Incollect Magazine - Issue 3

Incollect Magazine 117 2022 V ivacious and determined, Electra Havemeyer was born to European and Asian art collectors H. O. and Louisine Havemeyer, whose wealth was derived from the sugar industry. She lived a life of privilege in New York City and traveled often, including trips to Paris to spend time with family friend and art advisor the Impressionist artist Mary Cassatt. When Electra began collecting art at age 19, she diverged from her parents’ interests by acquiring a piece of American folk art, a tobacconist figure. She collected art that was created not by formally schooled European artists but ordinary craftsmen and artisans in the United States. Few other collectors saw value in “the beauty of everyday things” as she did. In focusing her collection on folk art, the collector preserved pieces of American life and created a uniquely American aesthetic that challenged the preference for European styles at the time. In 1910, she married James Watson Webb, whose wealth came from the railroad industry and whose father founded Shelburne Farms. This brought Mrs. Webb to Vermont. Here she built a museum to share her collections with others and promote art and history education based on the principle that art not only could be created by anyone but also should be available to all. Her belief in broadening access to enthralling and experiential learning remains a core component of the museum’s mission to this day. From her first folk art purchase to one of her final acquisitions, Andrew Wyeth’s Soaring , the unexpected defined Mrs. Webb’s collecting. Throughout her life, she pursued objects that affected her aesthetically and emotionally, whether a coverlet, a house, or a turn-of-the-century carousel. Given Mrs. Webb’s capricious taste, it is not surprising that Shelburne Museum is equally whimsical and that to visit the campus is to enter a dreamlike landscape of historical buildings, gardens, and other surprises. Where else, after all, can we find a steamship docked in a grassy landscape, a horseshoe-shaped barn filled with 19th-century carriages, or a hunting lodge replete with taxidermied animals, all within the same museum campus? >>> previous page left to right Fig. 1: Einars J. Mengis, Electra Havemyer Webb with quilt display in Dana-Spencer Textile Gallery at Hat and Fragrance, (PS1.10-Webb, E.3). Fig. 2: Unidentified photographer, Aerial View of the Museum, 1954 (PS4.1-507). above Fig. 3: The Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education is the Museum’s newest structure, opened in 2013.