Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Research: Worcester Art Museum "Then and Now" by Travis Simpkins. Update #40

     -The first photo, from 1910, shows the Classical Gallery at the Worcester Art Museum. For the first couple decades after WAM was founded in 1897, a large part of the collection was comprised of plaster copies of famous sculptures from antiquity. Included here are: Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace, The Dying Gaul, Diana of Versailles, The Parthenon Frieze, some examples by Praxiteles and others. As the Worcester Art Museum's collection of original works grew, these copies were phased out (smashed and thrown in the garbage) and most were gone by 1930. Out of the dozens of copies, only one plaster cast was saved: a Renaissance Bust of a Young Woman, which is still on display in this same room, now the Museum Library.
     -The sketch depicts a profile view of the 1st Century B.C. "Goddess," currently on display in the Roman Gallery.
     -The cornerstone of the original 1897 building of the Worcester Art Museum can still be seen in the narrow corridor behind the PDP gallery. This stone block purportedly contains a small time capsule in it's center. However, an inventory of it's contents (1890's publications, photos, etc.) shows nothing so important that it would justify destroying the stone to retrieve it.

 
Classical Gallery. Worcester Art Museum. by Travis Simpkins

Goddess, 1st Cen B.C. Worcester Art Museum. by Travis Simpkins

Original 1897 Cornerstone. Worcester Art Museum