'Making History' USA tour
American tour brings puts American students in touch with British history
After a successful first showing in Boston, the Society’s unique exhibition of paintings, historic manuscripts and objects is set to go to the prestigious Yale Center for British Art next month.
During its visit between September and December last year to the McMullen Museum, Boston College, Making History: Antiquaries in Britain has been seen by a whole new audience of American students and the public. Director of the McMullen Nancy Netzer FSA was delighted with its reception.
‘The exhibition has gone extremely well,’ she said. ‘Of the several thousand people who came to see it more than half were students. It is a major accomplishment to expose a young generation to the importance of material culture and collecting for writing history. It was the kind of exhibition that people will remember, too, because it told a great story.’
The story that Making History tells is that of the formation of the Society of Antiquaries and its achievements in discovering, recording, preserving and interpreting British history. The star exhibits which particularly attracted students from Boston College and other universities were the St Paul’s Diptych, Hans Eworth’s portrait of Mary I, a copy of the Magna Carta and the inventory of Henry VIII. As one press report put it, ‘Even a visitor whose knowledge of English history begins with the Beatles and ends with the Spice Girls will be able to charm Prince Charles after seeing this exhibit.’
More aspiring American historians will be able to see the show during its three-month stay at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven. There, the Society’s treasures will rub shoulders with world famous artworks belonging to the wealthy industrialist and anglophile Paul Mellon, who bequeathed his collection to his alma mater Yale. Housed in a stunning gallery designed by the architect Louis Kahn, it will be on show from 2 February until 27 May 2012. Society President Maurice Howard will give the opening lecture there on 1 February and will also take the opportunity to hold a meeting for the admission of American Fellows prior to his lecture.
Additional items from the Yale collections also form part of the exhibition. As part of Shakespeare at Yale, a celebration planned for the spring of 2012 tha twill display the University's resources for the study and enjoyment of Shakespeare, a fragment of Shakespeare’s original manuscript of ‘The Tragedy of Richard the third’ will be shown alongside the Society’s two panel paintings of the king.
Making History: Antiquaries in Britain has been curated by Elisabeth Fairman, Senior Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts, Yale Center for British Art and Nancy Netzer, Professor of Art History and Director of the McMullen Museum, Boston College, in association with Heather Rowland, Head of Library and Collections, and Julia Dudkiewicz, Collections Manager, Society of Antiquaries of London.
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Ct