On the Front Lines: Three Reflections on Identity
September 30, 2017 through
January 28, 2018
Three exhibitions that examined various aspects of community participation and social consciousness.
World War I and the Lyme Art Colony explored the contributions of Connecticut’s artist to mobilization for the Great War. Their artworks rallied patriotic sentiment and played a role in national defense, but also discerned the psychological costs of the conflict and the change it fostered across American society, notably in the struggle for women’s suffrage.
Oscar Fehrer: Reflecting and Reflections examined the life and work of an American artist who arrived in Lyme in 1918 after having left Munich abruptly at the outbreak of the war.
Extending themes of identity and social engagement into the 21st century, Polish-born photographer Pola Esther presented A Room of Her Own (Ballad of Ruth Coxe), a portrait of a complex and unconventional local figure who clashed with others on politics, womanhood, and religion.
Childe Hassam, To the 101st (Massachusetts) Infantry, 1918. Oil on canvas, 25 x 30 inches, Collection of Jonathan L. Cohen
Oscar Fehrer (1872–1958), Sand Dunes, Provincetown, 1916. Oil on pressed board, 16 in. x 14 in. Florence Griswold Museum, Gift of Miss Catherine Fehrer
Pola Esther, I Make You Warm (from In Her Clothes Series), 2015-17. Archival digital print on fabric, 45 x 30 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
