Weekend Twelve

On Saturday we went to the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington. Not one to visit historic houses, this is a special case as the owners were renown for their collection of Impressionist paintings. Indeed, there is even more to this story.

Built by iron baron Alfred Pope at the insistence of his only daughter, Theodate, who designed the house around 1900. The plans were drawn up by McKim, Mead and White, though the untrained Miss Pope insisted that her name be recognized as the designer. The 1901 completion was followed by a series of changes including the Mount Vernon-ish front porch. While the docent stressed her strength and independence, most of what I heard sounded like a spoiled child used to getting her own way, regardless of reasoning or lack thereof.

Inside are the objects purchased by Alfred on his travels. As the docent pointed out, someone of the nouveau-riches needed to buy ancient objects since they had none passed down to them. Mr. Pope also liked Impressionist painters.

It may have started with his seeing work of Claude Monet in Paris and not being particularly attracted to it. But when he got to the Riviera and saw a scene of the coast with the snow-covered Alps behind that he recognized the genius and returned to purchase Monet’s painting. At another time, Pope had lunch with him at Giverney.

View of Cap d'Antibes,  1888

Grainstacks with Snow Effect

Le Havre - Exit of the Fishing Boats

Pope also had a relationship with James McNeill Whistler from whom he bought a few paintings. The only artist he bought from directly. Whistler’s paintings came with the frames the artists wished for them; thick gold, yet plain in design. Pope framed the others.

The Blue Wave, 1862

Symphony in Violet and Blue, 1893

There were three Degas:

The Jockeys

Dancers in Pink

Le Tub

The Art was left hanging as the Popes originally placed it and so the paintings with their thick gold frames were often squeezed onto the space above a fireplace mantle with a row of Ming or Ching or Celedon china in complimentary colors arranged in front of the Art. It wasn’t always that bad, however, just distracting, as were the lamps mounted on the frames, and even the size of the frames on “house-sized” walls.

Monet's Grainstacks in Bright Sunlight, 1891

There was Manet and Matisse, which wasn’t collected by Pope and is believed to have been a wedding gift for Theodate, who, at aged 49 married a career diplomat with no money. There are a myriad of stories such as how she was aboard the Lusitania when it sank. She was frozen and stacked with the corpses, but was still alive. Or how she fostered children in her old home at the bottom of the hill. Or the mulatto butler that was with the family for forty years.

Woman Playing A Guitar, 1867-68 by Edouard Manet

There was artwork by many other artists than those I have mentioned; all French or American and one Brit. There were plenty of family portraits and prints of admired individuals. And Theodate had a roomful of Oriental prints.

Sara Handing a Toy to the Baby by Mary Cassatt, friend of Theodate Pope

Theodate’s idea was to design a house that looked a hundred years older. This extended to the interior where the toilets were built to resemble an outhouse seat. Toilet paper and plumbing was carefully hidden, and yet one bath had a footbath. Finally, I wanted to mention that Theodate had landscape designer Beatrix Farrand create the Sunken Garden where they have poetry readings.

Saturday night we found a nearby address that was having some kind of hoola-hoop event. In the midst of a former industrial area which is trying to call itself the Design Center. Sharing a former car dealership, is the Hartford City Ballet which was hosting Beat City Hoops. There was food and drink and lots of professional looking hoola hoops spread around the asphalt. Several people picked them up and began to gyrate as best they could. Some were either regulars in the proferred exercise class, or teachers. Here are some pics:

We were visiting with my friend Don on Sunday afternoon, so we took the scenic route, turning off I-91 north at Holyoke. We drove through South Hadley (MA), past Mount Holyoke College, before driving up the real Mount Holyoke, on the western end of the Holyoke Range, for a view from the southern edge of the valley.

An old hotel first opened on the summit in 1851. In its heyday, a steamer would pick up guests on the other side of the Connecticut River, ferrying them to a tramway that led to the Half Way House. From there guests could take a steep inclined tram to the top.

After a nice drive along the river through Hadley and Sunderland, we crossed the Connecticut to Deerfield and drove up Mount Sugarloaf, which offered us view from the north. And one of the prettiest spots in the area.

Our visit with Don included a surprise from friend Denise. We repaired to Denise’s place in Conway where we spent a lovely afternoon before heading home.