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Caption: The unveiling of the newly discovered Tarbell with Edmund C. Tarbell II, grandson of the painter.
Download more Tarbell images http://portsmouthhistory.org/tarbell-media/
Rediscovered/Conserved
Tarbell Treasure
Revealed at closing party
for popular exhibition
Illuminating Tarbell at Discover Portsmouth
Exhibition ends Friday June 3
“Tarbell has been a blessing: 10,000 patrons have come through our doors…we have doubled our membership”
- Martha Fuller Clark, VP, Portsmouth Historical Society
-
Portsmouth, New Hampshire… On Friday night May 20, a newly discovered painting by Edmund C. Tarbell was unveiled to a packed house at Discover Portsmouth by Jeremy Fogg, guest Tarbell curator and conservator, and Edmund C. Tarbell II, grandson of the painter. The partygoers enjoyed great food, good friends and the Gypsy Swing Jazz music of the Rhythm Future Trio. At the center of the festivities was an easel covered in red velvet. Once the hidden image beneath was revealed, the audience was awestruck.
Martha Fuller Clark, vice president of Portsmouth Historical Society, welcomed the record crowd and spoke about what the Tarbell exhibition has meant to the organization. “As an organization devoted to introducing, interpreting and stimulating the study of Portsmouth history, Illuminating Tarbell has been a blessing! Over the 11 weeks of this exhibit, 10,000 patrons have come through our doors - from Portsmouth and the Seacoast - many who had not been here before - and from Boston and New York City. And, we have doubled our membership in the same time.” Fuller Clark went on to appeal to the patrons for their continued assistance for the nonprofit. “We need your help - your involvement, your membership, your donation to this institution devoted to Portsmouth history is critical for our maintenance and growth.”
Fogg explained the discovery, “During the final stages of planning for this exhibition, a group of rolled canvasses which had been forgotten for over a century, was uncovered by the Tarbell family. At the family’s request, over time, we carefully unrolled, relaxed and stabilized the paintings on site, and later safely moved them to Anthony Moore Painting Conservation. We were able to restore and frame four of the oil studies in time for the opening in early March. Included in the roll of canvasses was a much larger, much earlier Tarbell work, which likely predated his time in New Castle. This important painting was carefully restored and finished just weeks before the exhibition was to come down.”
Based on similar paintings from the same period, Fogg estimates the date of the work at or around 1891 when the artist was just launching his stellar career after studying in France. Tarbell is best known today as a teacher of the Boston School of American Impressionism, which features natural light and classical forms. Fogg theorized that perhaps the large canvas was slightly damaged just before it was completed, then set aside, and eventually rolled up and forgotten. The “rediscovered Tarbell” will remain on display to the public from May 21 until the hugely popular exhibition closes on June 3.
About a similar Tarbell at the White House
In a twist of fate, the recently discovered canvas is similar to a smaller Tarbell painting that is part of the White House collection, entitled Woman with an Oar. Both portraits show a model, likely one of the artist’s wife’s sisters, posing by the sea. Fogg who has restored dozens of Tarbell paintings, continues, “The painting in the White House was gifted to Frank Benson, Tarbell’s good friend, and later it was given to the White House by the Brewster family during the George H.W. Bush administration. I believe that based on size, the one at the White House was perhaps a preparatory study, and that the one at Discover Portsmouth was to be the finished painting. It is a truly beautiful painting. And I’m thrilled, after months of work, that it will finally be seen.”
For more information about the Tarbell in the White House collection
https://library.whitehousehistory.org/fotoweb/archives/5026-Artwork/Main%20Index/Artwork/647.tif.info#c=%2Ffotoweb%2Farchives%2F5026-Artwork%2F
About the exhibition
Fogg curated Illuminating Tarbell: Life and Art on the Piscataqua that includes over 50 works by the artist, many on loan from private collections across the nation. The exhibit includes a reconstruction of Tarbell’s New Castle studio, where the “rediscovered Tarbell” will be revealed this weekend. A second exhibit, Illuminating Tarbell: Legacy in Action, curated by Alastair Dacey, featuring works by living artists working in the Boston School style is also open in the second floor gallery at Discover Portsmouth. A catalog of both exhibits is available.
