The University of Massachusetts Amherst
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Artwork

Artwork Collection

ca.1645-2003
ca.100 items
Call no.: MS 597
Depiction of Ernst Toller, portrait by Lydia Gibson Minor
Ernst Toller, portrait by Lydia Gibson Minor

Over the years, SCUA has become home to both two-dimensional and three-dimensional works of art pertaining to three of its key thematic collecting areas: the University of Massachusetts Amherst, New England, and social change.

The Artwork Collection is comprised of miscellaneous works visual art, realia, and decorative arts, relating primarily to figures in UMass or to leftist or proletarian artists. Among the artists represented are Michael Russo, Cook Glassgold, Lydia Gibson Minor, Laura Wheeler Waring, Daniel Chester French, and Laurence Bradshaw. For reference purposes, we have cross-listed paintings belonging to other SCUA collections.

Background

Ernst Toller, portrait by Lydia Gibson Minor

Ernst Toller, portrait by Lydia Gibson Minor

Over the years, SCUA has become home to both two-dimensional and three-dimensional works of art pertaining to three of its key thematic collecting areas: the University of Massachusetts Amherst, New England, and social change. A select number of these works are placed on rotating display within the department.

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Contents of Collection

The Artwork Collection is comprised of miscellaneous works visual art, realia, and decorative arts, relating primarily to figures in UMass or to leftist or proletarian artists. Among the artists represented are Michael Russo, Cook Glassgold, Lydia Gibson Minor, Laura Wheeler Waring, Daniel Chester French, and Laurence Bradshaw. For reference purposes, we have cross-listed paintings belonging to other SCUA collections.

The collection is currently being inventoried and this finding aid will be revised periodically until the project is complete.

Collection inventory
Series 1. Original works of art
Bond, Charles U. (after John Smibert): Deborah Lyde Brinley and infant son Francis Brinley, Jr.
ca.1835
Oil on canvas
2563
(MS 161)
Contents:

Copy by Charles U. Bond of original by John Smibert (1729). Smibert original now in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art with its companion portrait of Francis Brinley, Sr.

Provenance:

Gift of Jane M. Gardiner and Paul Cuff, 2014.

Bradshaw, Laurence: Day in the life of Bridget
ca.1975
Oil on canvas
Provenance:

Gift of Jane M. Gardiner and Paul Cuff, 2014.

Bradshaw, Laurence: Key to peace
ca.1965
Oil on canvas, 48 x 48 in.
Contents:

Sketch of Du Bois done in preparation for the bronze bust.

Provenance:

Gift of Jane M. Gardiner and Paul Cuff, 2014.

Bradshaw, Laurence: Nuclear fallout in the Pacific
1978
Oil on canvas, 48 x 48 in.
2526
Contents:

Sketch of Du Bois done in preparation for the bronze bust.

Provenance:

Gift of Jane M. Gardiner and Paul Cuff, 2014.

Bradshaw, Laurence: W.E.B. Du Bois
1959
Pastel drawing, XX x XX cm.
Box OS
Contents:

Working drawing of Du Bois done in preparation for the bronze bust.

Provenance:

Gift of Jane M. Gardiner and Paul Cuff, 2014.

Bradshaw, Laurence: W.E.B. Du Bois
1959
Pastel drawing, XX x XX cm.
Box OS
Contents:

Working drawing of Du Bois done in preparation for the bronze bust.

Provenance:

Gift of Jane M. Gardiner and Paul Cuff, 2014.

Child, Edwin B. (Edwin Burrage): Henry H. Goodell
1897
Oil on canvas, 23 x 19.5 cm.
2517

Portrait of H. H. Goodell, inscribed on canvas: “To my friend H. H. Goodell, Edwin B. Child, 1897”.

Glassgold, Cook: The Martyrs [Sacco and Vanzetti]
ca.1934
Oil on canvas, 79.5 x 64 cm.
2563
Contents:

Symbolic portrait of Sacco and Vanzetti.

Caption on verso reads: “Remember. . . we are not criminals; they convicted us on a frame-up; they denied us on a frame-up; they denied us a new trial; and if we will be executed after seven years [in prison] . . . of unspeakable torture. . . it is. . . because we are for the poor and against the exploitations and oppression of the man by the man.

“So wrote Bartolomeo Vanzetti before he and Nicolo Sacco were electrocuted on August 22, 1927 for an alleged murder in a payroll holdup in South Braintree, Massachusetts.

“Sacco and Vanzetti, staunch unionists and political activists, had worked closely with Luigi Galleani, editor of an anarchist Italian language paper. Galleani was deported in the infamous ‘Palmer raids’ of the early 1920s.

