At Home and Abroad v Jane Peterson
Essays by Cynthia Roznoy & Arlene Katz Nichols Introduction by J. Jonathan Joseph
Mattatuck '.\fuseum Waterbury, CT 11,i..,c,ltalo� w.i... publt-.lwd in con1unct1on with lhl' t.'\hib1til,n,/t111t' Pt'lt'I'•• 11· Image credits t\t I {t1111 11111 4br1,11d, orgam✓.ed b, tht.>!\.lattatud. \lu-.eum. \\aterbun, CT on [ront CO\'L'f ,·1t'\\ '-on?m�r 19, 2017-Januiln 2f! 2lll'\ and tra\t?led nat11mally to three Jane PetL•r,1>n. \l,1rd1t' 11111 Fltur,, additwnal in-.lltutions: dt•la1I. 190� Oil �,n canva.... 17 1, , 23 1� in (•B,5, '-1'1.7cm). Tc-rra The llmg J,Jand \lu'-Cum,Stom· Br00k '\:) f'oundat11inlor \mt>ncan Art; Ft>bruar} 11-\pnl 22 :?Olt- D.1mel) It.'rra C.ollt.>chon I q94 17 The Columbi,1 \luSt!umof Art Columbia '-C Photograph,· -rTerra Foundation for Mav l J-Jul\·22. 201 American \rt Chicago. n,c Ilnl t.'Collection, Glen, F,111, \!'\ Jn... ide front and back co,er: Augu:1 �t1,bcr 1-1 2011' ).1nereter ...0n. B,1,11, ,,, tli,\ ,It P.m•11, dt!tail 191):;...15,01I on cam a, 19, 24 , in.(� 'l,62.9 cm). Esl...ena1i Thl' \lattatuck \luc,cumi, an art and regmnal h1ston mu5eum on lhL• Gntl'n �lu"'t'umof Art. Indiana Lnin.•r,.it, in downlo\\ n \\'aterbun. Cl>nnecllcut th,11 wa... founded .1 ... .1histont.ll socwty \lorton ,1nd \lam.' Bradlt:y :\ll.monal in J87i. The \fu.;cum opened their 11r .. td1i;pla\ hall in 1912 and ha, been Collecnon. %.52. Photograph b� l'\hib1tmgart ever ,im:e The\laltatuck collect..and e,hibit, American art J....e,in �kintaguL' and cultur.illmton with .itocu, lin the h1 ...tM, ot thl''-au�atuck \ 'alle, ,1nd thl:'.irt ,md .irllc;bot Conm•clln1t Thel\1u<,cum p.irtncr," 1th neighborhood I1tle paµ._. a.,... onotion.,, l'lhn.ic nrganizolilin.,and m,11,ufactunng gmup-.and U"t.'"their l'hutogrilph.Jane l'ctt.>r�on c. 19::!•. hi..,IM\ collt>dionsIll tl.'11 the c;torie,.of lht.> commumh The art gallL•rit><.di..,play L nden\'ood and L nderwood «-tudll'"' work..,b\ AmL•ncan ma... tt.>rs indudm� \nm Alber,.,Ale,andt.'r Calder, FreLkm: '-) Courles, ot \\a\'nl'\latlll\. Church:Winslo" Homer. Jo,pcr Jt1hns, ;ind Robert Rau-.chenberg.The \1attatuck al-.opre<.enb at lea-.t 20 c�angmg e,h1b1tion, e, L'T) ear� IL'atunng Bad.. co,w· sigmhc.1nt artl',h ol the past .1nd pre-.ent. )ant>PeteNm, Still Uf.·.i•rtlr Ff1,uw,
MATTATUCK MUHUM .....;;;;======::.":======- Lenders to the Exhibition
�tr. and Mrs. Charles Atwood Hirschi & Adler Galleries, New York, NY Kay and John Bachmann Hirshhorn �1useum and Sculpture Garden, Sheri and Larry Berk Washinglon, D.C. Charles and Virginia Bowden Hofstra University Museum, Hempstead, NJ Cid and Hvatt Brm, n Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT David Jay Clark and Patricia King Liros Galler), Blue Hill, �IE Mr. and Mrs. Dale 8. Finfrock Long Island Museum of Art, Ston) Brook, '.\TY Lob and Douglas Fischer Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Miami, FL Brenda and Harvey Fricshtat Mariners' Museum and Park, Newport News, VA Joan Grabe Mattatuck Museum, Waterbur)',CT Sidney Hauser Metropolitan Museum of Art, '.