“This is not only a fitting farewell to our spectacular Tarbell exhibit,” says Portsmouth Historical Society executive director Kathleen Soldati, “but an historic event. Thanks to the Tarbell descendants who discovered the painting, the Tarbell Charitable Trust, to Jeremy and Alastair, and to so many others-- we have been able to rekindle interest in our greatest local painter -- and bring a gorgeous work of art back to life.”
Sponsors
Soldati wishes to thank Exhibition Sponsors Anthony Moore Painting Conservation in York, Maine; the Tarbell Charitable Trust; Freemans; Central Signal Corporation; Hoefle, Phoenix, Gormley & Roberts; George Beland Furniture; Guido Frames; Puttin’ on the Glitz; Old as Adam Antiques & Vintage Haberdashery and Season Sponsors Brown & Company Design and Devine Marketing Group. Guido Frames of Boston has donated a beautiful reproduction Stanford White-style frame, valued at $7,500 for the restored Tarbell discovery. For Tarbell at Twilight, Event Sponsors include: State Farm Agency; People's United Bank; Anonymous; Vose Galleries; and Food/Beverage sponsors: The Wellington Room; Ceres Bakery; Street; La Maison Navarre; Doug Nelson/Wells Fargo Advisors LLC; Redhook Brewery; Blue Mermaid Island Grill; The Oar House; and thank you to Portsmouth Historical Society Staff & Volunteers
For information on the free Tarbell exhibit, open until June 3, please call Discover Portsmouth, 10 Middle Street in Portsmouth, NH, at 603-436-8433, or http://portsmouthhistory.org/tarbell-at-twilight-may-20th/
A retrospective exhibit featuring the paintings of Wendy Turner Island Light opens at Discover Portsmouth on June 17 and runs through September 30.
About Edmund C. Tarbell
Edmund C. Tarbell (1862-1936) had particularly close ties to the Portsmouth and the Seacoast. Born in Massachusetts, trained in Paris, he became an influential American Impressionist through his work in the so-called “Boston School” of painting. He lived with his family in nearby New Castle, NH for three decades. He left a cohesive and vibrant legacy through his teaching at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and his own painting. By his death in 1938, Tarbell was one of the nation’s most widely recognized artists. His work hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and numerous other collections.
About the Curators
Jeremy G. Fogg, of South Berwick, Maine, is a painting conservator and manager of Anthony Moore Painting Conservation in York, Maine. He is also a private art researcher, collector, and independent curator, Fogg has conserved and restored dozens of Tarbell paintings and has an intimate knowledge of their construction and unique characteristics. Over the years he has worked closely with the Tarbell family to study and preserve the artist’s legacy.
Alastair Dacey is a fine art painter living in New Castle and working in Portsmouth, NH. His artistic training spanned seven years, beginning at the Rhode Island School of Design. Dacey also studied at the Ingbretson Studio of Drawing and Painting and Cecil Studios in Florence, Italy. Focusing on portraiture and figurative work, Dacey has been a professional for ten years, fulfilling notable commissions and winning awards regionally and nationally for his work. He has had studios in Boston, New York, San Antonio, and Mexico
About Portsmouth Historical Society
Founded in 1920, Portsmouth Historical Society is a tax-exempt 501©3 nonprofit devoted to introducing, interpreting and stimulating the study of Portsmouth history and to maintaining collections of historical artifacts and documents. It operates two facilities – the national historic landmark, the John Paul Jones House, and Discover Portsmouth, a cultural gateway that houses a welcome center/clearinghouse for residents and visitors interested in the city’s history, arts and culture; a museum of exhibitions and programs (on site and in elementary schools) devoted to Portsmouth history; a museum shop of unique Portsmouth gifts and books, and Historic Tours, including of the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail. A gathering place for Portsmouth nonprofits, it is a popular location for event rentals. Discover Portsmouth, located at 10 Middle Street, Portsmouth, NH. Open daily from 9:30-5pm, Discover Portsmouth remains open until 8pm for Art Round Town, the first Friday of each month (6/3). For further information on exhibitions, publications, gift shop, lectures, rentals, and tours, please call 603-436-8433 or visit PortsmouthHistory.org.