Consuming Views Major New Exhibition and Publication Explores History of Art and Tourism in New Hampshire's White Mountain Region

The New Hampshire Historical Society is presenting a major new exhibition and publication exploring how artists and consumers perceived the natural wonders of the White Mountains. Consuming Views: Art and Tourism in the White Mountains, 1850-1900, opens at the Society’s Museum of New Hampshire History in Concord and will be on display until May 6, 2007.

Concord, NH (PRWEB) September 21, 2006 -- The New Hampshire Historical Society is presenting a major new exhibition and publication exploring how artists and consumers perceived the natural wonders of the White Mountains. Consuming Views: Art and Tourism in the White Mountains, 1850-1900, opens at the Society’s Museum of New Hampshire History in Concord and will be on display until May 6, 2007.

The beauty of the White Mountains has inspired visitors to New Hampshire for two centuries. How people have perceived the mountains, however, has changed over time, and each generation has found something new and meaningful for themselves and for the culture in which they live.

Guest curators John J. Henderson, a former trustee of the Society, and Roger E. Belson (co-authors of the Web site www.whitemountainart.com) have worked with Society staff, scholars, and volunteers for three years in researching and developing this exhibition. Thirty-seven paintings from public and private collections selected for the exhibition present a compelling and unique perspective of the White Mountain locale. Artists include Jasper Francis Cropsey, Thomas Hill, Benjamin Champney, and Frank Shapleigh, as well as lesser-known talents such as Bradford Freeman, Franklin Stanwood, and Erdix Tenney Wilson.

The artworks are organized geographically, following routes nineteenth-century travelers took while touring the White Mountains. Visitors will be able to explore the key sites that attracted tourists and inspired artists, beginning and ending in North Conway, home of the earliest White Mountain artists’ community.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Society has published a full-color clothbound book available through the Society’s museum store and the University Press of New England. Thirty-three authors from many different disciplines contributed to the publication. The contributors range from cultural historians to art historians, from museum professionals to experts in White Mountain paintings. Approaching the subject from a variety of perspectives, they together reveal the story and significance of White Mountain scenery, of the artists who depicted it, and of the people (“consumers”) who acquired, owned, and cherished White Mountain art.

By the middle of the nineteenth century, the region’s magnificent, yet varied, scenery attracted tourists and artists from cities throughout the northeast, as well as from Europe. More than four hundred artists are known to have painted White Mountain scenes before 1900. Artists who visited New Hampshire between 1850 and 1900 interpreted the scenery of the White Mountains in ways designed to appeal to and attract tourists and to serve as souvenirs of their mountain visits. Hotel owners encouraged painters to work and to take up residence in the White Mountain hotels. Paintings enriched the tourists’ sensibilities and enhanced an appreciation of the landscape.

Artist and hotel proprietor alike were selling the landscape, though in different ways, to consumers of mountain scenery. Many hotels eventually had an artist in residence, some with elaborately stocked studios during the season, ready to sell visitors their choice from an array of landscape, genre, and floral paintings.

In the 1800s, the motivation for purchasing White Mountain landscape paintings was as complex and changeable as it is today. A growing middle class was gaining cultural as well as economic power. Merchants, bankers, and attorneys embraced gentility by acquiring, displaying, and contemplating paintings. For some, these paintings remained mere symbols of their own rising economic status. Yet, for others these objects and images were of spiritual, rather than economic, value.

Bring a blanket and a thermos of cocoa as you take a rhythmic trip back in time during the New Hampshire Historical Society’s upcoming “Twilight Concerts in Eagle Square” series featuring 19th century music. Be prepared to be dazzled under the stars as you take in the musical performances reminiscent of the music played during the era of the grand hotels of the White Mountains. These concerts, which will be held from 7-8:00 p.m. on Thursday September 21 and Thursday, September 28, at Eagle Square in downtown Concord. The concerts are free to the public.

Each musical performance will focus on 19th century travel and tourism in the White Mountains in connection to the Society’s latest exhibit Consuming Views. Before each concert, the Society’s Museum of New Hampshire History will be open, free of charge, starting at 5 p.m. for concert-goers to visit the new exhibit Consuming Views: Art and Tourism in the White Mountains, 1850-1900. The museum will close at 8 p.m. following each performance. In the museum, visitors will be able to explore the key sites that attracted tourists and inspired artists, beginning and ending in North Conway, home of the earliest White Mountain artists’ community.

On Thursday, September 21, Robert Kilham, a Deerfield musician, will entertain the audience with popular music from the mid-19th century. As part of his performance, Kilham dresses in period clothing and plays traditional instruments including the banjo.

On Thursday, September 28, The Proper Ladies, a duo from the Greater Boston area, will take the stage and perform Victorian Era classics such as “Bicycle Built for Two” and “Home Sweet Home.” During the show, the Proper Ladies, also dressed in period clothing, will sing songs taken from the Hutchinson Family Singers, the famous 19th century New Hampshire vocal group. Their performance will feature a sizable dose of audience participation ; the Proper Ladies make a point of involving children in the audience by having them sing along.

For directions or for more information, please call the New Hampshire Historical Society at 603/228-6688 or visit www.nhhistory.org. In case of rain, bring a chair as the concerts will be moved indoors to the adjacent Atrium at 7 Eagle Square.

The Society’s Twilight Concerts in Eagle Square are being sponsored by the Duncan S. McGowan Fund for Eagle Square.

Consuming Views is funded by TD Banknorth Charitable Foundation; Robert and Dorothy Goldberg Charitable Foundation; John J. and Joan R. Henderson; Catherine L. and Joel J. Bedor; the Mount Washington Cog Railway; and Capital Offset Company, Inc.

The Museum of New Hampshire History, located at 6 Eagle Square in downtown Concord, is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. The museum is also open Mondays, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. from July 1 through October 15 and in the month of December. Admission is $5.50 for adults; $4.50 for seniors; $3 for children 6-18, with a family maximum of $17. Children under 6 and members of the New Hampshire Historical Society are admitted free.
Founded in 1823, the New Hampshire Historical Society is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving and sharing New Hampshire history. The Society serves thousands of children and adults each year through its Museum of New Hampshire History, research library, educational programs, and award-winning publications. For more information, visit www.nhhistory.org or call 603/228-6688

# # #