On February 3, 2004, David Mickenberg, Ruth Gordon Shapiro '37 Director of the Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College, announced a $3 million gift and donation of an important collection of American 20th-century prints given by the Jacque Vaughn Charitable Trust, at the direction of its trustee, Joseph N. Sherrill Jr., in honor of Nancy Gray Sherrill and the Class of 1954 at its 50th reunion. This is one of the largest gifts in the museum's history.
The Sherrill Collection contains nearly 1400 works on paper by American artists, significantly broadening the Davis's holdings of contemporary American art, and will form the basis of the Nancy Gray Sherrill, Class of 1954, Collection. The $3 million donation will fund future acquisitions, allowing for continued development of the museum's collection of American prints, and will provide funds for a full-time curatorial fellow through 2005 to oversee the organization of the exhibition of works from the collection, the catalogue and all associated programs. This donation will play a pivotal role at Wellesley College in the teaching, research and understanding of 20th-century American printmaking.
From May 27- December 14, 2004, the Davis presented an exhibition of highlights from the collection, American Identities: Twentieth-Century Prints from the Nancy Gray Sherrill, Class of 1954, Collection.
As avid collectors of American prints for twelve years, with the assistance of their advisor, artist David M. Band, the Sherrills assembled a sizeable collection of artwork by 20th-century American artists. The Sherrill Collection features key works by many artists and movements important to the history of 20th-century American art as well as an array of printmaking techniques. The first works to enter the Davis Museum's collection by significant and influential artists such as David Smith, Arthur Wesley Dow and Gustave Baumann are part of the Sherrill Collection. And, the gift of funds to acquire additional American prints for the Sherrill Collection has allowed the Davis to increase its holdings of work by contemporary women artists such as Lesley Dill, Miriam Schapiro and Vija Celmins.
Mr. Sherrill said, "Our primary goals, all of equal priority, for the Collection have always been that, first, its prints be available regularly for public viewing; next, they be used regularly in connection with undergraduate studies; and, finally, they be available for scholarly research. We have always planned that the Collection would reside permanently in a museum where these goals could be attained and where the Collection could continue to grow and evolve with professional management. Since our first gift in 1998 of about 100 prints, we have been impressed by the leadership and mission of the Davis, by the outstanding use of its collections as part of the College's academic program, and by its superb facilities. We are confident that our goals are compatible with the mission of the Davis Museum and that the Sherrill Collection will have a good home at Wellesley."
Upon announcement of the donation Mickenberg commented, "The Sherrill Collection greatly enhances and amplifies the Davis's holdings of American art - tripling the number of 20th-century American prints in the museum's existing collection. Not only have we received an outstanding collection, but this gift also provides us the means for the Sherrill Collection to be a work-in-progress, with the museum actively acquiring complementary works of art. The impact of the gift will reverberate across the Wellesley campus, proving an invaluable resource for students, faculty and visitors."
This rich and remarkably diverse collection was the subject of American Identities, Twentieth-Century Prints from the Nancy Gray Sherrill, Class of 54, Collection, presented at the Davis, May 27 - December 14, 2004. The exhibition explored American concepts of identity and place, as well as printmaking techniques themselves, through themes of self-portraiture, figuration, social issues and war, landscapes, artist travelers, Atelier 17 and abstraction, print processes and print clubs.
Included in the exhibition were works by prominent American artists such as Josef Albers, Emma Amos, John Taylor Arms, Milton Avery, Gustave Baumann, George Bellows, Thomas Hart Benton, Richard Bosman, Vija Celmins, Willie Cole, Chuck Close, Stuart Davis, Lesley Dill, Arthur Wesley Dow, Lyonel Feininger, Adolph Gottlieb, Childe Hassam, Stanley William Hayter, Edward Hopper, Helen Hyde, Alex Katz, Rockwell Kent, Martin Lewis, Bertha Lum, Thomas Moran, John Marin, Joseph Pennell, Miriam Schapiro, John Sloan, David Smith, and a rare etching by James Abbott McNeill Whistler.
The exhibition was organized by Elaine Mehalakes, Nancy Gray Sherrill, Class of 1954, Assistant Curator in American Prints and Acting Curator of Contemporary Art, and was accompanied by an illustrated catalogue, symposium, and a searchable online database of the entire collection. Classes in studio art, art history, printmaking techniques, history and English were conducted in conjunction with the exhibition.
Image: Arthur Wesley Dow, Marsh Creek, ca. 1914. Woodcut, 5 1/8 x 8 1/8 in. The Nancy Gray Sherrill, Class of 1954, Collection, 2003.105.
