Faces of a New Nation
Through Jan. 24, free with regular admission of $18, Winterthur Museum & Country Estate, 5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, Del., 800-448-3883, winterthur.org.
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visual art
"The essence of portraiture," reads the introduction to Winterthur's new exhibit of early American paintings, "is the desire of the client." Culled from the archives of the Met, these 39 portraits, then, trace the way in which Americans, from Colonial times to the Civil War, wished to be depicted. Wealthy colonists from the 1770s display themselves as both prosperous and scholarly, with luxurious wardrobes and books cluttering the backgrounds, while early-19th-century subjects from rural settings opt for more straightforward imagery in limited palettes. The portraits include several contrasting views of George Washington, memorial images of deceased children, and ends, appropriately, with a portrait by Samuel F.B. Morse, champion of the daguerreotype, and one of photographer Mathew Brady, thus capturing two figures key to the medium's own obsolescence.
Through Jan. 24, free with regular admission of $18, Winterthur Museum & Country Estate, 5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, Del., 800-448-3883, winterthur.org.
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