“In the then prevailing atmosphere of ‘red hysteria’ the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti became highly politicized. For after World War I a wave of ultra-loyalty and reactionary nationalism swept the country. It led to a weeding out of foreign-born ‘agitators’. This anti-foreign prejudice had its roots in the influx of cheap labor from Europe at the turn of the century. Among these new immigrants were some who advocated socialism, anarchism, or industrial unionism. The successful Russian Bolshevik revolution added fuel to the fear of ‘red aggression’. Aliens became identified with radicalism and all radicals were looked upon as bomb-throwing Bolsheviks.

“The testimony of witnesses in support of Sacco and Vanzetti’s claim they were nowhere near the scene of the holdup was discounted by the court because ‘it came from Italians’.

“In 1925 Celestino Madeiros confessed to the holdup, stating that Sacco and Vanzetti were not involved. Judge Webster Thayer, however, refused to grant a new trial and the state took no action against Madeiros, a known criminal.

“Addressing the jury Judge Thayer said, ‘This man [Vanzetti] although he may not have actually committed the crime attributed to him, Is nevertheless morally culpable because he is the enemy of our existing institutions. . . [his] ideals are cognate with crime.’

“Felix Frankfurter, later a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, wrote ‘Judge Thayer’s opinion stands unmatched for discrepancies. . . His 25,000 word document cannot be accurately described otherwise than a farrago of misquotations, misrepresentations, suppressions, and mutilation.’

“This willful distortion of truth sent two innocent men to their death.

Provenance:

Gift of Laura Hapke, 2008.

Hayward, Afia: Portrait of a Joseph B. Lindsey
ca.1930
Oil on canvas, 48 x 40 cm.
2563
Contents:

Half-length portrait of Lind
sey by daughter of Walter Hayward, president of the Hayward Hosiery Company in Ipswich, Mass. Charles Edward Goodhue, Jr. was treasurer of the company and his daughter, Rosalind Kingsbury was childhood friends with Afia.

Provenance:

Gift of Tim and Mary Pat Kingsbury, 2014.

Meyer-Kunzel, Maud(?): Henry H. Goodell
1934
Oil on canvas, 81 x 70 cm.
2526

Portrait of H. H. Goodell, signed illegibly by artist in lower left.

Minor, Lydia Gibson: Ernst Toller
ca.1930
Oil on canvas, XX x XX cm.
2526
Contents:

Portrait of German Expressionist playwright in Neue Sachlichtkeit style.

Provenance:

Gift of James and Sibylle Fraser.

Minor, Lydia Gibson: Portrait of woman
ca.1930
Oil on canvas, XX x XX cm.
2563
Contents:

Framed portrait of young woman seated against yellow backdrop.

Provenance:

Gift of James and Sibylle Fraser.

Minor, Lydia Gibson: Portrait of young boy
ca.1930
Oil on canvas, XX x XX cm.
2517
Contents:

Framed portrait of young boy seated in front of brick fireplace.

Provenance:

Gift of James and Sibylle Fraser.

Minor, Lydia Gibson: Snow scene
ca.1930
Oil on canvas, XX x XX cm.
2517
(MS 655 i004)
Contents:

Framed portrait of man walking through snow-covered fields, mountains in rear; painted dos a dos with The Two Graces.

Provenance:

Gift of James and Sibylle Fraser.

Minor, Lydia Gibson: Two graces
ca.1930
Oil on canvas, XX x XX cm.
2517
(MS 655 i004)
Contents:

Framed portrait of two nude women; painted dos a dos with Snow scene.

Provenance:

Gift of James and Sibylle Fraser.

Pearce, Charles Sprague, 1851-1914: Portrait of a young woman
ca.1900
Oil on canvas, 48 x 40 cm.
2563
Prior, Scott: Hereford cows, UMass
2003
Oil on board, 29.5 x 25 cm.
2526

Two Herefords in field with UMass campus and blimp in background.

Portrait: Putnam, Catherine
ca.1840
Pastel on paper
MS 161
Contents:

Framed oval portrait bust of young woman in red.

Provenance:

Gift of Brinley Thomas, 2011

Russo, Michael, 1908-1998: Bust
ca.1980
Pen and ink
2526

Semi-abstract bust of a man.

Russo, Michael, 1908-1998: Descent from the Tree
ca.1984
Oil on canvas
2526
Contents:

From a series on lynching.

