[August 12, 2015]

Danforth Art Receives $40,000 Grant to Safeguard Collection of Artwork by Renowned Local Sculptor Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller

Danforth Art Museum\School has received a $40,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation's American Art Program to support the museum's efforts to safeguard and document its Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller Special Collection. Established as a grassroots organization in 1975 by a committed group of community activists, business owners, educators, and artists, Danforth Art is the only independent art museum in the Metrowest region of Massachusetts which is comprised of 19 communities including Framingham, Natick, Ashland, and Sudbury. It provides visual arts education through its celebrated exhibitions, educational programming, and a Permanent Collection of more than 3,500 works of American art from the 18^th century to the present day. In 2006, the museum was gifted more than 340 objects by Fuller's descendants. The Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller Special Collection includes the near-complete contents of the artist's studio at the time of her death in 1968, including ephemera, process pieces, studies, tools, and completed casts. This unique collection offers not only a holistic and rich overview of her work and artistic process, but also a very intimate look at the artist's life, family, and creative community.

"We are grateful for the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, and in particular to its President Michael Gilligan and Program Director for American Art Ellen Holtzman," says Debra Petke, Danforth Art Executive Director, "for recognizing Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller's significance as an artist, as well as the potential for her life and her work to inform our understanding of race, gender, and class in the early 20^th century. The funds provided under this grant are essential to our efforts to inventory, photograph, rehouse, and conserve these objects. By improving both storage and our collections database, we will stabilize this one-of-a-kind collection, prepare it for our eventual move to the Jonathan Maynard Building, and begin to make it accessible for scholars. The Foundation's support of these vital stewardship efforts is deeply appreciated."

Born in Philadelphia, Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller (1877-1968) was one of the first African- American female sculptors of importance and was known for her groundbreaking depictions of the African-American experience. Her artistic ability was recognized early and, at the age of 18, she enrolled in the Philadelphia Museum and School of the Industrial Arts (now University of the Arts). Upon graduation in 1899, she moved to Paris, where she studied with a number of artists, and gained the attention of prominent mentors like intellectual leader W.E.B. DuBois and French sculptor Auguste Rodin. Fuller returned to the United States in 1902, and later moved to Framingham with her husband, the distinguished psychiatrist Dr. Solomon Fuller. Anticipating themes of the Harlem Renaissance, throughout the 1910s and 1920s, Fuller elevated the African-American visage to an artistic subject equally worthy of depiction. While her erly sculpture received critical acclaim-Fuller was said to possess "a great talent, amounting almost to genius" in a 1902 review-both in the United States and abroad, perhaps her best known works are civic commissions like Ethiopia Awakening (1914), now at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York, and Emancipation (1913) in Harriet Tubman Park in Boston's South End. The Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller Special Collection at Danforth Art spans seventy years of creative output from Fuller's early works in Paris, to her role as a precursor to the Harlem Renaissance, to her late works celebrating members of the African-American intelligentsia.

"Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller's significance to art historical scholarship is of particular importance relative to studies of race and gender. As an African-American woman seeking success as a professional artist in the early decades of the twentieth century, Fuller encountered limited opportunities, yet still emerged as both artist and mentor," says Danforth Art Curator Jessica Roscio. "Danforth Art is privileged to be the home of the contents of Fuller's studio, ranging from personal effects to works in plaster and bronze, which provide us with a more complete picture of the artist's process, as well as shed light on the balance she struggled to maintain between domestic life and her artistic identity."

Funds received from the Henry Luce Foundation's American Art Program will support the first phase of critical work to improve housing and documentation of the collection. Danforth Art is seeking additional funds to develop an interpretation plan that will uncover the compelling themes of Fuller's life and inform future exhibition development.

About Danforth Art, Museum\School: Established as a grassroots organization in 1975 by a committed group of community activists, business owners, educators, and artists, Danforth Art is a museum and school that invites you to see, learn about, create, and be inspired by art. Danforth Art educates the public through its Permanent Collection of American art from the 19^th century to the present day, which includes outstanding examples of work by the African American sculptor Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller and artists from the School of Boston Expressionism, as well as through changing exhibitions of contemporary artists, studio art classes and workshops, and a variety of community outreach programs. Each year Danforth Art's Annual juried exhibitions demonstrate the organization's dedication to provide "a special home for artists" by showing best examples of contemporary work by emerging and established artist members. Under the new leadership of Executive Director Debra Petke, Danforth Art plans to better showcase its exceptional Permanent Collection, to further refine its quality studio art classes with a focus on foundational skills, and increase programming in the museum and in the community. Danforth Art is engaged in active and thoughtful planning for a future move to the Jonathan Maynard Building on Framingham Center Common.

For more information on Danforth Art Museum\School, please visit http://www.danforthart.org or call 508-620-0050. All Danforth Art Museum 1st floor galleries are closed from August 3 through September 8, 2015. Access to Picture This! in the Children's Gallery on the 2nd floor is by appointment only, and on weekdays only, from August 3 through September 8, 2015. Please call 508-620-0050 in advance of your visit.

Fall Exhibitions (New England Photography Biennial and From My Window: Jason Berger At Home Abroad) open on September 9, 2015. Dear Dearest Mother: Leslie Starobin's Wartime Still Life Montages opens on October 4, 2015. Starting September 9, museum hours are Wednesdays and Sundays 12 noon to 5 pm, Thursdays 12 noon to 8:30 pm, and Fridays and Saturdays 10 am to 5 pm. Admission is $11 for adults, $9 for senior, and $8 for students. Danforth Art members, and children aged 17 and under, are admitted free.

The Danforth Art School Summer Session continues through August 21, 2015, and registration is now open for the Fall Session starting September 26, 2015. To learn more, see here for information about classes and workshops or call the School Office at 508-620-0937.

On Facebook (News - Alert) and Twitter (@DanforthArt). Use season's hashtags: #PictureYourselfatDanforthArt, #NewEnglandPhotoBiennial, or #FallatDanforthArt

About the Henry Luce Foundation: The Henry Luce Foundation was established in 1936 by Henry R. Luce, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Time Inc. (News - Alert) The Foundation seeks to bring important ideas to the center of American life, strengthen international understanding, and foster innovation and leadership in academic, policy, religious and art communities. Since 1982, the American Art Program has disseminated more than $160 million to 250 museums, universities and service organizations throughout the United States and abroad. For more information, please visit www.hluce.org.

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