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Collection

In Tandem: Inspirations and Collaborations

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Artist(s): Esther Williams (Boston, MA, Feb 19, 1907 - 1969)
Title: Lucretia
Date: 1939
Dimensions: 41 3/16 in. x 30 1/8 in. (104.62 cm x 76.52 cm)
Medium: oil on canvas
Credit Line: Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA, museum purchase, 1940.15

Object Information

<SPAN><SPAN STYLE="color:#878888">Gallery label from </SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-style:italic;color:#878888">In Tandem: Inspirations and Collaborations</SPAN><SPAN STYLE="color:#878888">, September 1, 2015 - January 3, 2016</SPAN><SPAN STYLE="color:#878888"><BR/></SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-weight:bold"><BR/></SPAN>Esther Williams (EW) was born into an artistic circle; an accomplished painter in her own right, her mother, Esther Baldwin Williams (EBW), was a student, studio mate, and later patron of Maurice Prendergast. EBW frequently corresponded with her mentor and friend, whom she also hosted as a guest at both her Annisquam and Boston houses. As the numerous works by Prendergast in the Williams family collection attest—including the two sketches on view here—EW was immersed in the American master’s insightful portraiture and evocative landscapes throughout her childhood. One of Prendergast’s visits with the Williamses is commemorated by another painting donated to the Addison by EW, <SPAN STYLE="font-style:italic">Annisquam Beach</SPAN> (1907-10), bearing the inscription: “To my friend Oliver Williams,” EW’s father. Moreover, sittings for portraits by Prendergast of both her mother and her nurse, Annie Sargent Jewett, took place at the Williamses’ home and would have likely been witnessed by the young EW. These two portraits demonstrate the subliminal, if not formal, influence that Prendergast’s treatment of his subjects had on EW during the formative years of her aesthetic development. <BR/><BR/>Kelley Tialiou <BR/>Charles H. Sawyer Curatorial Assistant | Librarian | Archivist</SPAN>

Exhibition History

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

Scope in Collecting [25th Anniversary Exhibition], Addison Gallery of American Art, 10/19/1956 - 12/24/1956
Loan to Governor Dummer Academy, Governor Dummer Academy, 1/3/1957 - 1/13/1958
The Works, Addison Gallery of American Art, 11/7/1969 - 2/22/1970
Art in Transition: A Century of the Museum School, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 3/23/1977 - 6/12/1977
In Tandem: Inspirations and Collaborations, Addison Gallery of American Art, 9/12/2015 - 1/3/2016

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