The Florence Griswold Museum, through its exhibit
Colony, the buildings and environment surrounding the
In Place: Contemporary Photographers Envision a
Museum were, and still are, ideally suited to be artisti-
Museum, made a bold, courageous departure from
cally interpreted, a haven for nature lovers, artists and
its early twentieth-century beginnings associated
visitors alike. The buildings work with the environment,
with the Lyme Art Colony. Ten photographers were
where walls reflect sunlight and cast shadows. Its setting,
tasked to focus solely on the setting of the Museum
populated by meadows, forests and fields all situated
and its grounds. Despite the deceptively limited sub-
on an idyllic riverside inspired a generation of artists and
ject matter, the project resulted in an array of vastly
continues to thrill visitors today.
different works, creating a new collection of stunning,
While the Florence Griswold Museum prides itself on
unique and quite personal re-interpretations of this
its rich history, In Place shows that the Museum is not
shared environment. The exhibit runs through January
stuck in the past by any means. Its choice to base the
29th, and is definitely worth a visit.
new exhibit in modern photography is completely inten-
So what makes the Florence Griswold Museum
tional, seeing contemporary photography as an art that
an ideal setting for an exhibit like this? Its location in
increasingly pushes the boundaries with other media.
Old Lyme, Connecticut, for one, which lives up to the
Speaking with the Museum’s curator Amy Kurtz Lansing,
Museum’s description as a beautiful place to visit far
she explained how the development of In Place began
from the bustle of city life.
in her eyes as “unstructured.” Asked about her first
Then there is the property of the Museum itself. Orig-
impressions of the artists’ work, Ms. Kurtz Lansing said
inally used in the early twentieth-century by the Lyme Art
that she would hear the artists develop a “kernel of an
Tina Barney, The Print Dress, 2016. Chromogenic color print. Courtesy of Paul Kasmin Gallery.