Maritte Art News
Constitution & Guerriere
by George Ropes Jr., 1813
You only have a few months left to catch the only exhibition planned of the four newly acquired George Ropes Jr. 1813 paintings depicting Constitution vs. HMS Guerriere in the famous battle of 19 August 1812. Last January, the USS Constitutio n M useum purchased at auction one of its most significant acquisitions ever, a series of paintings by Salem, M assachusetts, artist George Ropes Jr.-they are among the earliest images of this seminal battle. Ropes's paintings are now the museum's signature images of this event and will be displayed together until 14 November. They will then be rotated o n and off display, central to the museum's battle theater presentati o n, used as aids in educational programs, and rep roduced on products to be sold in the museum store. The paintings come from the collection of the Woburn Public Library in Woburn, MA, where they had been stored in a base ment vaulr. Because the paintings have no local Woburn connection, the library's trustees made the decision to deaccess ion them to help fund an expansion and renovation of the library's historic structure. (USS Constitution Museum, C harlestown Navy Yard, Building 22, Charlestown, MA 02 129; Ph. 6 17 426- 18 12; www.ussconstitutionmuseum .org)
The Peabody Essex Museum is preparing an exhibition, "To the Ends of the Earth, Painting the Polar Landscape," to open 8 November. Capturing the high dram a and stark beauty of nautical explorations to the Arcti c and Antarctic during th e 19 th- and early 20th centuries, this exhibition offers a rare glimpse of pristine and uncharted regions as they were encountered by pioneering North American , British, and Scandinavian expeditions. The exhibit investigates the polar landscape from the vantage point of maritime exploration and adventure and features works from the expeditions of Sir Ernest Shackleton and Admiral Richard Byrd, am o ng o thers. More than 50 wo rks by artist-explo rers are represented, from exp a n sive ro m a nti c canvases like Frederic Edwin Church's stunning Aurora Borealis, to intimate early modernist works in pas tel Aurora Borealis, 1865, Frederic Edwin Church, 56X83-112 inches by D avid Abbey Paige. The exhibitio n will close on 9 M arch 2009. (PEM, East India Square, Salem, MA 01 970; Ph . 978 745-9500; www.pem .org)
(Left) Iceberg, 1891, Frederic Edwin Church, 20 X 3 0 inches
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