Over the years, SCUA has become home to both two-dimensional and three-dimensional works of art pertaining to three of its key thematic collecting areas: the University of Massachusetts Amherst, New England, and social change.
The Artwork Collection is comprised of miscellaneous works visual art, realia, and decorative arts, relating primarily to figures in UMass or to leftist or proletarian artists. Among the artists represented are Michael Russo, Cook Glassgold, Lydia Gibson Minor, Laura Wheeler Waring, Daniel Chester French, and Laurence Bradshaw. For reference purposes, we have cross-listed paintings belonging to other SCUA collections.
See similar SCUA collections:
Ernst Toller, portrait by Lydia Gibson Minor
Over the years, SCUA has become home to both two-dimensional and three-dimensional works of art pertaining to three of its key thematic collecting areas: the University of Massachusetts Amherst, New England, and social change. A select number of these works are placed on rotating display within the department.
The Artwork Collection is comprised of miscellaneous works visual art, realia, and decorative arts, relating primarily to figures in UMass or to leftist or proletarian artists. Among the artists represented are Michael Russo, Cook Glassgold, Lydia Gibson Minor, Laura Wheeler Waring, Daniel Chester French, and Laurence Bradshaw. For reference purposes, we have cross-listed paintings belonging to other SCUA collections.
The collection is currently being inventoried and this finding aid will be revised periodically until the project is complete.
Copy by Charles U. Bond of original by John Smibert (1729). Smibert original now in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art with its companion portrait of Francis Brinley, Sr.
Gift of Jane M. Gardiner and Paul Cuff, 2014.
Gift of Jane M. Gardiner and Paul Cuff, 2014.
Sketch of Du Bois done in preparation for the bronze bust.
Gift of Jane M. Gardiner and Paul Cuff, 2014.
Sketch of Du Bois done in preparation for the bronze bust.
Gift of Jane M. Gardiner and Paul Cuff, 2014.
Working drawing of Du Bois done in preparation for the bronze bust.
Gift of Jane M. Gardiner and Paul Cuff, 2014.
Working drawing of Du Bois done in preparation for the bronze bust.
Gift of Jane M. Gardiner and Paul Cuff, 2014.
Portrait of H. H. Goodell, inscribed on canvas: "To my friend H. H. Goodell, Edwin B. Child, 1897".
Symbolic portrait of Sacco and Vanzetti.
Caption on verso reads: "Remember. . . we are not criminals; they convicted us on a frame-up; they denied us on a frame-up; they denied us a new trial; and if we will be executed after seven years [in prison] . . . of unspeakable torture. . . it is. . . because we are for the poor and against the exploitations and oppression of the man by the man.
"So wrote Bartolomeo Vanzetti before he and Nicolo Sacco were electrocuted on August 22, 1927 for an alleged murder in a payroll holdup in South Braintree, Massachusetts.
"Sacco and Vanzetti, staunch unionists and political activists, had worked closely with Luigi Galleani, editor of an anarchist Italian language paper. Galleani was deported in the infamous 'Palmer raids' of the early 1920s.
"In the then prevailing atmosphere of 'red hysteria' the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti became highly politicized. For after World War I a wave of ultra-loyalty and reactionary nationalism swept the country. It led to a weeding out of foreign-born 'agitators'. This anti-foreign prejudice had its roots in the influx of cheap labor from Europe at the turn of the century. Among these new immigrants were some who advocated socialism, anarchism, or industrial unionism. The successful Russian Bolshevik revolution added fuel to the fear of 'red aggression'. Aliens became identified with radicalism and all radicals were looked upon as bomb-throwing Bolsheviks.
"The testimony of witnesses in support of Sacco and Vanzetti's claim they were nowhere near the scene of the holdup was discounted by the court because 'it came from Italians'.
"In 1925 Celestino Madeiros confessed to the holdup, stating that Sacco and Vanzetti were not involved. Judge Webster Thayer, however, refused to grant a new trial and the state took no action against Madeiros, a known criminal.
"Addressing the jury Judge Thayer said, 'This man [Vanzetti] although he may not have actually committed the crime attributed to him, Is nevertheless morally culpable because he is the enemy of our existing institutions. . . [his] ideals are cognate with crime.'
"Felix Frankfurter, later a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, wrote 'Judge Thayer's opinion stands unmatched for discrepancies. . . His 25,000 word document cannot be accurately described otherwise than a farrago of misquotations, misrepresentations, suppressions, and mutilation.'
"This willful distortion of truth sent two innocent men to their death.
Gift of Laura Hapke, 2008.
Half-length portrait of Lindsey by daughter of Walter Hayward, president of the Hayward Hosiery Company in Ipswich, Mass. Charles Edward Goodhue, Jr. was treasurer of the company and his daughter, Rosalind Kingsbury was childhood friends with Afia.
Gift of Tim and Mary Pat Kingsbury, 2014.
Portrait of H. H. Goodell, signed illegibly by artist in lower left.
Portrait of German Expressionist playwright in Neue Sachlichtkeit style.
Gift of James and Sibylle Fraser.
Framed portrait of young woman seated against yellow backdrop.
Gift of James and Sibylle Fraser.
Framed portrait of young boy seated in front of brick fireplace.
Gift of James and Sibylle Fraser.
Framed portrait of man walking through snow-covered fields, mountains in rear; painted dos a dos with The Two Graces.
Gift of James and Sibylle Fraser.
Framed portrait of two nude women; painted dos a dos with Snow scene.
Gift of James and Sibylle Fraser.
Two Herefords in field with UMass campus and blimp in background.
Framed oval portrait bust of young woman in red.
Gift of Brinley Thomas, 2011
Semi-abstract bust of a man.
From a series on lynching.
