-The first photo, from 1910, was taken from the entryway looking into the west gallery of the third floor. Natural light bathes the room and illuminates a symmetrical series of portraits and landscapes. The row of paintings consists largely of what was then Contemporary Art, American Impressionism, intermingled with some Colonial and Hudson River works. Today, the same spot finds the onlooker gazing into the American Decorative Arts Gallery. Companion portraits by Gilbert Stuart frame a view of Revere silver and, further on, Whistler's "Arrangement in Black and Brown (The Fur Jacket)."
-The second photo, taken 100 years ago in 1914, shows the third floor landing 25 years before the fourth floor was added. "Lady Warwick", which had just been purchased the previous year, is roped off and presented in stately fashion across the way. The current view would be looking east to west from the Donnelly Gallery across to American Decorative Arts (the Rocket Ship and walls in the center of the gallery prevent me from accessing the exact spot, so the angle is slightly off). The scale and grandeur of the two scenes, separated by a century, has surely changed.
-In the third photo, from 1920, early Renaissance works are showcased inside a quiet corner gallery. This room was located on the lower level of the first building addition of the Worcester Art Museum. Revisiting the same spot today, now greatly changed, finds the viewer in the dining area of the Café. The space was opened up, both interior load-bearing walls in the old photo were torn down, and replaced with the necessary big support columns at left.
-The last "Then and Now" composition shows Salisbury Hall both pre and post "Knights!". Neo-classical sculpture and portraits of local benefactors were replaced with creative video projections and a mounted rider on a strawberry-pink horse, clad in 16th century armor from the John Woodman Higgins collection.
-The sketches depict two Corinthian Helmets, Thomas Crawford's "Boy Playing Marbles" and an Aztec Fertility Goddess.
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| 3rd Floor. Worcester Art Museum. by Travis Simpkins |
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| 3rd Floor. Worcester Art Museum. by Travis Simpkins |
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| 2nd Floor. Worcester Art Museum. by Travis Simpkins |
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| 2nd Floor. Worcester Art Museum. by Travis Simpkins |
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| Corinthian Helmets. Worcester Art Museum. by Travis Simpkins |
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| Boy Playing Marbles. Worcester Art Museum. by Travis Simpkins |
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| Aztec Fertility Goddess. Worcester Art Museum. by Travis Simpkins |