\Tew York, NY J. Jonathan Joseph Museum of Arts and Sciences, Daytona Beach, FL Ross A. Kotkin Museum of the City of New York, Neiv York, '.\TY \1r. and Mrs. Reuben Leibowitz National Museum of Women in the Arts, Sally and Allen McDaniel Washington, D.C. Kathleen and Wayne Matto'\ New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ John Raimondi Newark Museum, 1".ewark, NJ �1r. and Mrs. Harold Reed Norton :Museum of Art, \-\1est Palm Beach, FL David and 'WecLie' Reese PococJ..Fine Art & Antiques, Fort Lauderdale, FL Dominique Riviere Portland \luseum of Art, Portland, �IE Gal")Schiro and Robert Bum Rhode Island School of Design, Museum of Art, Barbara Belgrade Spargo Providence, RI Robbie and Sam Vickers Society ot the Four Arb,, Palm Beach, FL Abbott \V. and Marcia L. Vose Telfair Museums, Savannah, GA Sam Wilder Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, IL Vero Beach �luseum of Art, Vero Beach, FL The following institutions, galleries and Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA businesses provided loans to the exhibition: Williams College Museum of Art, \i\'illiamstown, MA Art YIuscu m of South Tc'\a�. Corpus Chri ti, TX Brooklyn Mu eum, Brook!) n, :'\Y The following helped to arrange loans from private Caldwell Galler), Hudson, NY collections: Canton Mu eum of Art, Canton, OH Christie's, Ne" York, NY Childs Galler), Boston, �IA Hirschi & Adler Galleries, New 'lork, NY Davis Mw.eum,\\ellcsley College, V\cllesley, �It\ Keny Galleries, !':ash, ille, TN Diamond Antiques and Fine Art, West Harwich, I\1A Menconi & Schoelkopf Fine Art, New York, NY Eskenazi �tuseum of Art, Indiana Cni\'ersit), '.\TeedlemanFine Art Services, LLC, Ridgefield, CT Bloomington, 1:-,. John Raimondi Galle!), Palm Beach Gardens, FL E\'erson Mm.eum of Art. 5) racuse, :---) Vose Galleries LLC, Boston, .MA Hickory vluseum of Art, Hickory, NC The Exotic and Ancient: Egypt and Turkey
In 1911, Jane Peterson talked lo a reporter for the
Cl11cngo Trili11m• about her e,v perience painting in North Afrirn. The inter iew took place in the context t)f Pctcrc,on's well-received one-woman show at the Chicago Art Institute in December 1910. The headline of the story, "In the Garden of Allah Lands" referenced a scn-;ational best- elling book firstp ublished in 1905 about a British woman who traveled to f'\orth Africa to find herself, and also di-cO\ercd c;Leamy romance under the desert sun. Peterson was interviewed standing in front of one of her works, painted in Kalrouan, Tunis. The Elgin nati\'e was suitably dec;cribcd for Trib1t11t' readers as "an amazingly young woman of ncr\'C and her charm, with the soft tinkle of oriental jewelry about and the dull glimmer of gold embroideries." Peterson regaled the reporter with stories about the difficulties of painting on the street in '.\Jorth Africa. "To paint in Africa one needs an in-guide and sometimes the assistance of the police." Peterson went on to describe the circumstances of l)ne such street scene.
