AUGUST 13 – DECEMBER 7, 2024
Mediterranea: American Art from the Graham D. Williford Collection
Edmonds, Lawrence, and Fortune Galleries
The Williford Collection of American Art boasts seventy-two paintings depicting scenes from the Mediterranean. Throughout the 1800s, aristocratic young men from America traveled to Europe to journey through the ancient ruins of Greece, Rome, and Egypt, following the footsteps of their British predecessors who started the Grand Tour in the 1600s.
While a “Grand Tour” usually beginning in France and culminating in Italy had been part of the “finishing” of English and Northern European aristocratic young men since the late 17th century, it really only coalesced as a cultural custom in America in the 19th century as the rise of industrialism produced a wealthy set of American families who could afford to send their sons, and increasingly their daughters, to Europe for months at a time. Study of Greek and Roman Classics was central to an elite education, so travel in Italy in particular held great cultural significance for these young tourists. In the same period, the advent of train travel and steamer ships also made this sort of adventure accessible to artists and writers, rather than only to the most elite Americans. More adventurous travelers began to broaden the destinations of their “Tour” to include places like Spain, the Holy Land, and Egypt; the last is well represented in the paintings in this exhibit.
Aspiring American painters regularly made European trips as part of their education, spending time not just touring the grand museums, private art collections, and decorated churches of Europe, but also training at schools or in private lessons. They would make numerous sketches throughout their travels to continue work after their return home, and some returned to Europe later in life for longer periods.
Dr. Molly Pasco-Pranger
All artwork in Mediterranea is on loan from a private collection assembled by Graham Devoe Williford (Fairfield, TX, 1926-2008). Mr. Williford, an art historian with a keen eye and a steadfast passion for American art of the late 19th century, was able to amass a collection of over 1,100 works during a time when tastes had shifted to modernism. His devotion to this art period left a legacy of artwork preserved for many more generations to enjoy, study, and glean inspiration.
This exhibit has been generously sponsored by the Jean and Graham Devoe Williford Charitable Trust.
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