-1931), and was designed by architects Hornblower and Marshall. It was named Maryhill for Hill's wife, daughter of James J. Hill, a Great Northern Railroad baron, and was intended to be used as a home at which they could entertain Samuel Hill's school friend King Albert I of Belgium. Construction was halted upon America's entry into World War I. [2] The unfinished museum building was dedicated on November 3, 1926 by Queen Marie of Romania, and was opened to the public on Hill's birthday (May 13) in 1940. The museum's first physical expansion was completed when the Mary and Bruce Stevenson Wing opened to the public in May 2012. It includes a plaza that overlooks the Columbia River, an education center, a collections suite, and a café.

Collection

Notable in the Maryhill Museum collection are:

History

The Maryhill Museum building was designed as a private residence for Sam Hill by Washington, D.C., architects Hornblower & Marshall. It was designed in a Beaux-Arts style and built of steel-reinforced concrete beginning in 1914. Hill imagined the structure as a ranch building amidst a 5,300-acre agricultural community that he was developing at the eastern end of the Columbia River Gorge. During a 1917 visit by his friend Loïe Fuller, he decided to turn his unfinished home into “a museum for the public good, and for the betterment of French art in the far Northwest of America.” Hill's contribution to the new museum included almost 90 American Indian baskets, more than 70 Rodin sculptures and watercolors, and many personal items.

Fuller, herself, provided the museum with plaster casts of the hands of more than a dozen period celebrities. She gave the museum numerous small, carved ivory crucifix figures that were originally given to her by Désiré-Joseph Mercier, Cardinal Archbishop of Mechelen. She also convinced some of her many friends to make their own donations to the fledgling museum.

Palace furnishings of Queen Marie and other related items. Maryhill Museum interior pano 01.jpg
Palace furnishings of Queen Marie and other related items.

During her 1926 visit for the museum's dedication, Queen Marie of Romania gave Maryhill more than 100 objects. These included personal items, Romanian folk objects, Russian icons and diverse textiles. That same year, Queen Marie's oldest daughter Elisabetha, the former Queen Consort of Greece, gave the museum a collection of small Tanagra figurines and a number of ancient Cypriot amphorae. A year earlier, the museum had received its very first donation—three silver filigree objects—from Queen Marie's second daughter, Marie, Queen Consort of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

Maryhill Museum owes a profound debt to its fourth great patron, Alma de Bretteville Spreckels. Following the deaths of Hill (1931), Fuller (1928) and Queen Marie (1938), she worked tirelessly to turn Sam Hill's unfinished mansion into an art museum. Over the years, Spreckels had acquired many objects from Queen Marie that were intended for a "Romanian Room" in San Francisco's California Palace of the Legion of Honor. She instead donated this material to Maryhill Museum in 1938. It included Queen Marie's gold throne and other unique pieces of Byzantine-inspired furniture, a replica of her coronation crown, and other objects. Spreckels also gave Maryhill a collection of art glass by artists such as Émile Gallé and René Lalique, some Art Deco ceramics by Serafim Sudbinin, European paintings, and ecclesiastical textiles from the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Detail of Rodin's Minotaur, one of many Rodin sculptures at Maryhill. Maryhill Museum - Rodin - Minotaur c. 1886 (plaster) - detail 04.jpg
Detail of Rodin's Minotaur, one of many Rodin sculptures at Maryhill.

Spreckels’ efforts also helped bring the Théâtre de la Mode to Maryhill. After being displayed in Paris in 1945–1946, the mannequins toured Europe and the United States. Their final American venue was the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco. Organizers then attempted to return them to Paris, but the Théâtre de la Mode originator, the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, was unwilling to pay custom charges. The mannequins were stored in San Francisco's City of Paris department store while a decision was made about their future. Spreckels suggested that the mannequins be sent to Maryhill, and they arrived at the museum in time for the 1952 season.

Others also contributed to the early growth of Maryhill's art collection. Clifford Dolph, who served as the museum's first director (1938–1972), had a passion for chess. With the encouragement of the museum's Board of Trustees, he began collecting chess sets in 1957. Dolph was also an astute admirer of realist painting and many of the museum's most important works of art were acquired during his tenure. He exhibited, purchased and promoted the work of American artists associated with Classical Realism. In 2000, the R. H. Ives Gammell Studios Trust gave the museum a 23-panel series titled A Pictorial Sequence Painted by R. H. Ives Gammell Based on The Hound of Heaven . The paintings had premiered at Maryhill in 1957 and the museum's relationship with Gammell and the artists in his circle can be directly linked to the decision to permanently place the works at the museum.

