Historic New England FRONT COVER
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HISTORIC NEW ENGLAND FRONT COVER: BRADDOCK MEAD, aka JOHN GREEN (c. 1688-1757) [compiler], THOMAS JEFFERYS (c. 1710-1771) [publisher] A MAP of the most INHABITED part of NEW ENGLAND, containing the PROVINCES of MASSACHUSETTS BAY and NEW HAMPSHIRE, with the COLONIES of CONNECTICUT AND RHODE ISLAND, Divided into Counties and Townships: The whole composed from Actual Surveys and its Situation adjusted by ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS 1774 Hand-colored copper plate engraving 41½ x 39½ inches NH: WILLIAM TROST RICHARDS (1833-1905) Whaleback Lighthouse Off Portsmouth, New Hampshire [detail] circa 1872 MA: JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY (1738-1815) Lady Temple (Elizabeth Bowdoin of Boston) circa 1767 CT: FRANK CONVERS MATHEWSON (1862-1941) Noank Shipyard [detail] 1899 VT: JAMES KING BONNAR (1883-1961) Mount Equinox, Manchester, Vermont [detail] circa 1950 RI: JOHN LA FARGE (1835-1910) Newport, Windmill, Near Easton’s Pond. Early Spring, Southeast Wind 1864 ME: WINSLOW HOMER (1836-1910) Sea and Rocks at Prouts Neck, Maine [detail] 1895 “HISTORIC NEW ENGLAND” AN EXHIBITION AND SALE OF PAINTINGS, WATERCOLORS, DRAWINGS, PRINTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND SCULPTURE ILLUSTRATING FOUR CENTURIES OF THE HISTORY, CULTURE, AND NATURAL BEAUTY OF THE NEW ENGLAND REGION TO BENEFIT ~ AMERICA’S OLDEST, LARGEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE REGIONAL HERITAGE ORGANIZATION ~ AND IN CELEBRATION OF THE CENTENNIAL OF ITS FOUNDING JULY 12 - NOVEMBER 14, 2010 WILLIAM VAREIKA FINE ARTS LTD THE NEWPORT GALLERY OF AMERICAN ART 212 bellevue avenue • newport, rhode island 02840 www.VAREIKaFINEARTS.CoM 401-849-6149 HISTORIC NEW ENGLAND: A PERSONAL REFLECTION “Our New England antiquities are fast disappearing...The situation requires aggressive action by a large and strong society, which shall cover the whole field and act instantly wherever needed to lead in the preservation of noteworthy buildings and historic sites.” william sumner appleton (1874-1947) Founder of Historic New England, 1910 “The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.” william James (1842-1910) My family roots are firmly planted in New England, my ancestors having arrived here during one of the great immigration waves of the early 20th Century. i was born in south boston and raised in the industrial city of brockton, Massachusetts, where my paternal grandfa- ther had come to find work in a shoe factory when he first arrived in America from Lithuania before returning to Europe to fight for the us army in world war i. My paternal grandmother worked on the campaigns of legendary boston democratic Mayor James Michael Curley. My maternal grandmother, who settled in south boston after emigrating from County Galway, ireland, found employment as a domestic in Boston. My wife Alison’s maternal ancestors arrived in New England on the Mayflower. Her grandfather was a successful harvard-educated attorney who waged an unsuccessful campaign for Massachusetts Governor on the republican ticket. alison’s father came to New England from Oklahoma to attend Yale. My father was the first member of his family to graduate from college, attending northeastern university on the Gi bill in the evenings when i was a child. the stories of our children’s ancestors – among them some of new england’s earliest european settlers and its struggling early 20th century immigrants – reveal two significant and very different perspectives on the complex and rich history of the region. Nearly all of my fondest early memories took place among the historic sites and landmarks of New England: skating on the Boston Com- mon ice rink and riding the swan boats on the frog pond in the boston public Garden; visiting the attractions of the Freedom trail, and battlefields of lexington and Concord; touring Old Ironsides in the Charlestown navy Yard; summer trips to the white Mountains and the berkshires; fishing on Cape Cod; and reliving the region’s nostalgic past at old Mystic, plymouth, and sturbridge. Later, while a prelaw student at Boston College in the early 1970s, I worked as an intern in the Mayor’s Office in Brockton. One of my projects was the publication of a guide to the city, which included a historical sketch. Researching and writing the guide showed me that even my own familiar hometown, a tired, struggling New England industrial city, possessed a fascinating and unique history to be acknowledged and preserved; this is true of every town and city in new england. this effort led to the establishment of the brockton Historical Commission and my appointment as one of its first commissioners. the william vareika Fine arts gallery was born out of a preservation crusade in the 1970s involving an endangered John la Farge deco- rated church in Newport, Rhode Island. I abandoned law school plans to volunteer to direct a protracted legal battle to save the historic landmark church