Jefferson’s Retirement Masterpiece: Restoring Poplar Forest
BY TRAVIS MACDONALD
The long, slow restoration of Poplar Forest has been an ambitious undertaking, and in 2023 we celebrate the completion of that 32-year journey.
A Life Full of Art: Collections and Connections at Cranbrook’s Smith House
BY NINA BLOMFIELD
The Decorative Arts Trust Marie Zimmermann Resident Collections Fellowship has been an incredibly valuable opportunity to grow as a scholar and museum professional.
A New Vision for Newport’s Hunter House
BY LESLIE B. JONES, NICOLE J. WILLIAMS, AND MARYKATE SMOLENSKI
The Preservation Society of Newport County reopened its landmark colonial property Hunter House with a new guide-led tour that highlights the experiences of the home’s many occupants, including generations of prosperous merchants and enslaved and free people of African descent.
Sculpture at the End of Slavery
BY CAITLIN MEEHYE BEACH
A new book interrogates how a wide range of objects—from antislavery medallions to statues of bondspeople bearing broken chains—gave visual form to narratives about abolition in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Manipulating Mother-of-Pearl: An 18th Century Coque de Perle Bracelet
BY CYNTHIA KOK
The popularity of coque de perle hints at mother-of-pearl’s transition from a valued rarity to a semi-precious, but abundant, resource with which makers experimented.
Tracing a Friendship Through Design: Clara Porset and Josef Albers
BY CHRISTINA DE LEON
The Cuban-born designer Clara Porset settled in Mexico City as a political exile in 1936 at the age of 41 and would become one of the country’s leading designers.
Interrogating Fashion Through Religious Painting in Colonial Spanish America
BY LAURA BELTRAN-RUBIO
I studied dresses portrayed in a c. 1750 scene of the baptism of Saint John, attributed to the famed portrait painter Joaquín Gutiérrez of Nueva Granada, as part of my doctoral research,
The Wonders of Eyre Hall: Illuminating the Treasure of Virginia’s Eastern Shore
BY J. THOMAS SAVAGE, JR.
With the publication of The Material World of Eyre Hall: Four Centuries of Chesapeake History, Eyre Hall on Virginia’s Eastern Shore steps to the front of the line as one of America’s best-documented historic properties.