American Indian art has always been an important part of Maryhill Museum's mission. Beginning with Sam Hill's own collection, the Indian basketry holdings now total more than 900 items. A particularly important Indian art donation was made in 1940 by Mary Underwood Lane. She was the granddaughter of Cascade chief Welawa, also known as Chief Chenoweth. Lane's gift included fur trade-era objects and many carved, woven and beaded items from the Middle Columbia River region. A large collection of Arctic material was given to the museum in 1979 by the heirs of Harvey T. Harding, who had operated a store in Nome, Alaska, from 1899 to 1907. Harding kept a journal of his Arctic experiences and a careful record of the objects that he collected—many of which are identified by place and date of collection.

The museum collection also includes numerous historic photographs, archival materials and reference texts.

Maryhill Stonehenge, a concrete replica Stonehenge, is located at the eastern end of Maryhill Museum's property. It was commissioned by Sam Hill and dedicated in 1918 as a memorial to local World War I dead. It was completed in 1929.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constantin Brâncuși</span> Romanian sculptor, photographer and painter

Constantin Brâncuși was a Romanian sculptor, painter and photographer who made his career in France. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century and a pioneer of modernism, Brâncuși is called the patriarch of modern sculpture. As a child, he displayed an aptitude for carving wooden farm tools. Formal studies took him first to Bucharest, then to Munich, then to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1905 to 1907. His art emphasizes clean geometrical lines that balance forms inherent in his materials with the symbolic allusions of representational art. Brâncuși sought inspiration in non-European cultures as a source of primitive exoticism, as did Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, André Derain, and others. However, other influences emerge from Romanian folk art traceable through Byzantine and Dionysian traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goldendale, Washington</span> City in Washington, United States

Goldendale is a city and county seat of Klickitat County, Washington, United States, near the Columbia River Gorge. The population within city limits was 3,760 at the 2000 census and 3,407 at the 2010 census, a 9.4% decrease. It is situated in a primarily agricultural area and is also near Goldendale Observatory State Park. The valley in which Goldendale is located offers views of the Cascade Mountains to the west and the Simcoe Mountains to the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryhill, Washington</span> Census-designated place in Washington, United States

Maryhill is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Klickitat County, Washington, United States. The population was 58 at the 2010 census, down from 98 at the 2000 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legion of Honor (museum)</span> Art museum in California, United States of America

The Legion of Honor, formally known as the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, is an art museum in San Francisco, California. Located in Lincoln Park, the Legion of Honor is a component of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, which also administers the de Young Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Hill</span> American businessman, lawyer and railroad executive

Samuel Hill, was an American businessman, lawyer, railroad executive, and advocate of good roads. He substantially influenced the Pacific Northwest region's economic development in the early 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loie Fuller</span> American dancer (1862–1928)

Loie Fuller, also known as Louie Fuller and Loïe Fuller, was an American dancer and a pioneer of modern dance and theatrical lighting techniques.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William McGregor Paxton</span> American painter (1869–1941)

William McGregor Paxton was an American painter and instructor who embraced the Boston School paradigm and was a co-founder of The Guild of Boston Artists. He taught briefly while a student at Cowles Art School, where he met his wife Elizabeth Okie Paxton, and at the Museum of Fine Arts School in Boston. Paxton is known for his portraits, including those of two presidents—Grover Cleveland and Calvin Coolidge—and interior scenes with women, including his wife. His works are in many museums in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calouste Gulbenkian Museum</span> Art museum in Lisbon, Portugal

The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum houses one of the world's most important private art collections. It includes works from Ancient Egypt to the early 20th century, spanning the arts of the Islamic World, China and Japan, as well as the French decorative arts, the jewellery of René Lalique and some of the most important painters of all times works such as Rembrandt, Monet, Rubens, Manet, Renoir, Degas and Turner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cotroceni Palace</span> Building in Bucharest, Romania

Cotroceni Palace is the official residence of the President of Romania. It is located at Bulevardul Geniului, nr. 1, in Bucharest, Romania. The palace also houses the National Cotroceni Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park</span> Place in California listed on National Register of Historic Places

The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is located in San Francisco, California, United States. The park includes a fleet of historic vessels, a visitor center, a maritime museum, and a library/research facility. Formerly referred to as the San Francisco Maritime Museum, the collections were acquired by the National Park Service in 1978. The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park was authorized in 1988; the maritime museum is among the park's many cultural resources. The park also incorporates the Aquatic Park Historic District, bounded by Van Ness Avenue, Polk Street, and Hyde Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alma de Bretteville Spreckels</span> American philanthropist (1881–1968)

