New Britain Museum of American Art II
56 Lexington Avenue
New Britain, Connecticut
Permanent Collection
Before the NBMAA expanded, the current Landers House and several outbuildings housed its collection. It’s bigger, nicer, and more flexible now but it remains true to its original mission: American art.
For the most part it shows it roots. It was founded in 1903, hence its four major strengths lie in 19th century works such as the Hudson River School, Gilded Age painters, regional artists, and American Impressionists. It has holdings that date to the Colonial era as well as some modern and contemporary works, but anything after the 1940s falls into the category of choice, but small in number.
Its best newer works might well be its whimsical sculptural benches that are a delight for both the eyes and weary feet. My favorite was the above bronze bear. Is it growling or grinning? I’m going with the latter, but I’m kind of partial to bears.
The NBMAA is also heavier on painting than sculpture, but I was taken by “Metamorphosis” (1960) by Dina Melicov. She twisted and deconstructed bodies and puckishly made one evoke a tooth and the other an ear.
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| Church |
Insofar as painting goes, Frederic Church ticked both the Hudson River and regional art boxes with his 1849 “West Rock New Haven.” Bear in mind that the Hudson River School took inspiration from transcendentalism and often opted for grandeur rather than realism.
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| Bradford |
I don’t know much about William Bradford, but “Of the Greenland Coast” (1873) is an attention-grabber. That smudge in the middle is the sun–at midnight–a tip-off this scene came from midsummer. How different is this light than that of impressionist Childe Hassam’s “The Dragon Cloud” (1903) or early modernist Rockwell Kent’s 1907 “Toilers of the Sea.”
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| Hassam |
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| Kent |
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| Beal |
The first part of the 20th century saw the rise of the Ashcan school of painting that took a harder and often harsher look at American society. Ashcan painters repudiated “pretty” art in favor of street life, industrial workers, poverty, and grit. Think of the bloodied boxers of George Bellows or his famed “The Lone Tenement.” From across the room Gifford Beal could be mistaken for Bellows, though his “Elevated Columbus Avenue” (1916) isn’t as expertly executed. It does, however, capture a side of urban life in the shadows. Is that a foiled picket pocket we see on the left? It’s certainly a mixed crowd under the El. John Sloan’s “Main Street Gloucester” (1917) has the same vibe. Apparently France had its seedy side as well if we believe “Paris Street No. 2” by Everett Shinn.
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| Sloan |
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| Shinn |
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| Grant Wood |
You could say a lot about Irish immigration–including its male public life and the invention of dewy-eyed exile culture–in “A Sentimental Ballad” (1942) by modernist Grant Wood. I used to show this slide to discuss how Irish women felt differently about emigration, but had no idea that the NBMAA owned it. (Far fewer Irish women shed tears for the Auld Sod!)
Beaux 
Du Bois
On the topic of women, Cecilia Beaux is a sadly overlooked painter, which is a bloody shame for the first woman to teach at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. As we see above, like John Singer Sargent, she did a lot of portraits for hire. I was also mesmerized by a 1939 piece from Yvonne Pene Du Bois, “Carmine Street.” It’s quite a contrast to the rubbing elbows scenes from Beal and Sloan. Her work has the loneliness of Edward Hopper, but also an edge of surrealism.
I could go on, but let’s just say you can spend a fascinating day hunting down your own favorites at the NBMAA. If you need a break, there’s a nice terrace for a coffee, or you can stroll across the street to a nice public park.
Rob Weir
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