Gift of Pearl Russo
Depicting three lynching victims, evoking imagery of crucifixion.
Gift of Pearl Russo
Depicting police on horseback brutalizing African American protesters.
Gift of Pearl Russo
Gift of Pearl Russo
Dressed in costume worn in a Spiritualist play, Lake Pleasnat, Mass.
Gift of Louise Shattuck
Framed oval portrait bust of young woman with lace head covering.
Gift of Brinley Thomas, 2011
Portrait of younger Du Bois in profile.
Gift of Randolph W. Bromery.
From display faculty art in Student Union (accession 2018-222)
From display faculty art in Student Union (accession 2018-222)
From display faculty art in Student Union (accession 2018-222)
Engraved portrait, probably from Les Memoires de Messire Michel de Castelnav... Paris: Pierre Lamy, 1660. Vignetted bust in ruffled collar; armorial inset at bottom center.
Engraved vignette portrait published by J. and P. Knapton, London.
From display faculty art in Student Union (accession 2018-222)
From display faculty art in Student Union (accession 2018-222)
From display faculty art in Student Union (accession 2018-222)
From display faculty art in Student Union (accession 2018-222)
Engraved by Robertus Nanteuil after Carolus le Brun. Vignetted bust in three quarter view of man wearing a fur collar and fur-trimmed cape; armorial inset at bottom center. Facsimile by Reichsdrukerei Berlin.
Engraving by Pierre Lombart after paint by Peter Lely, of John Ogilby , Scottish publisher of atlases. Octagonal vignette with armorial inset at bottom center, engraved for Ogilby's translation of Virgil.
From display faculty art in Student Union (accession 2018-222)
Probably Italian in origin, in rounded Gothic hand. Vellum.
View depicting students in front of Old South College, North College, and Drill Hall. From History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, Louis H. Everts: Philad.
From display faculty art in Student Union (accession 2018-222)
Engraved portrait by Masson after M. Mignard; first state (see Alfred Whitman, Print Collectors Handbook, London: George Bell, 1901). Three quarter bust in lace collar; armorial inset at bottom center. Facsimile by Reichsdrukerei Berlin.
From display faculty art in Student Union (accession 2018-222)
From display faculty art in Student Union (accession 2018-222)
From display faculty art in Student Union (accession 2018-222)
From display faculty art in Student Union (accession 2018-222)
Grave par Fessard I. Copperplate from B.F.A. Zurlauben's topography published ca.1780. Phrase APDR (avec permission du Roi) trimmed from beneath caption.
Engraved portrait of sculptor Puget, printed in Paris by Edme Jeaurat in collaboration with his younger brother Etienne.
From display faculty art in Student Union (accession 2018-222)
Handcolored litho. transparency printed by William Spooner, London. Transparency mounted in cardboard frame, text panel with two vignettes. The transformation can be viewed when the transparency is reversed and held to a light source.
Handcolored litho. transparency printed by W. Spooner, London. Transparency mounted in cardboard frame, text panel with two vignettes. Castle transforms into jousting tournament.
Handcolored litho. transparency printed by W. Spooner, London. Transparency mounted in cardboard frame, text panel with two vignettes. Label reads: "The print represents the fallen Warrior in exile on the sea girt isle alone & contemplating the mighty ocean which separates him afar from the Continent which was the theatre of his triumphs and his power. The scene is changed & Napoleon is again powerful surrounded by his Veterans and his Legions in the Champ de Mars." The transformation can be viewed when the transparency is reversed and held to a light source.
Handcolored litho. transparency printed by W. Spooner, London. Transparency mounted in cardboard frame, text panel with two vignettes. Sleeping woman with white cat on lap transforms into wide awake Black woman with calico.
From display faculty art in Student Union (accession 2018-222)
From display faculty art in Student Union (accession 2018-222)
From display faculty art in Student Union (accession 2018-222)
Inscription by Waugh "To Orton and Margaret".
Honey locust with bench beneath.
Four sugar maples.
Engraved on reverse "From Godfrey Malbone of Newport. Obt. Nov 1787 to his daughter Elizabeth Hutchinson Obt. 1756, to her daughter Catherine Putnam, to her daughter Catherine Brinley, obt. Oct. 1842, to her son George Brinley, Jr., Obt. May 1875, to his son, George Brinley Tertius, Obt. August 24, 1892, to his son George Brinley, Obt. May 6, 1835, to his nephew Edward Charles Brinley, Jr." Also engraved Malbone-Scott coat of arms on top. London hallmark for 1741 with the touch mark "RA" in script in two conjoined circles for silversmith Robert Abercrombie. With respect to the anomalous first date in the chain of custody, note that Godfrey Malbone died in 1768.
Figure sculpted under the influence of spirit Charles Memling.
Bronze bust of Du Bois by English admirer.
Small figure for proposed statue honoring letter carriers.
Bust of first President of Massachusetts Agricultural College and father of sculptor.
Engraved blade shows central image of a fish and a monogram (possibly MLW); bears standard mark and city mark for London, hallmark for Robert Hennell (oval with RH), and date mark (h) for 1783.
Large export porcelain punchbowl with restrained design featuring Federal-style urn. Similar to transfer ware purchased by Commodore Richard Dale in Canton, 1787, now in the collections of Independence Seaport Museum.
Gift of Brinley Thomas, 2011
Plaster copy of Winged Victory, brought back from Europe by W.E.B. Du Bois.
Gift of David Levering Lewis.
The collection is open for research.
Acquired variously.
Processed by Dexter Haven, July 2014.
Selected images have been scanned and may be viewed online through SCUA's digital repository, Credo.
SCUA houses many other collections that contain notable materials for the graphic or decorative arts, including dozens of photographic collections and the following:
Cite as: Artwork Collection (MS 597). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.