Alma de Bretteville Spreckels was a wealthy socialite and philanthropist in San Francisco, California. She was known both as "Big Alma" and "The Great Grandmother of San Francisco". Among her many accomplishments, she persuaded her first husband, sugar magnate Adolph B. Spreckels, to donate the California Palace of the Legion of Honor to the city of San Francisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Route 97 in Washington</span>

U.S. Route 97 in the U.S. state of Washington is a 322-mile (518 km) route which traverses from the Oregon state line at the northern end of the Sam Hill Memorial Bridge in Maryhill, north to the Canada–US border in Okanogan County near Oroville. The highway serves major cities such as Goldendale, Yakima, Ellensburg and Wenatchee before continuing towards the Alaska Highway at the Yukon border as British Columbia Highway 97. Along the length of the roadway, US 97 is concurrent with State Route 14 in Maryhill, Interstate 82 (I-82) and US 12 between Union Gap and Ellensburg, I-90 briefly in Ellensburg, US 2 between Peshastin and rural Douglas County and SR 20 near Omak. An alternate route connects the highway with Chelan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Dailey (glass artist)</span> American artist

Dan Owen Dailey is an American artist and educator, known for his sculpture. With the support of a team of artists and crafts people, he creates sculptures and functional objects in glass and metal. He has taught at many glass programs and is professor emeritus at the Massachusetts College of Art, where he founded the glass program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston School (painting)</span> American group of artists

The Boston School was a group of Boston-based painters active in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Often classified as American Impressionists, they had their own regional style, combining the painterliness of Impressionism with a more conservative approach to figure painting and a marked respect for the traditions of Western art history. Their preferred subject matter was genteel: portraits, picturesque landscapes, and young women posing in well-appointed interiors. Major influences included John Singer Sargent, Claude Monet, and Jan Vermeer. Key figures in the Boston School were Edmund C. Tarbell, Frank Weston Benson, and William McGregor Paxton, all of whom trained in Paris at the Académie Julian and later taught at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Their influence can still be seen in the work of some contemporary Boston-area artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isabelle de Borchgrave</span> Belgian artist (born 1946)

Isabelle Jeanne Marie Alice Jacobs, by marriage, Countess Isabelle de Borchgrave d'Altena is a prominent Belgian artist and sculptor, best known for her colorful paintings, intricately painted paper sculptures, paper garments and wearable art. She is married to Count Werner de Borchgrave d'Altena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Théâtre de la Mode</span>

Théâtre de la Mode was a 1945–1946 touring exhibit of fashion mannequins created at approximately 1/3 the size of human scale, and crafted by top Paris fashion designers.It was created to raise funds for war survivors and to help revive the French fashion industry in the aftermath of World War II. While raising funds, Théâtre de la Mode was also meant to showcase the work of Parisian couturiers. The original Théâtre de la Mode exhibit toured Europe and then the United States, and is now part of the permanent collections of the Maryhill Museum of Art in Washington state in the United States. In addition to its fundraising and industry revival goals, the Théâtre de la Mode exhibit played a significant role in promoting French fashion internationally. The miniature mannequins and exquisite designs showcased the creativity and craftsmanship of Parisian couturiers, attracting attention and admiration from fashion enthusiasts worldwide. The exhibit's subsequent journey to the United States helped solidify the global influence of French fashion and contributed to the post-war cultural exchange between Europe and America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Okie Paxton</span> American painter

Elizabeth Okie Paxton (1878–1972) was an American painter, married to another artist William McGregor Paxton (1869–1941). The Paxtons were part of the Boston School, a prominent group of artists known for works of beautiful interiors, landscapes, and portraits of their wealthy patrons. Her paintings were widely exhibited and sold well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gab Sorère</span>

Gabrielle Bloch, known professionally as Gab Sorère, was a French art promoter, set designer, mechanical innovator, filmmaker and choreographer of the Belle Époque. Collaborating with her partner, Loïe Fuller, to explore illusion through luminescence, she produced films and choreographies which moved performance from dancers being lighted to the abstract vision of lights dancing. When Fuller died, Sorère inherited the dance troupe and laboratory of her partner and strove to keep her legacy as a visual effects artist alive. She continued to produce innovative productions utilizing fluorescence and light into the 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">May Slessinger</span> American painter

May Slessinger was an American artist specializing in miniatures, based in San Francisco, California.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 Robert Campbell (March 14, 1974). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Maryhill Museum of Fine Art". National Park Service . Retrieved November 28, 2016. with photo from 1974

Further reading