Under the guidance and leadership of remarkable curators and directors, the museum collection has significantly expanded from the 424 objects of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller’s initial gift to over 7,600 noteworthy examples of paintings, drawings, sculpture, furniture, pottery, needlework, textiles, toys, silhouettes, and decorative useful wares. Today, the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum is the oldest continuously operating institution in the world devoted exclusively to the study and appreciation of American folk art. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation is honored to have been selected as the loan exhibitor for the 2017 Winter Antiques Show. We are especially gratified to return to New York, where Abby Aldrich Rockefeller began collecting and where her collection first debuted. The words of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller’s son Winthrop, first spoken nearly sixty years ago, are still timely today: “Here is a varied, colorful, and appealing display of one phase of American civilization in which my mother had so much faith. I sincerely hope that everyone who sees these early examples of American art will come to discover for himself some of the same pleasure and interest that my mother found in them. Nothing delighted her more than to share her enjoyment of the Collection with others.”
Top Left: Baby in Red Chair Pennsylvania, 1810-1830 Oil on canvas Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; From the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Collection; Gift of David Rockefeller. This iconic portrait of an unidentified sleeping baby was acquired for Abby Aldrich Rockefeller by Edith Gregor Halpert in the early 1930s. It remains a favorite among visitors and is on display in the museum’s loan exhibition at the 2017 Winter Antiques Show.
We are pleased to present Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum: Revolution & Evolution, the inaugural event in celebration of the museum’s diamond jubilee. We hope you will join us to honor the origins of this extraordinary collection and celebrate its growth over the past sixty years.
Top Right: Digital rendering of proposed museum entrance for 2017 expansion Courtesy of Samuel Anderson Architects At present, plans are underway for the expansion of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum and the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum (together known as the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg), which will include 8,000 square feet of new gallery space, a street-level entrance, expanded guest amenities and programming, and new and upgraded mechanical systems.
Laura Pass Barry is the Juli Grainger Curator of Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture at Colonial Williamsburg. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation is dedicated to the preservation, restoration, and presentation of eighteenthcentury Williamsburg and the study, interpretation, and teaching of America’s founding principles. The Foundation operates the 301-acre restored eighteenth-century capital of Virginia as well as the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, which include the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum.
Lower Right: The Kingdoms of Edward Hicks exhibition, 1999 Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation The museum has hosted numerous important exhibitions throughout its history. One of these highlights was The Kingdoms of Edward Hicks, the first major exhibition on the life and work of the nineteenth-century Quaker minister and painter made famous for his Peaceable Kingdom paintings. The exhibition focused new attention on the Quaker beliefs and church politics that inspired the artist’s subject matter and featured over fifty objects, sixteen of which are owned by Colonial Williamsburg, the largest single collection of Hicks’s material.
For more information, including exhibitions and upcoming events, visit history.org/museums. 21