If it hadn't been for the ingenuity of my guide Mohammed, I'm sure I shou Id never have been able to paint this street at all. The minute l set up my easel a crowd began to gather around. J think in a few minutes there must have been fully 200 natives pushing and jostling each other to try to discover what was going on and incidentally ruining the view. I told Mohammed he must make them go away and poor :\lohamm�d wheedled 87 1 and begged and commanded, but with not a particle of effect. I \\as just about to give it up when Mohammed, who had disappeared for a minute, came back with a pail of water and began to thro\\' it in handfuls in a circle around w,, shouting ... "get out" [in Arabic] at them constantly. The crowd (ell back so that the vista I wanted was disclosed and as long as Mohammed kept throwing his handfuls of water I was able to paint in peace., o(
She went on to emphasize the "otherness" \Jorth Africa, telling the story of a fourteen-year-old Bedouin girl she painted, who had been married at twelve. When he had accumulated the marriage price, her husband arrived two years later to take her away to the desert; Peterson was told that the girl "wept and fought ,vhen- he carried her off."
Peterson's forays in search of beautiful subjects continued throughout her career, and though she added domestic destinations-most notably, Palm Beach, Florida -to her list of preferred locations, she continued to tra\·el to Europe v,•henevcr Abow. 192--l Jane n.d., Oil on the international situationallowed. Peterson canvas, l , 1 1 � cm). Antin) mou, meticulously documented her trip to Turke) Pet.:-rson,Cnt< Sam· - Co11,tm1t11111p/t>, in papers, now held by the Smith'-ontan.The notes, in. (-t5.72,-tt>.3 written retrospecti,·ely, perhaps as an intended Lender. Photograph by Bill Kipp. Pett>r�on Lee memoir, are autobiographical and relate the artists' Constantinople,Left from top: c. Jane Peter">onPaper,, 1907-19"11. impressions and opinfons. ln-.tJtuhon. Photograph, Jane with artbt Arrah Caul in y JQ2-t. The stor begins characteristically: While peaking Jant>Arduves oi American811�1( Art. Sm1th-;cmian on (1883-1980), 2-1 , 1S (60.96 , -15.72 cm). Caldwell Hudson with fellow painter, Philadelphian Arrah Lee Gaul Pt>ter-.lm, ·\ C<1nrcr, T11111:-, c. 1910, Oil cam aft, Gaul asked Peter-on about her plans for in Galler�, the following summer. Pl'ter:.on 'laidthat though ..,he pl,rnncd to go to Curope c;hchadn t wt decided ,, here G.,ul ,ang the pra1<:c-,oi Turke), which "he had ,·isitcd with her missionan parl'nts the prti'\'IOU'- war. It "as "the most be,,utiful the mo-;t unusual, the mo-.tfa-.cinating place. \\1n don't we go to Turkey?" Thi-.wa-, catnip tor Petcr,on. She
1rnmediatelv agn•ed. Gaul, hm, ever, cautioned14 Pl•terson. "Be careful not to let rn, father and mother know that I am planning to go to Turke) , because they would forbid it."
Though Peterson ., note,ofter no c,planat1on for this cunou::. ,;tatemenl, a look at the international situation in 192-+ make-;it clear. fhe conte,t ot the Turke) trip wa.,far more frau�ht than her 1910 , 1sib tu l\orth Africa and Eg) pt, .,_,·hen, -.hecould e,pcrnmceall the c,ohcism of a \\Orld accessible to \\'estcm currencie armed onh with a Baedeker's guide. B) 192-t howc,er, \\ orld \\ar I had d1.. rnembered the Ottoman Empire of which Tmkey had been a part. fhe Turki-,h"\Var ot Independence" (1919-22) a�ain l the Greek'> \\a.,fought on Turkish soil. As the Greeks wilhdrew, the,· pursued a 'c;corchedearth' pohc, Thenc\, nation that ,, as forged, Turke, , was an upstart nation, poor, backward (bv Westernstandards), and left -..moldering lb attitude toward Greeks, WesternEuropean.., and Chri..,tian.,wa-. not \,clcoming. It il,ea'>y to see why Arrah Gaul'-. parent:,cautionl!d their daughter again.,t \'iSiting. On the other hand, the \'ictonous Turkish Commander and fir..,thead of .talc, Muc;tafa Kemal (later known a:.Kemal Ala turk), understood the need of Western aid and 1m·estment to "modernize"Turke� -;o that it could tai..e1b place among the famih of -;o\'ereignc;tate .... Kemal'-,planned "reforms" included the separation of religion from governance, ci, ii rights tor women, uni\ er.,alpnmal'\ education for boy� and girl-,, the abohhon of Sharia, and, especiallv for men, modem clothing, sub-,lltuting the homburg for the fo/. Peter-,on's 1oumaJs reflect a -,trong., wanmec;-;of the conditions m Tu rkey ac; hefound them in 1924.
