The Wadsworth Atheneum was recently named a 2012 Award Winner for Renovation & Restoration by the Hartford Preservation Alliance in recognition of the importance of the museum’s historic buildings and its unparalleled collection. The first public art museum in the United States, the Wadsworth is comprised of five buildings built over the course of 125 years, which include striking examples of Gothic, Tudor, Renaissance Revival and Modernist architecture. The award honors the first phase of the museum’s ongoing $16 million renovation project. The entire renovation project is slated for completion in 2014.
Wadsworth Honored with Preservation Award
American History Comes Alive at the Bedford Springs Hotel
Once a playground for presidents, it wasn’t long ago that the future of the Bedford Springs Hotel was grim. Medicinal mountain springs brought visitors to the Southern Pennsylvania resort for well over a century, but the resort fell into disrepair and closed its doors in 1986.
Just as the clouds were darkest, things began to change. After being shuttered for two decades, the resort was renovated and reopened, and then purchased to become the Omni Bedford Springs Resort. Recently the hotel was named to Travel + Leisure’s 2011 World’s Best Awards. Just this month President George W Bush became the tenth American President to visit the hotel. Ronald Reagan visited in 1975. The hotel once served as a summer White House for James Buchanan.
Wild West Rides Again at Heritage Auctions
One of the most romantic periods in American history is the opening of the West. The painters who crossed the country with easels and pigment, setting up where the vistas were broad or the battles brutal, gave us a remarkable visual history. The names, the battles, the places are a roll call of American history. There are few things more exciting than viewing or, if you’re lucky enough, owning one of these paintings. Fortunately, on June 10, Heritage Auctions offers the Legends of the Wild West at auction.
Drawings of Plants Opens In June at Met
One of the foremost artists of our day, Ellsworth Kelly may be best known for his rigorous abstract painting. However, Kelly has made figurative drawings throughout his career, and has created an extraordinary body of work that now spans six decades. Opening next month at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is the first major exhibit to focus exclusively on Kelly’s drawings of plants.
Indiana Impressionist Painting Discovered
According to the Associated Press, a previously unknown painting Indiana impressionist T.C. Steele, an artist known for his Indiana landscapes, was found recently behind another canvas at the Indiana State Museum. When another painting by the artist was removed for cleaning, the second painting was revealed behind it. Steele’s work is widely collected by museums and individuals. His paintings in public collections include those of the those of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Indiana University Art Museum in Bloomington, Indiana, among others.