and its La Farge murals and opalescent glass windows. I had discovered this important and eccentric artist in the one art history course I took as part of my liberal arts education. This academic experience and the ensuing preservation and restoration project altered my planned vocation in public service law as I developed a career as an art dealer and a passion for art and historic preser- vation. Among my preservation mentors during this period were the members of the tiny “faithful remnant” group with whom I worked in the battle to save the La Farge church. Though most were elderly and retired, they scrimped and saved to support our cause, some taking second mortgages on their homes in order to raise the necessary funds. One of our supporters was affectionately known around town as “waterworks annie” for once having courageously used her body to block a bulldozer in an attempt to prevent the destruction of the historic newport waterworks building. unfortunately, even her bravery and dedication couldn’t prevent its eventual demolition. in 1979, while a graduate student in the american Civilization program at brown university, i served as the resident caretaker at a rhode island property owned by the society for the preservation of new england antiquities (spnea), as historic new england was known at the time. today, i am honored to serve as a trustee of the organization and a member of its public outreach Committee. Throughout the years of the fight to preserve the La Farge church and during my time at Brown, I was forced to support myself in cre- ative ways. Along with working as the part-time custodian and art installer at the Newport Art Association (now Newport Art Museum), where I later served for twenty years as a Trustee, I found that I possessed a talent for buying and selling antique artworks. This began on a modest scale with my finding “sleepers” at yard sales, junk shops, and country auctions and mostly turning them over for a profit to dealers and a small number of private collectors. Over time, my experience, knowledge, and confidence grew as I developed from a “picker” to a private art dealer operating out of my small 1860s Newport carriage house, which later also served as home to Alison and our growing family. My first art purchases were a portrait of a boy with a parrot that came from the estate of the noted Newport and boston collector Maxim Karolik, and a small John la Farge watercolor of the sea, which i sold to the national Gallery of art. Alison and I opened our Bellevue Avenue, Newport gallery in 1987 with a dual mission: to provide a public space for the exhibition of im- portant historical American art, with an emphasis on the art of Newport and the Narragansett Bay region, and to support charitable causes. Over the past twenty-one years, we have staged a number of benefit exhibitions that have raised considerable funds and public consciousness about a variety of charities relating to the arts, education, the environment, health care, animal welfare, social services, and historic preserva- tion. I am pleased that millions of dollars have been contributed to non-profits as a result of these efforts and the success of our business. during the centennial year of the founding of historic new england, with thirty-six historic properties throughout new england, including four in rhode island, and valuable educational programs that served over 10,000 rhode island school children last year, this organization was a natural choice as the beneficiary of our 2010 summer exhibition. we are pleased to present the exhibition “historic new england.” This catalogue illustrates about one third of the approximately 150 works that are featured in the exhibition: oil paintings, watercolors, drawings, prints, photographs, and sculptures representing all six New England states and spanning a 250 year period from 1730 to 1980. The artworks selected depict a diversity of subject matter characteristic of New England over the past three centuries. The natural beauty that has attracted artists, settlers, and visitors to the region is displayed in the exhibition’s landscapes, from the majestic mountains of vermont and new hampshire to the rolling hills and farmlands of western Massachusetts; in its seascapes, with proud ships and rocky shores and green, foamy surf from Maine to Connecticut. The exhibition’s cityscapes and townscapes recall a time when Boston was the “hub of the universe,” when providence was a major national industrial center, when Gloucester and newburyport were populated with farmers and fishermen who made their living from the bounty of the land and sea. portraits of the wealthy and prominent hang alongside images of everyday New Englanders. The region’s extensive maritime heritage is detailed in works depicting fishing, whaling, shipbuilding, sailing, and naval history. we are honored to contribute all opening gala reception donations and a portion of the sales proceeds from this exhibition to enhance the important mission of historic new england.