THE COLLECTION

Chesterwood’s vast collection of objects spans a wide range of styles, periods, sizes, and media.  The collection forms an encyclopedic array of Daniel Chester French’s oeuvre and biography: from the monumental marble Andromeda dominating the Studio to diminutive plaster maquettes and studies that line the workroom walls, from an heirloom Colonial-era sofa in the Residence Parlor to modern photographs, drawings, and abstract sculpture.

The fine arts collection comprises more than one thousand objects of sculpture, paintings, miniatures, and works on paper, and includes the largest collection of art works by Daniel Chester French anywhere—in fact, one of the largest collections of a single sculptor in the country. Housed in the Studio, Residence, Barn Gallery, and newly opened Collections Gallery are almost five hundred statues, twenty-three oil paintings, and thirteen portrait pastels—all by one artist: Daniel Chester French.  Plastilene models and plaster casts for major sculptural commissions enable the collection to speak volumes about French’s working methods and creative process.

The Chesterwood collections also include furnishings of the house and studio, such as European and American furniture, textiles such as rugs, curtains, and bed coverings, and decorative arts objects—place settings, silver, glass, knick-knacks, table-top sculpture, and even a brass menorah.  The objects span six centuries and give insight to the family’s taste and lifestyle.

THE CHESTERWOOD PERMANENT COLLECTIONS GALLERY

Thanks to a generous grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, this former storage area and resource room has been transformed into a climate-controlled, state-of-the art exhibition space. The gallery features approximately 150 rarely exhibited objects from Chesterwood’s collection, including paintings; completed works in plaster, marble, and bronze; and models created as preliminary studies for larger public commissions. This installation is designed to illuminate the development of Daniel Chester French’s work over time and to provide a window into the artist’s working methods, techniques, and creative processes.

The works are presented in chronological order, beginning on the left wall with highlights from the first half of French’s career: portrait reliefs of his two older sisters, the Minute Man, a bronze cast of the Head of Mourning Victory from the Melvin Memorial (Concord, MA), and a plaster maquette of the standing Abraham Lincoln for the Nebraska State Capitol. The opposite side of the gallery usually features numerous works from the second half of the artist’s career, including the bronze working model of the Spirit of Life (Saratoga Springs, NY); many of these models are currently on loan to the traveling exhibition, Monuments and Myths: The America of Sculptors Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Daniel Chester French (2023–25). Replacing the works on loan are additional objects from Chesterwood’s collection, such as Diana by Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

Oil paintings are arrayed along the back wall of the gallery.  It may come as a surprise to see that Daniel Chester French was just as talented with a brush and paint as he was with clay.  His masterful portraits of his daughter, Margaret French Cresson, and niece, Dorothy Schoonmaker, are exhibited for the first time.  Also featured are works by French’s artist friends, including portraits by the American Impressionist Robert Vonnoh.  Highlighted in this section are portrait busts of family and friends, including a depiction of Margaret as a Bacchante by French’s only female assistant and longtime confidante, Evelyn Beatrice Longman. French’s daughter inherited her father’s artistic talent, as seen in her portrait of William Penn Cresson created shortly after their marriage.

The full-size plaster model of French’s Memory occupies the central exhibition case. The plaster was painted with terra-cotta-colored paint after the artist’s lifetime, and conservation of the work to restore it to its original condition will begin in late 2023. The final marble Memory is featured prominently in the Charles Engelhard Court of the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The new Permanent Collections Gallery was developed by Donna Hassler, Chesterwood’s director emerita; Gerry Blache, Chesterwood’s senior buildings and grounds superintendent; Dana Pilson, Chesterwood’s curatorial researcher and collections coordinator; Jeff Daly, exhibition designer; and Anita Jorgensen, lighting designer.