Lndaunted b� thl tens10ns, Petl•r,on and Gaul met in P,m..,,as planned, and set out for Constantinople on the famed Orient E,pres�. (The cit) ,, as not officiall� renamed "btanbul' until 1910 ) Petcrc;on 1 ,\h'mt1•,1r1111,:--c -P11r1, Plllcc· R/1/> ;;,, 11 1�·,1 -T1111i• A11l1q11,· ,Imp -V.-111CL' Place ,1 /,·,111 dt• L11: :� ''"'I' -T11111; Salillt' ,,, ,w,�/1111,·- l'tm<'c' .V,11•,• (J,1111, -,\!i,tv Dnv ,\ !v,,711,· ,,r ,,,,. �,-r..-11 f.t,1mc,-fo111, F1'SS.V m,1r11111..:-\r111c,· Tlr,• F1>1111la111 -Lu.,,·1111,;,,,,� G,1rdm< ,\!,1rkd -B1,k·r,1 Th,· R1tu- \'mia ,\ 8rid,:,· -\iwu Pl,111111� ,fo111i11(l(; -H1,V,1 ,\I th,· G1111frn)1 -I,•mn· Tlr,· n,�111,·,-L,>11.ft>II ,-\,,;/, �1'i· -B1,kr,1 C.1rl11 111,•r11111:-- ,111 tlr,· Gr,111tl Ca11,1/- \i-mcr A 111,1,q11r-flr,kr,1 Om;,g.- ,,11/..:,\,·1 11u AWCS -11ndAnnu.il D.11,• 111,1rk,·t -Br,kr,1 r1,/1 mari;,·t -\,. ,,,,.. . \prll 2;__1'.1a� 12 C,11i! -81,kr,1 ,\ c.111,1/ -\',•nit,· fa'l.•11111,: \·,,lm1f 11111, �250 C,10i.- J..:1rk,• -DMdr,·d, t Old ,,.,/ ;1,1/ac,·- \,·mu f:.1r/11 ,·i.,.,11. �250 Old l,,,.11 ,11,d h1•rm·, -D,,rdrc-c/rt Canill, ,_,,·v ,l,1 11- \,·11,cl' \·111.-,• Wi11dmi/l -Hn/1,md TII,· R,,;,,,,-_ \ \ \".'\C'\) 18th Annu.il pr�,..:nt..:d ,11 Tire re/11r11 - •,, lt'lld,1m S. Gi,11·s111 fr,•111 11, ..7,1tkr v-\ 'rrur,· c 1\1 Km>t>dler & Co., '\.cw 'H 1rk, '\)' Old ; 111tf-1111//-\'(1/rud,1111 S.ilut,· fn1111 tl1t· G1111/ur,1-I 'm i(t' April 21>-�la} 8 Ill //11• t. 11xrn1/'(•11rx ,:,1rdm,-P,,,.,_, C.rn11/ dt' /,r Gr,·r, -\i-nrc.- 1 A Gmv O,!_V I\ill! ,·1-.:1n.-k ,\ln-rv•�<'•ro1111d III L1n,·ml•,•11r-.;• �I \lllrk ',-Vi"lllc,• �.1�1/n1,-P,m, l\Y\VCC 20th Annu.'11 Pt111t-Srnf-P,1n, '\.AD \\'ml<'r Octobt-r 3
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