By Robin Weaver
If you’re looking for a great day trip this summer, consider New Haven and its Yale Center for British Art. In addition to a wonderful permanent collection, there are currently two special exhibits that honor girls and celebrate womanhood. The first, “Paintings from the Reign of Victoria: The Royal Holloway Collection, London” (May 7-July 26), consists of 60 paintings by some of the leading artists of the Victorian period, all drawn from the Royal Holloway Collection. It is the first time that selected works from this collection are touring the United States.
Thomas Holloway, an entrepreneur and philanthropist, founded Royal Holloway College in 1879 after initiating a public debate as to “How best to spend a quarter million or more.” His wife, Jane Driver Holloway, suggested a college for women as the means by which Holloway’s money might achieve “the greatest public good.” Holloway purchased the paintings in this exhibit that became the crowning gift of his endowment to the college, which is now part of the University of London.
The collection highlights some of the greatest achievements in figurative and landscape art of the nineteenth century, encompassing scenes of contemporary life, historical events, landscapes, and animal studies. Among the most notable works are William Powell Frith’s Dickensian social panorama “The Railway Station” (1862), Edwin Longsden Long’s “Babylonian Marriage Market” (1875), and Sir John Everett Millais’s iconic history lesson, “The Princes in the Tower” (1878). The painting “Man Proposes, God Disposes,” by Sir Edwin Landseer, depicts polar bears devouring the remains of Sir John Franklin’s doomed expedition to discover the Northwest Passage. Even today, it inspires superstition among Royal Holloway’s students, and as a result, the painting is concealed during College examinations!
The second exhibit: “Dalou in England: Portraits of Womanhood,” 1871-1879 (June 11- August 23), includes sculptures by Jules Dalou (1838-1902), a French sculptor exiled from France in 1871 for his left-wing connections. Forced to flee to London where he lived for nine years, Dalou created portrait sculptures and scenes of domesticity. Intriguingly, he concentrated on sculpting the figure of the seated woman to the exclusion of almost any other theme. There are five sculptures in the exhibit including one of Dalou’s patroness, the Countess of Carlisle, and women depicted nursing and reading. In addition to Dalou’s sculptures, works from Yale’s collections by French artists active in London before and during the same period are also on view and part of the exhibit. Jo Briggs, a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Yale, noted that while most people think of nineteenth -century France as being forward-looking in terms of art, it was actually England that provided a haven for artists, including French artists during this time. The Center is the only North American venue for the exhibition.
The Center also plans an exhibit “Mrs. Delany and her Circle” (Sept. 24, 2009-Jan.4, 2010) that will focus on the life and work of Mary Delany, a botanical artist, woman of fashion, and commentator on life and society in eighteenth-century England and Ireland.
New Haven has become something of a restaurant town. If you’re looking for a cozy place for lunch, try Caseus, a fromagerie and bistro. For $14, you can have four local cheeses served with artisanal breads and preserves. Adjacent to the restaurant is a cheese shop which sells not only a nice selection of cheeses but also an interesting selection of chocolates and biscuits.
Yale Center for British Art
1080 Chapel Street
203 432 2800
Tuesday-Friday 10-5, Sunday 12-5 and open until 8 pm the first Thursday of each month
Free admission
Caseus
93 Whitney Avenue
Public Transportation: Metro North (Off Peak to New Haven $28 roundtrip, and a short taxi ride to the Center)