Provenance:

Gift of Pearl Russo

Russo, Michael, 1908-1998: Lynching scene
ca.1984
Pen and ink drawing
2526
Contents:

Depicting three lynching victims, evoking imagery of crucifixion.

Provenance:

Gift of Pearl Russo

Russo, Michael, 1908-1998: Selma
ca.1984
Oil on canvas
2563
Contents:

Depicting police on horseback brutalizing African American protesters.

Provenance:

Gift of Pearl Russo

Russo, Michael, 1908-1998: Still life with menorah
ca.1980
Oil on canvas
Provenance:

Gift of Pearl Russo

Shattuck, Sarah Bickford: Self-portrait in white gown
ca.1920
Oil on canvas
(MS 563)
Contents:

Dressed in costume worn in a Spiritualist play, Lake Pleasnat, Mass.

Provenance:

Gift of Louise Shattuck

Unidentified woman with lace
ca.1840
Pastel on paper
MS 161
Contents:

Framed oval portrait bust of young woman with lace head covering.

Provenance:

Gift of Brinley Thomas, 2011

Waring, Laura Wheeler, 1887-1948: Three-quarter bust portrait of W.E.B. Du Bois
undated
Oil on canvas, 71 x 61 cm.
2563
Contents:

Portrait of younger Du Bois in profile.

Provenance:

Gift of Randolph W. Bromery.

Series 2. Prints
De la Roussiere, Francois: Messire Michel de Castelnau Seigneur de Mauvissiere Chevalier de l’ordre du roy et ambassadeur pour sa maj. en angletere
ca.1660
34 x 25.5 cm.
Box OS

Engraved portrait, probably from Les Memoires de Messire Michel de Castelnav… Paris: Pierre Lamy, 1660. Vignetted bust in ruffled collar; armorial inset at bottom center.

Houbraken, Jacobus: Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset
1749
37 x 23 cm.
Box OS

Engraved vignette portrait published by J. and P. Knapton, London.

Le Brun, Carolus: Princeps Pomponius de Bellievre se Natus Galliarum
1657
Box OS

Engraved by Robertus Nanteuil after Carolus le Brun. Vignetted bust in three quarter view of man wearing a fur collar and fur-trimmed cape; armorial inset at bottom center. Facsimile by Reichsdrukerei Berlin.

Lilly, P. [i.e. Lely, Peter]: Johannes Ogilvius
ca.1654
32.5 x 24 cm.
Box OS

Engraving by Pierre Lombart after paint by Peter Lely, of John Ogilby , Scottish publisher of atlases. Octagonal vignette with armorial inset at bottom center, engraved for Ogilby’s translation of Virgil.

Manuscript leaf from missal
ca.15th century
34 x 25.5 cm.
Box OS

Probably Italian in origin, in rounded Gothic hand. Vellum.

Massachusetts Agricultural College, Amherst, Mass.
1879
Hand colored engraving
Box

View depicting students in front of Old South College, North College, and Drill Hall. From History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, Louis H. Everts: Philad.

Mignard, M.: Guillaume de Brisacier
1664
56 x 39 cm.
Box OS

Engraved portrait by Masson after M. Mignard; first state (see Alfred Whitman, Print Collectors Handbook, London: George Bell, 1901). Three quarter bust in lace collar; armorial inset at bottom center. Facsimile by Reichsdrukerei Berlin.

Perignon, Nicolas: Vue d’un autre moulin sous les murs de Lausanne
ca.1780
17 x 23.5 cm.

Grave par Fessard I. Copperplate from B.F.A. Zurlauben’s topography published ca.1780. Phrase APDR (avec permission du Roi) trimmed from beneath caption.

Puget, Francois: Pierre Puget, le Michel-Ange de France
ca.1730
39.5 x 29 cm.
Box OS

Engraved portrait of sculptor Puget, printed in Paris by Edme Jeaurat in collaboration with his younger brother Etienne.

Spooner, William: Tissue transpa
rencies
ca.1845
Box OS
Bragg, G. F.: Scriptural Protean Views, No. 3. The River Jordan Changing to John Baptizing Christ
ca.1845
22.5 x 28 cm., with window, 13 x 17.5 cm.
Box

Handcolored litho. transparency printed by William Spooner, London. Transparency mounted in cardboard frame, text panel with two vignettes. The transformation can be viewed when the transparency is reversed and held to a light source.

Spooner, William: Scriptural Protean Views, No. 37. Eglinton Castle changing to the tournament of the 19th century
ca.1845
22.5 x 28 cm. with window, 13 x 17.5 cm.
Box

Handcolored litho. transparency printed by W. Spooner, London. Transparency mounted in cardboard frame, text panel with two vignettes. Castle transforms into jousting tournament.

