Florence Griswold Museum: The House
During my adventure to the Mystic / Lyme area of Connecticut a few weeks ago, I visited Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, CT. This expansive property along the river preserves the boarding house of Florence Ann Griswold where the American Impressionist art movement began. The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1993. Like Mystic Seaport Museum, the full experience cannot be fit into a single post, so this will be a three-part mini series. Today, I will cover the tour of the house itself, with the house restored to its original form on the first floor and galleries on the second floor. The other parts of this series will cover the grounds and Krieble Gallery.
Griswold’s father, moderately wealthy sea captain Robert Harper Griswold, had the Late Georgian style mansion built in 1817 as a home for his family. Parts of the first floor. Robert Griswold died in 1882, leaving Florence Griswold the house but no means of maintaining it. She turned the family home into a boarding house, one of the few acceptable employment options for women in the 19th century. In 1899, New York City artist Henry Ward Ranger visited the house and realized he had found a gem. By the next summer, he had rounded up his city artist friends and brought them down to form Lyme Art Colony. The two favorite styles of the colony were tonalism, which used a limited and dark color palette, and impressionism, which used many bright colors and light brushstrokes. While no longer a boarding house, artists continue to visit the grounds and capture the landscape.
The first floor of the building included a guided tour, which leave on a rolling basis. The tour guide was experienced and high energy, telling the stories behind several artworks and artifacts while fielding questions. Many original works by the Lyme Art Colony artists hang in the space, as artists would could not pay in money for their rooms would give “Miss Florence” a painting instead. In the music room, an upright piano from August Baus & Co. in New York and an unstrung harp once belonging to Miss Florence sit amid a collection of furniture, paintings, and sculptures. On the table at the center of the room were wiggle drawings. One artist with put a blue wiggle or scribble on a scrap of paper, and another artist would complete the drawing.
In this room were the first paintings on the doors. As part of a rite of passage at Lyme Art Colony, new artist were permitted to paint on a door panel, solidifying their mark at the boarding house. Besides decorating, the artists once sent Miss Florence on holiday and then renovated her house. Unfortunately, many of her cats went "missing" during this time, as the artists preferred the company of their dogs.
The dining room was the highlight of the first story, as it included the most painted panels. One panel is painted on both sides, although only one side is visible. An artist left the boarding house without paying, so his fellow painters turned his panel to his art would never be seen again. Above the fireplace was the “School of Lyme” mural parodying fox hunts, where caricatures of the artists chase after hounds and foxes. This was what initially drew me to the house, as I had learned about the painting during the webinar "Seaside Escapes" hosted by Culturally Curious.
The second floor contained galleries featuring the work of resident artists, including Henry Ward Ranger, Childe Hassam, Edward C. Volkert, Charles Ebert, Willard L. Metcalfe, William Chadwick, Charles P. Gruppe, Louis Paul Dessar, and Matilda Browne. (If you are on a computer, hover your mouse over the picture to see the titles and artists.) Few women were permitted to stay at the boarding house, as having single young men and women stay in the same space was considered inappropriate. Women artists tended to come from wealthy families and were not obligated to marry so a husband could support them.
The house is air conditioned and well-lit. Like most historic houses, the second story was not accessible to those using a wheelchair. However, the museum has worked with 3D model monopoly Matterport to create a remarkable virtual tour complete with ample digital signage for each painting.
The rating for this museum will appear at the end of the third post in the miniseries.