Archive for the Acquisitions Category (6 posts)

A Trio of Literary Ladies: Artist’s Descendants Donate Drawings

by

Fancy, Romance, and Tragedy. They sound like the plot points for a romantic tearjerker, but they are in fact the titles of three drawings recently donated to the Prints and Photographs Division by the family of the artist, George Randolph Barse, Jr. Barse was one of nearly 40 artists and sculptors charged with decorating the interior of the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress with dozens of murals, frescoes and sculptures. When the Jefferson Building opened in 1897, Barse’s eight female personifications of genres of literature graced the East Corridor on the second floor of the building, overlooking the Great Hall.

In this photograph, taken from the second floor, two of Barse’s graceful ladies sit above paired columns in the East Corridor, framing the large central mosaic of Roman goddess Minerva. The left figure is Lyrica and the right is History. The full complement of paintings includes: Lyrica (Lyric Poetry), Tragedy, Comedy, History, Erotica (Love Poetry), Tradition, Fancy, and Romance. The women wear classical robes and evoke their type of literature through expression and objects in hand.

[Great Hall, view of second floor with Minerva in distance. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C.] Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, 2007. //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.03181

[Great Hall, view of second floor with Minerva in distance. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C.] Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, 2007. //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.03181

Detail of [Great Hall, view of second floor with Minerva in distance. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C.] with arrows indicating Lyrica (left) and History (right). Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, 2007. //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.03181.

Detail of [Great Hall, view of second floor with Minerva in distance. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C.] with arrows pointing to Lyrica (left) and History (right). Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, 2007. //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.03181.

The East Corridor of the Jefferson Building is a popular spot for visitors. Steps lead up to the featured mosaic of the Roman goddess of Wisdom, Minerva. Visitors continue up the stairs to the gallery that overlooks the Main Reading Room. Those waiting for this upward journey are surrounded by murals and decorations, including Barse’s work. Millions of visitors have gazed up at these eight serene figures over the last 120-plus years.

The figure of Romance can be seen on the left side of each frame in this 1903 stereograph of the Jefferson Building’s East Corridor, which, when viewed through a stereo viewer, gives a full 3-D experience:

A poem in marble columns and frescoed walls, Congressional Library, Washington, D. C. Stereograph copyrighted by B. L. Singley, 1903. //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s05927

A poem in marble columns and frescoed walls, Congressional Library, Washington, D. C. Stereograph copyrighted by B. L. Singley, 1903. //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s05927

Detail of A poem in marble columns and frescoed walls, Congressional Library, Washington, D. C., with arrow pointing to Romance painting. Stereograph copyrighted by B. L. Singley, 1903. //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s05927.

Detail of A poem in marble columns and frescoed walls, Congressional Library, Washington, D. C., with arrow pointing to Romance. Stereograph copyrighted by B. L. Singley, 1903. //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s05927.

George R. Barse, Jr. was a well-regarded American painter, born in Detroit, Michigan in 1861, who trained at the Chicago Art Institute and the L’Ecole des Beaux Arts and the Academie Julien in Paris. During a stint in Italy, Barse met and married Rosina Ferrara, model and muse for such painters as John Singer Sargent and Charles Sprague Pearce. In the years following his return, Barse (as well as Pearce, in fact) completed the drawings and the final paintings of his interpretations of Literature in time for the 1897 opening of the Jefferson Building to the public. Barse is said to have painted directly onto the wall for his panels in the Library, rather than on canvas as some artists did, eschewing the comforts of a studio for a scaffolding perch.

Members of the Barse family have owned the preparatory drawings for three of his paintings for well over a century. And now, thanks to the generosity of Barse’s great niece and two of his great-great nieces, the drawings for Fancy, Romance, and Tragedy join the collections of the Prints and Photographs Division. Barse’s descendants personally delivered the drawings to the Library, so we took the opportunity to reunite the early works with the finished products, as seen in the two photos below.

Descendants of artist George Randolph Barse, Jr. (L to R: ) pose with drawing of Tragedy with finished painting at top left. Photo by Shawn Miller, May 21, 2018.

Descendants of artist George Randolph Barse, Jr. (L to R: Susan Barse, Ellen Hirzy, Ellen Tyler) pose with drawing of Tragedy. Finished painting is at top left, above columns. Photo by Shawn Miller, May 21, 2018.

Descendants of artist George Randolph Barse, Jr. (L to R: Susan Barse, Ellen Tyler, Ellen Hirzy) pose with drawings of Romance and Fancy. Finished paintings are found at top left and top right, above columns. Photo by Shawn Miller, May 21, 2018.

The drawings are in good company in our division’s collections, joining the preparatory sketches and drawings of artwork in the Jefferson Building by such other artists as Elihu Vedder (a good friend of Barse and the artist behind the large mosaic of Minerva) and Kenyon Cox.

[Second Floor, East Corridor. Mural depicting Tragedy in the Literature series by George R. Barse, Jr., Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C.] Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, 2007. //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.02221

[Second Floor, East Corridor. Mural depicting Tragedy in the Literature series by George R. Barse, Jr., Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C.] Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, 2007. //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.02221

Curator Katherine Blood, who led the acquisitions effort for the Library, remarked: “We are so grateful for this extraordinary gift. Now we can see, for the first time, Barse’s original drawings in dialogue with the finished Great Hall murals; gleaning insight into his creative process as he helped shape the look and spirit of a newly minted Library of Congress.”

Learn More:

 

Celebrating Harriet Tubman and the Emily Howland Album

by

Last week, Prints and Photographs Division staff had an opportunity to participate in Washington, D.C.’s first annual celebration of Harriet Tubman Day, which represented several very satisfying convergences. The official Harriet Tubman Day is March 10th, the date of Tubman’s death (the date of her birth is not known). The celebration was held March 8th  […]

New for You: Presidential Campaign Posters Book

by

The following is a guest post by Helena Zinkham, Chief, Prints & Photographs Division. The creative staff members in the Library of Congress Publishing Office produce fascinating new books each year by digging deeply into our remarkable collections, aided by Prints & Photographs Division staff. The recently issued volume, Presidential Campaign Posters from the Library […]

A Window on the Bolshevik Revolution

by

When James Maxwell Pringle departed for Russia in November 1917, his intent was to visit the Petrograd (St. Petersburg) branch of his employer, National City Bank. His business trip turned into an unexpected window on the Bolshevik Revolution. Arriving in Petrograd in the days just after the October Revolution, when Bolshevik forces overthrew the Russian […]