Spooner, William: Spooner’s Protean Views, no. 10. Napoleon powerful and Napoleon powerless
ca.1845
22.5 x 28 cm. with window, 13 x 17.5 cm.
Box

Handcolored litho. transparency printed by W. Spooner, London. Transparency mounted in cardboard frame, text panel with two vignettes. Label reads: “The print represents the fallen Warrior in exile on the sea girt isle alone & contemplating the mighty ocean which separates him afar from the Continent which was the theatre of his triumphs and his power. The scene is changed & Napoleon is again powerful surrounded by his Veterans and his Legions in the Champ de Mars.” The transformation can be viewed when the transparency is reversed and held to a light source.

Spooner, William: Spooner’s Transformations, No. 3. The Transformed Sleepers
ca.1845
22.5 x 28 cm. with window, 13 x 17.5 cm.
Box

Handcolored litho. transparency printed by W. Spooner, London. Transparency mounted in cardboard frame, text panel with two vignettes. Sleeping woman with white cat on lap transforms into wide awake Black woman with calico.

Waugh, Frank A.: Burnham beeches
Etching
Box OS

Inscription by Waugh “To Orton and Margaret”.

Waugh, Frank A.: Honey locust
Etching
Box OS

Honey locust with bench beneath.

Waugh, Frank A.: Old friends
Etching
Box OS

Four sugar maples.

Series 3. Other works of art
Abercrombie, Robert: Malbone-Scott family silver salver
1741
Silver, 35.5 cm. diam.
MS 161

Engraved on reverse “From Godfrey Malbone of Newport. Obt. Nov 1787 to his daughter Elizabeth Hutchinson Obt. 1756, to her daughter Catherine Putnam, to her daughter Catherine Brinley, obt. Oct. 1842, to her son George Brinley, Jr., Obt. May 1875, to his son, George Brinley Tertius, Obt. August 24, 1892, to his son George Brinley, Obt. May 6, 1835, to his nephew Edward Charles Brinley, Jr.” Also engraved Malbone-Scott coat of arms on top. London hallmark for 1741 with the touch mark “RA” in script in two conjoined circles for silversmith Robert Abercrombie. With respect to the anomalous first date in the chain of custody, note that Godfrey Malbone died in 1768.

Shattuck, Louise: Arab rider on a horse
ca.1945
Bronze, XX x XX cm.
MS 563

Figure sculpted under the influence of spirit Charles Memling.

Bradshaw, Laurence: W.E.B. Du Bois: bust
1959
Bronze, 47 x 30.5 x 25.5 cm.
2563

Bronze bust of Du Bois by English admirer.

French, Daniel Chester, 1850-1931: Letter carrier
undated
Bronze

Small figure for proposed statue honoring letter carriers.

French, Daniel Chester, 1850-1931: Henry Flagg French
undated
Bronze, 71 x 61 cm.
2526

Bust of first President of Massachusetts Agricultural College and father of sculptor.

Hennell, Robert: Fish knife
1783
Silver, 31.5 cm.
MS 161

Engraved blade shows central image of a fish and a monogram (possibly MLW); bears standard mark and city mark for London, hallmark for Robert Hennell (oval with RH), and date mark (h) for 1783.

Chinese export porcelain punchbowl
ca.1790
41.5 (diam.) x 18 cm.
MS 161
Contents:

Large export porcelain punchbowl with restrained design featuring Federal-style urn. Similar to transfer ware purchased by Commodore Richard Dale in Canton, 1787, now in the collections of Independence Seaport Museum.

Provenance:

Gift of Brinley Thomas, 2011

Winged Victory of Samothrace
ca.1901
Plaster
2563
Contents:

Plaster copy of Winged Victory, brought back from Europe by W.E.B. Du Bois.

Provenance:

Gift of David Levering Lewis.

Residue

Administrative information

Access

The collection is open for research.

Language:

English

Provenance

Acquired variously.

Processing Information

Processed by Dexter Haven, July 2014.

Digitized content

Selected images have been scanned and may be viewed online through SCUA’s digital repository, Credo.

Related Material

SCUA houses many other collections that contain notable materials for the graphic or decorative arts, including dozens of photographic collections and the following:

Related Material

Arts and literature

Copyright and Use (More informationConnect to publication information)

Cite as: Artwork Collection (MS 597). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.

Subjects

Portraits

Types of material

Oil paintingsPrints (Visual works)Sculpture (Visual works)